Your resume has one goal and one goal only. Your resume is your ticket to get an early job interview. No interview no job, it's that simple. So if you could get one bit of advice to improve your resume what would that be?

We posed that question to a group of HR managers, recruiting managers and HR staff. The number one answer from this group of hiring professionals was "quantifiable achievements." That's it, the number one piece of advice for anyone who wants to jump start their job hunt by improving their resume.

It's not how the resume is formatted, even though that is important. It's not about the color of the paper the resume is printed on, even through that is important. It's not about your education, even through that is important. It's not about responsibilities, even through that may be important.

But the overwhelming answer from this group of hiring professionals on the one factor which has the most impact in your resume is to list applicable "quantifiable achievements." If this factor is not included in the resume, according to the experts, it will not rise above the group and your resume is unlikely to be considered.

The error many make in writing their resume is they go to great lengths to list responsibilities of previous jobs.

Let's consider this, one resume lists responsibilities: "Supervised three people and was responsible for the safety function in a company with 1000 employees." Now let's look at a "quantifiable achievement," for the same person: "Designed and implemented safety awareness program, which in one year, reduced job related accidents by over 35% and saved over $130,000 in workers compensation costs."

Wow, it isn't hard to know which resume will make it to the top of the pile.

Now how can we change the focus of the resume to emphasize achievements and de-emphasize responsibilities? First, under the listing name of the employer, dates of employment, facts about the employer to place everything in context, you start by listing two to four quantifiable achievements. Use achievements as a heading.

When studying the job announcement, what key functions or responsibilities are listed, and in what order? If the first item in the job announcement states the applicant needs experience managing a corporate safety function that will be the first achievement listed. Do the same thing with number two, three and so on.

After the heading "Achievements" you now list two to four achievements that match up with the requirements listed by the employer. You can now have a heading named "Responsibilities."

Achievements come in a variety of forms: you saved money, you increased sales or profits, you completed a project under budget, you did something faster, you were recognized with a bonus or other award for an outstanding achievement, and you came up with a better way of doing things. You get the idea. If you improved morale, for example, (which is an achievement but you didn't quantify the results), but "you developed a plan to reduce unwanted turnover and saved over $45,000 in the first year."

In addition, if your achievements were gained as a member of a team or you provided significant efforts and ideas to someone else by all means take appropriate credit.

The hiring managers repeated many times that they were not going to hire the "ordinary" applicant. If the resume, they stated, looked like everyone else they normally didn't get an interview. They recognized there were probably some great candidates in this group but their focus was to find the achievers, the above average applicants.

Your goal is to catch and hold the recruiter's attention, and with the rsum's focus on "quantifiable achievements," you will be giving the recruiter exactly what they are looking for. And for you, you'll be invited in for an interview. Everyone wins.

John Groth is a Career Coach and former HR executive. On his site find Career Planning Ideas, valuable articles and a Free seven day career planning guide. Discover up to date career and recruitment strategies at his Resume Writing Guide all to assist you in advancing and managing your career. http://careernetworkplus.com/