Before I discuss PAR - keep one thing in mind when writing your resume. Focus on the needs of the employer. The employer cares only about what YOU can deliver for her organization. And, in these days where the jobs are few and the supply of candidates is high, you only have a few seconds to make an impression with your resume. So let's Go!
Objective or Summary Statement: remember, it is all about the employer. Leave off the seeking interesting or challenging work...yawn. Tell me in one or two power packed sentences what YOU can do for ME. Once again, think of the resume as an article in a newspaper or magazine. Every word, every sentence counts. Once you lose your audience, your resume goes into the recycling bin to be turned into greeting cards or worse!
Here is an example for a Project Manager - note the use of the Brand.
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Building Customer Equity through technology
"High-energy, results oriented strategy minded IT manager with extensive background in leadership, project management, data-strategy, business analysis and application delivery. I am experienced in providing strategic, innovative and creative technological solutions to maximize business opportunities and ROI, and in providing the project management leadership to execute for success." |
Now what is this PAR thing? Something I rarely achieve on the golf course? No - it's a method for describing your accomplishments in a succinct yet power way.
PAR = Problem, Approach and Results
Before we begin - I owe a debt of gratitude to the fine consultants at Drake Beam Morin (Atlanta Office). Thanks for the lessons and support.
When you are identifying each of your employment roles, you want to describe relevant successes that match what the potential employer is seeking. If the role calls for Data Warehousing skills, don't emphasize your eCommerce experience, unless it is relevant. And tell your audience a story about your experiences - albeit a brief one.
-Tell your reader about a problem (or opportunity)
-What was your approach to solving this problem?
-And finally, what were the results!
All this in two sentences max!
"Served as lead architect and project manager for an innovative web based workflow process, designed to start new clients on time and enhance their initial service experience. As a result, on-time client starts increased 44%, enhancing the client relationship and a 57% reducion of early client defections."
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Problem : Early client defections and issues with client relationships
and on-time new client starts
Approach: Innovative web-based workflow process
Results : 44% increase in new client starts and 57% reduction in
early client defections |
Where possible, use strong quantitative results (increased sales by 34%, reduced cost by $750K, enhanced quality survey scores by 21%). If you cannot identify a quantitative, then use a strong qualitative, such as "significantly enhanced client relationships...”.
For each of your Employment experiences, use 3-4 bullets sorted in order of importance against the employment opportunity.
And - keep your resume to '2' pages. Brevity and action power words counts!
More on PAR and resumes soon... and I'll add some other examples in future Blogs.
Posted at Saturday, April 17, 2004
by sph001
