Dear Job Seeker,

 

Thank you for downloading our professional templates.  The links below will give you some templates that have proven success in winning job interviews, and we hope they do the same for you! 

 

Please open up the resume templates that are most relevant for your job search, and then use the 7 Step guide to write your own professional resume.

 

If you don't have an existing resume, please use this Resume Information Sheet for you to use to record all the details of the last 5 - 10 years of your working history.

 

We are specifically interested in highlighting examples of when you have gone above and beyond the call of expectation for Your employers, clients and the stakeholders you have been dealing with.

 

So that the readers of your resume can see your full scope of ability and skill level, more attention should be given on outlining your achievements and describing incidents when you have been most appreciated for the extra effort you put in.

 

I have listed some suggestions below to start your memory thinking of all the times that you have been recognised for your skills and ability.

 

• Solved a significant problem for Your Employer or One of Your Clients.
• Thought 'outside the square' on how to approach a potentially risky issue.
• Dealt with a difficult customer or stakeholder in an effective manner.
• Introduced a procedure or process that saved Your Employer time in administration, operations or marketing, sales conversion etc.
• Demonstrated innovative thinking to tackle an incident or area of concern.
• Proposed an idea or strategy that made your company more profit or increased revenue.

You see, most people can do what is outlined in a job description, so we just don't state "Key Responsibilities" any more.  Resumes have changed format over the last 5 years in that the hiring manager wants to know how you have coped with the high pressure, stress, peak times and crisis situations.  They want to know what challenges you were faced with when you were just working through your daily tasks. 

 

For example, it is common for companies to work with limited resources, so showcasing how you can turn out top results with limited resources is a great example that many hiring managers would be interested in reading.

 

The best idea is to spend 60 minutes in a quiet room and work through these first 3 initial steps:

 

1. Brainstorm all the projects, responsibilities and extra tasks that you have taken on in each of the positions you have had over the last 10 or so years (If you've been on leave, you can go back 20 years) 
2. Flesh out each of the points you create and describe what the challenge or obstacle was, that made it difficult for you to achieve that project deadline, responsibility or task, then include what action you took to overcome the obstacles so you could achieve the results you set out to attain.  This is called the CAR method (Challenge, Action, and Result) and it is the structure we use to create resumes, and it also forms the structure of your job interview answers when you meet the decision makers....
3. Think about it from your boss' point of view now.  If they were asked what is your key strength, the thing that makes you a valuable employee, what do you think they would say?  Now imagine asking the same question to 2 or 3 of your trusted colleagues.  Whatever they say is gold!  Think of times when you have proven to have this talent, skill or attribute in the workplace over the last 5 years.  These things they list could all have one or two things in common, what are they?  The answer could well be described as your 'signature strength' - this is what makes you unique, and this point should be showcased in your achievements and articulated in your resume.

The Resume Information Sheet is the document for you to record all the job titles, dates, key responsibilities and achievements, if you don't have an existing resume.

 

If you use this and proceed to the next stage to complete the 7 Pillars of Professional Resume Writing.

 

 

Kind regards

 

Bonnie Power

 

PS:  If you are having trouble Finding Your Achievements, click here

 

 

• Executive Resume of an OH&S Exec (This Format Has a High Emphasis on Achievements)

Mid Level  Executive or Middle Management Roles

• Professional Resume Template of an Accountant with 10+ Years Experience.
• Professional Resume Template of an IT with 2 years experience
• Professional Resume Template of an Engineer with 10+ years Experience
• Professional Resume Template of a Project Manager with 10+ years Experience
• Professional Resume Template of an Accountant with International Finance Experience seeking Professional Work in Australia

Graduate Level Resumes

• Graduate Law Student, High Achiever
• Graduate Accountant Resume with experience
• Graduate Engineering Student
• Graduate Accountant with International Finance Experience
• Graduate Accountant with Experience as an Assistant Accountant
• Graduate Accountant with Little Experience

The 7 Pillars to Creating a Brilliant Resume

1.       This is the most important question, as it sets how the strategy / job application will be written.

 

2.       Every statement will be tailored to promote some skill, capability or piece of knowledge to showcase your most relevant attributes.

 

3.       If your are unable to clearly articulate where you want to go, and what you want to do, we suggest you engage in some career planning / coaching.

 

4.       Research similar jobs that are available right now, record the names of the top 4 recruitment firms/ organisations that are advertising vacancies.

1.       What specific traits do you possess, that have been requested in each of the job advertisements. It may help for you to imagine you are one of your manager's or clients.  You need to recognise and decipher what part of your character is highly regarded within your work place, so you know to promote this in your resume and job interview (the answer to this question will be woven through your achievements, as it forms part of 'how' they bring about positive outcomes)

 

2.       Describe 3  times where those traits have benefited an previous employer/ client or stakeholder to resolved a problem or improved a situation.

 

3.       If you can't provide a brief synopsis of your own personality, we suggest a personality profiling exercise (eg DISC Profiling, accessible through a career coach)

· the target industry

· the target profession

· industries or professions that are closely connected to this industry/profession?

1.       Collect details of the projects and responsibilities that you have done so the reader of the resume can understand the scope of your job function.

