Responsibilities Or Accomplishments? How to Describe your Work Expereince

I have screened more than my fair share of resumes. And in the course of doing that, I have taken note of one thing in particular—most resumes are overladen with responsibilities. In my opinion, one of the worst mistakes is listing responsibilities instead of accomplishments.

People talk about being…

• responsible for…

• charged with…

• asked to do…

• assigned to head up the…

• promoted to…

All of that is fine, but most hiring managers do not care about all of this.

I know that sounds callous, but it is true. They do not care what you were responsible for. It tells them nothing. It doesn’t mean they were any good at it, or did a good job.

Call me cynical, but when I read a resume loaded with responsibilities, I immediately grow skeptical. I wonder what the person is hiding. What failure they are trying to cover up.

What Did You Do?

When I pull a new resume from a high stack of submissions sitting on my desk, what I want to see are accomplishments, a record of accomplishment of things that the person did, and ideally, those accomplishments would coincide with the job requirements. If someone were to ask me, which to list: responsibilities or accomplishments, there would be no hesitation–I would say accomplishments.

Match Up the Skills

If I am looking to hire a surgical technologist to lead a neurosurgery service and work along side the materials manager to work with consultants and vendors, then then your experience as a PRN in an ambulatory/endoscopy center is not relevant. You would be better off relating how you have been a part of a team that performed many services and you have helped to account for inventory alongside a purchasing agent for your department which maintained a budget and saved X amount of dollars. Your understanding of materials management is tangible here and you have qualified the experience. The whole point is that while neither one of those example are ideal, one is better sounding than the other, and you should tailor your resume to the job that you’re applying for.

Due Diligence - Spend an Appropriate Amount of Time Researching before Submitting Your Resume

What is the appropriate amount of time? That depends on how much you want the job. If the job is important, then dedicate as much time as necessary. But no matter what you do, do not use a tired old resume that you dragged from a folder on your computer or out of a drawer in your file cabinet. You may not be competing against amateurs, and nothing is more apparent than an ill-prepared candidate.

Responsibilities or Accomplishments? What is important? Being relevant.

Take some time and find out what the company needs. It is not always apparent from the job description. If it is not clear from the description, then make a few calls, ask people and try to find out. Then, redo your resume to reflect a set of skills (assuming you have them) that will match what the company is searching for.

Most gatekeepers and headhunters keep a file listing a key set of requirements close to them. They use this list to compare submitted resume against. In other words, it is a screening out sheet or list. Like it or not, that is what it is. If you do not have certain traits and characteristics, educational credentials, and work experience, then you are out before you get in.

The only way to circumvent this process is to know what is going to be on that list, and the only way to do that is to research it and prepare. Do it right, and you have a good chance at an interview, which will give you another chance to either fail or shine. The choice is yours. It is up to you to determine what the job is worth.

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