Tag Archives: your resume

How much can you make proving your attitude on your resume?

Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure.  The way you think about a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it. You are overcome by the fact because you think you are.  (Norman Vincent Peale)

How much can you make from the attitude on your resume?

Many people earning over $150,000 each year cannot do the jobs of the people they supervise.  One of the reasons they are paid so much is that they can change the attitude of everyone who works for them. Creating the right attitude is so essential they may hire consultants, psychologists, and motivational speakers.  If you can help those higher level managers to create the right attitude, they’ll hire you.  You might even get that $150,000 job.

Prove your attitude

People who love their job prove it every day.  They volunteer to help, come in early and leave late.  Some people get involved in associations, online help forums, and job networks because they enjoy their job so much.  I’ve given college recruiting seminars because I wanted to tell others about my great job.  Put on your resume how you have shared your enthusiasm and knowledge with others.

If you have a great attitude you can think of several “proud moments” at work.  I still brag about the time I set a new production record for putting herbal powders in gelatin capsules.  It was a smelly unpleasant job where I loved breaking records. My setting those records got everyone else’s competitive spirit up and production soared.

At another job I remember finishing 4 months of being on-call for a new computer system.  I stayed up every night and babysat the system.  I helped bring the nightly problems from 10 or 15 down to 2 or 3 per night.  I’m proud of what I did.

Those are accomplishments that get you hired even if they don’t apply to the job you want to get.  They show a great attitude.

Go back through the jobs you have had.  Prove you had a great attitude. On your resume put moments you were proud of: helping others to work faster, training beginners, being on-call, working extra hours, and going beyond the job requirements. Prove your attitude.  Put the proof on your resume.  Mention the proof interviews.  Prove that you really want to change things for the better.  That alone may get you hired.

Something To Do Today

Make sure your attitude is obvious on your resume.

Use this resume planner to figure out how.

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Tomorrow:     Show ability

Later:              Show cost cutting and budget saving

Show increased revenue

Show better customer service

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle

Post-it notes

What to leave out of your resume

If you can’t beguile them with brilliance, baffle them with bulls**t. (unknown)

For years the joke has been:  “Yesterday I was a truck driver.  I passed a test today, so now I am an MCSE network technician.  What’s a network?”

If you started out as truck driver and worked your way up to become the COO of a company, that’s great.  Don’t mention the truck driver experience, unless you want to be a truck driver again.

Your resume has one purpose: to get you an interview!

Leave out delightful tales unrelated to the job you are applying for.  If you really need to show your job progression then start out writing about your most recent triumphs at the top. At the very bottom of the particular job section write: I started as a truck driver.

So, you’ve worked there 15 years and only been a computer security expert for 2 years?  I don’t care. Your resume is not a confession of crimes and psychological problems.  Put down what you did and let the interviewer find out more. Your resume is only to get you an interview.  It is not a warning to potential employers.

If you emphasize what you have accomplished, the person reading the resume will know how “heavy” you are in the job you are applying for.  List projects you completed, improvements you made, money you saved, and new clients you helped bring in.  If the list is impressive it won’t matter that you spent ¾’s of your time filing reports and ¼ of your time as a sales manager.

Leave out disqualifiers.  Emphasize how you have saved money, brought in new revenue streams, increased customer happiness, speeded up processes and helped the company succeed.  Your resume is supposed to get you an interview.  Leave out all the stuff that doesn’t apply to the job you want.

Something To Do Today

Writing exercise time.  Take your resume and first expand it to 4 or more pages by including all the responsibilities and accomplishments you have ever had.

Make a new copy.  Cut out every line that is only responsibilities.  This second copy should list only the projects completed, customers pleased, money saved and new clients you brought in.  There should NOT be any lines that say “supervised”, “responsible for”, or “supported.”

Make a new copy.  Cut it down to ½ page. Yes, ½ page.  List only the accomplishments that directly apply to a job you want.

Now cut that ½ page to ¼ page.  Use those incredibly brief but important accomplishments in your cover letter or email body.

This is an exercise.  Apply what you learned to the resume you send out for a job.