How to start looking for words for your resume
First and foremost, get rid of the idea of the “right words” – at least for now. Your goal as you begin the task of writing your resume is finding ANY words. So give yourself permission to just do that at this point.Now sit down in front of a blank page on your computer or with a good old-fashioned pad and paper. Get comfortable. You’ll want to set aside some quiet time with no phones, texts, or tweets to answer. Just you and the page.Now you can begin. This is just a first draft, so let the words fly with no criticism or fear of anything being wrong. And don’t worry about sentences. Just thoughts … even if you will edit them out later. Write everything you can think of for now!- List every job you’ve ever had. If you’ve been working for more than 10-15 years, just the ones in that period for now. (Later if needed or to solidify your qualifications for the new job, you can add older jobs.)
- Leave ample room on the page after each job to start adding words.
- Now start with the most recent job and list things that you’ve accomplished, created, led, managed, improved, made happen, etc.
- Also list skills, special knowledge you used or learned, as well as relevant industry terms, specific systems or software, etc.
- Add anything you can remember you got praise for or that solved a problem or added customers, revenue, etc.
- List any numbers related to those things, such as “saved company $70,000 by developing new process for ___”
- Keep listing things and thoughts without censoring anything. The words are for your eyes only now.