As a professional resume writer, I occasionally have a client who objects to "tooting" his or her own horn. But once these naturally humble folk see the end product, not one has insisted on any changes. Their words of protest get caught in their throats when they realize that very few superlatives, such as descriptive adjectives and adverbs, have been used. No "outstanding, unequalled, dynamic, exceptional."

Actually though, most people copy and paste their position description and call that a resume. They all begin their bullets with low-energy verbs such as "Responsible for, provided, assisted." Why would you assume that your position description is so different, or more appealing to the recruiter, than all the other applicants (after all, since they are applying for the same position it's likely their backgrounds are similar!)? No, this ho-hum, yawn-inspiring approach won't get you noticed. Hence the need for a results-based or accomplishment-focused resume - at least, if you really want a job this is what you need to do.

Here are a few examples of Before and After resume statements, taken from real job-hunters, and strategized to position the candidate as amongst the best of all applicants. Neither boastful or boring, some of these will hopefully inspire a few ideas for your own resume.

Sales Account Manager

The "before" statement was a both bland and suggestive "Aggressively prospect for new accounts." Bland because it only slightly enhances a position description entry that would have stated "prospect for new accounts." Suggestive because the word "aggressive" might not be what he really means. Does he mean confidently, or does he really mean aggressively (which makes me think of pushy, doesn't take no for an answer, and other unflattering connotations)?

With a bit of questioning, it became clear that the client added "aggressively" as he assumed that this was what recruiters "wanted to hear." And after conducting an interview, here's what I transformed that position description style statement into:

- Launched new product in field where competitors had control of 85% of market share, and over two years, grew sales from $0 to $13M, dealers from 0 to over 300; exceeded business potential that had been set at $5.27M.

Without saying that he is tenacious, results-driven, productive and so on, he certainly proves it with this statement.

Office Administrator

"Effectively completed accounts payable, accounts receivable, invoicing and payroll using QuickBooks Accounting program" began one client's resume. At least the word "effectively" gives some idea that she knew what she was doing, but it is best to begin a bullet with a good action verb, not with an adverb. It's also a good idea to add some context to your work. Here's the version after exploring the details of this client's contributions in an interview:

- Directed up to 150 calls daily on phone line with 60 extensions; paged 50 plant employees; mailed up to 300 invoices and statements daily; proud of record of no dropped calls and no missed invoices.

Now that got the recruiters attention, and she was soon back at work.

Information Technology

- Client Contract renewal Yes indeed, that was all that the client had written in his before version. That is far too sparse. It gives no indication of his role: was he responsible for contract renewals, did he track these, or did he administer the database that housed the details? Here is the after version:

- Renegotiated six vendor contracts with subsequent annual savings of $500,000.

Now his resume is talking the right language! Pepper your resume with examples of profits, savings, and performance, and you're guaranteed to be noticed.

Not one of the "after" versions contains anything but a straightforward statement. I used no "outstanding, aggressively, successfully." It's not that you shouldn't use these terms, I certainly have and will, when warranted, but if you have a humble streak, know that you can craft a resume that generates interest and interviews without feeling like you are resorting to boasting.

Copyright2008 New Leaf Resumes. Feel free to reprint this article, but please provide the author with full credit.

Stephanie Clark, BA, CRS, CIS, http://www.newleafresumes.ca

An Award-winning and published Resume Strategist, dedicated to advancing your career goals. Please visit my website for more information on the services offered at New Leaf Resumes.