 

2.        Explore times when you have resolved problems for your organisation, or for your clients, suppliers and or stakeholders.   Have you had to deal with any disasters or crises, and how they helped the company?

 

3.       If you are on LinkedIn, we suggest you connect with all the people you know across all industries, it will help build a strong network that may benefit you when executing your career strategy.

4.  What practical and technical skills do you have that will align with the target employer/profession and industry?

1.       Focus heavily on the last 5 years, it is advisable to condense older positions or only highlight relevant information.  Deleting older positions is also permissible.  

 

2.       The sentence structure should not be in perfectly constructed sentences, rather broken English, with as few 'filler words' as possible. (eg. to, and, the, a)

 

3.       Keep the tense consistent.  Ensure phrasing is either in present tense, past tense or descriptive.  In the skills summary, we always use descriptive phrases such as Stakeholder Management (not managing stakeholders).  When employment is current, we use present tense, and in previous positions we use past tense.

 

4.       Elevate the reader's interest to the point they need to see the client for an interview.  Clearly and descriptively communicate the detail and scope of your experience and accomplishments.  

 

5.       Avoid using ambiguous terms that don't define exactly what you have done (eg 'responsible for customer service' should be replaced with a description of exactly what you did to achieve high service standards.

 

6.       Be careful not to use industry jargon or terminology if you seek opportunities that do not use the same terminology or methodologies in their work practices.

 

7.       The Overview section of the resume should be written last.  The 4 - 6 lines of text can be made up of firstly outlining the challenges you have faced in the last 5 years, and then a brief summary of your scope of effectiveness in each position over the last 5 or so years.

1. Give relevant examples of when you have used specific skills to solve a problem or advance the organisation's success in achieving it's mission/purpose ie. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'When you first started at this company, what were a couple of areas where you identified blocks to efficiency/ workflow or service delivery standards?'

'When you first started in these positions, what were the main areas you identified as problematic, what type of environment / situation did you walk into?'

 

 

 

 

 

2.  In order to create a targetted resume, identify the specific skills and experience requested in each of the job adverts.

 

The achievements will be focused on the topics that   relate to these job adverts.  Look to the key words in the job adverts and apply the STAR (or CAR) approach to describe a problem that the client has solved.

 

3.   Every achievement needs to be put into context (ie, what were the obstacles and challenges that made it difficult to success in achieving such a positive outcome? What was the economy like, the culture like, the work environment like etc etc?  - Imagine yourself in the position of the client and brainstorm ideas on what could have made it difficult for the client to achieve these things) 

 

4.  Investigate achievements that have already been provided and question about the motivation behind making the change / improvement.  You've got to understand what motivates you to take the initiative, or why you think laterally to resolve problems or increase efficiencies, for example.  Go through each achievement and ensure you have outlined context of the situation, have quantifiable evidence and information so the reader can fully appreciate the final outcome/result. Note, be careful not to be negative when describing the initial situation that the company was presented in.

Ask some or all of the following questions:

 

1.       What did you face in your first few days or weeks of the job?  Was it a difficult time?  If so, why?  

 

2.       What did your initial induction, training involve?  What aspects of the job did it not cover?  How did you overcome this gap in training?

 

3.       What were the aspects of the job that were glanced over in the job interview, that perhaps became prominent problems that you needed to attend to in your first 3 months?

 

4.       What job functions were you 'thrown into', areas where your initial knowledge and skill was perhaps low, and you needed to quickly research information and access resources to become up to speed?

 

5.       When you were serving your first 3 months, what where the personal challenges you had to overcome. eg Did you need to research the industry to develop a deeper understanding of the needs of the clients etc?  Is this the first time you have worked for a multi-national organisation / SME or start up?  If so, how was it different and how did you adapt so you could fit in an meet the needs of the clients?

 

6.       Executives - When an executive starts a new position, they are especially challenged within the first few months with a whole host of problems to overcome.   Certain issues that may have not been disclosed in the job interview, were to become areas of immediate concern in your first few months.  Did this happen to you?  If so, could you please explain the Situation, your actions and the end result?

 

7.       Executives - When you started with your jobs, did you create a 100 day action plan, so you could show what you have achieved within that time frame?  If so, could you please outline your goals, your actions and the end results?

 

8.       Executives - Please tell me about any project you worked on that made the company money, saved them money, made them more efficient or productive, or   improved their carbon foot print etc?

1.       List relevant education, professional development and other courses that are relevant to the target job.  Consider incorporating subject content if key words can be used to increase the SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Courses over 10 years ago are deemed to be outdated.

 

2.       What professional associations have you joined.  This will build credibility, and allow for greater networking to increase your awareness of the industry and available opportunities.

 

3.       Finally, the reference details, we now suggest that this be included this in another document and be presented at time of interview, if requested.

1. You Will Attain Your Dreams Sooner!

Your Job Application will stand out of the other 150-400 other candidates who have done the same jobs and have submitted an almost identical resume.

2.  Communicates Your Market Value

3.  Establishes Your Differential Factor

4.  Builds Your Confidence

A professional resume helps You understand the value of your attributes that set you apart from your competition.   Your new resume will give you the key messages you'll eventually want to communicate in an interview to win the job.  Why not use your professional resume to act as a script to help communicate effectively in the job interview? 

5.  Opens the Right Doors