When I first began my career as a professional resume writer in 1994, I noticed a difference in how male and female clients related their backgrounds and accomplishments. At first, I just chalked it up to a minor variation in how the genders viewed themselves and their work.

On one hand, I routinely interviewed male clients who would exaggerate or embellish their career highlights and accomplishments, while on the other hand, my female clients would generally understate or minimize their roles and contributions.

For example, my client Brad had filled in for his boss for a 6-week period during his job, and insisted that I elaborate on his duties and accomplishments as acting general manager. When I questioned Brad as to specifics, he said that the company basically ran on autopilot and that he mainly functioned as he had prior to his bosss absence.

Susan, my client who had served as director for her firm for nearly a year, stated, Well, it really wasnt my job, I was just filling in. After querying her further, I learned that Susan spearheaded an initiative that landed her firms biggest client and introduced several successful cost-cutting measures that resulted in a banner year of profitability.

Year after year, I have seen this trend remain constant and I continue to assist women clients who undervalue their careers and fail to adequately note their accomplishments in their resumes. Not being a sociologist or research scientist, I cannot say with any certainty as to why this is the case. Perhaps women are raised in our society to be self-deprecating and not brag or boast, while men are raised to take credit wherever possible and actually inflate their contributions. Or perhaps there may be some innate gender forces at work.

Although I am certainly not qualified to understand the root causes of the gender gap in terms of tooting ones own horn, I am fully qualified as a resume writer, and I can state unequivocally that minimizing ones accomplishments is a sure path to short-circuiting a competitive job search. As I conduct the client information-gathering session that is part of the resume creation process, I now probe much more deeply with my female clients and end up uncovering a wealth of skills, accomplishments, and career-related highlights that might have remained hidden, and that qualitatively improve their resumes.

Perhaps as a side-benefit of this process, I receive ongoing feedback from my women clients that they have gained enhanced self-esteem and a renewed sense of confidence by having a professional tell them that its perfectly O.K. and even crucial to brag and to toot their own horns on their resumes.

Grant Cooper
http://www.strategicresumes.com/