Pamela is a Life Science graduate and Certified Human Behaviour Analyst who has been using behavioural profiling tools such as DISC since the late 1990s. Her first foray into publications was in 1994 and has contributed to various agencies including The Salvation Army, Crisis Relief Society and National Youth Achievement Award. She also has been involved in career guidance since 1998. In addition, she is looking into the recruitment & training of volunteers in a full-time capacity. If no one’s ever told you before, let me be the first – resume writing is marketing. I read a book earlier claiming that it is sales, but I beg to differ. It’s pure and simple marketing. Why? You can package the product (i.e. yourself) in so many different ways, but how you present it to others to decide who has the exclusive rights to a certain portion of your time (which, is called marketing). Now that I’ve established a big overview on why I expound on resumes so much, I’ll get to the main point behind the whole thing.
Put simply, this article is expounding on what this phrase means: ‘Tell it involves stating facts; sell it involves marketing your wares.’ (P. Hee, 2008, Resume Strategies, www.CareerDiagnostics.com)
To give you a better idea, I’ll give you 2 sets of information that can be used in resumes, and I’ll break them down so that you understand what each of them does. (not what it aims to do, because we all aim lofty – at least I choose to think you do too!)
Tell it says ‘Coordinated all administrative functions including secretarial and clerical for a MNC’
Sell it says ‘Implemented a series of improvements in processes which resulted in reduced staffing requirements 15%, increased daily productivity 25%, and reduced billing errors 12% for an MNC. Full responsibility for all clerical, secretarial and administrative functions.’
Ok. Now that we’ve seen the two, if you notice, Sell it uses the only line that tell it showcases, but and that’s a big BUT, uses it as a clincher. How so? It serves to drive home productivity and excellence in work by including percentages (which help to confirm that you look big picture – not in terms of an average 40 hour work week, in which some may claim that 50 is closer to the mark, but in terms of overall percentage.)
Some advantages selling it has over telling it:
- Describing benefits instead of features;
- Selling why the how and what are useful rather than just informing;
- Being results orientated rather than just detailing activities
- Explains how your work affected your world (i.e. boss, team, clients) rather than just doing it.