by Michael Mehlberg

Created on: February 04, 2007   Last Updated: May 15, 2007

The single most important thing to remember in writing a resume is this: While your new employer IS interested in your experience, they are MORE interested in *how* your experience generated revenue for your past employer.

Modern resumes tend to be full of bulleted lists; with each bullet containing relevant experience, chronologically listed by employment period. This is undoubtedly the most effective way to display your experience and employment history. However, lists of jobs completed and achievements made quickly bore the reader (usually a hiring manager). To better keep the reader's interest, think about these questions and answers when writing your resume:

Q: What will keep the reader interested?
A: Something that pertains to them.

Q: What types of information pertains to a hiring manager?
A: The type of information that shows how your experience will generate money and success for their company.

Now let's look at an example of a decent bullet point on a resume and its much better counterpart. The second point says the same thing but is much more interesting to a hiring company:

Instead of: Authored white paper on "best secure coding practices".
Try: Generated 22 direct sales resulting in $22,000 net profit by writing and distributing a white paper on "best secure coding practices".

This lets the company know that you are able to write white papers, you are able to write them well, and the papers you write will generate them money (which is, after all, the entire purpose of nearly any business). Use this tip throughout your resume to gain excellent results.

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