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How to State Your Responsibilities Most Effectively
If you have never written a resumé, the blank page in front of you can be very intimidating. While casual conversations about work with your friends may be easy, making a formal list of your responsibilities to showcase your value to a potential employer becomes an order of magnitude harder.
To get started, you first need to consider what type of job you are seeking. Just as your stated career objective should reflect your professional goals, your current and past experiences must showcase the parts of your work history that make you the best candidate for the job you are applying for. In listing your current and past professional experiences, you will want to focus on those responsibilities that demonstrate how you are qualified to take the next step in your career. As more and more companies and job search sites use word-matching software to pick out candidates, it is very important that you use key words, including active verbs, to describe your skills. Instead of beginning your job descriptions with the tired old "responsible for" try to use
active verbs such as:- managed
- developed
- created
- communicated
- prepared
- achieved
These key words present your responsibilities in a way that create an impression of you as active and energetic, characteristics employers are looking for. Chose these words carefully: don't write that you "managed a project", implying you were responsible for the whole task from start to finish, if you were only responsibly for communicating the project to other associates. Instead state that you "developed and executed the communication strategy for associates," describing your role more accurately and emphasizing your strengths.
Typically, the first job listed on your resumé is your current position, or the last one you held if you are not currently employed. In the case of a current job, make sure that your responsibilities are stated in present tense, since you are still responsible for them. For example, write "manage accounting activities" instead of "Managed accounting activities." This will indicate to your potential employer what your day-to-day activities are like and how they compliment responsibilities of the job you are submitting your resume for. Previous jobs should be listed using past tense, and should start with active verbs such as managed, developed, accomplished, etc.
Additionally, make sure that responsibilities you are listing are relevant for to your career objective. List only those responsibilities which help make a good impression of you as the right fit for the job at hand. For example, if you are looking for a job that requires managing a team of people, focus on your development and participation in group projects rather than solitary activities such as office organization, even if the latter were also important responsibilities.
When formatting your resumé, make sure that your responsibilities are listed in bullet points. This formatting is preferred to paragraphs because it is easier to review quickly. Employers do a quick eyeball scan the resumés they receive and look for key words they want to see. If the resumé is an impenetrable wall of text, potential employers will likely discard it without even reading it. Thus, it is absolutely critical that your resumé is formatted with sufficient white space to allow the reader's eyes to rest and pick out the most important elements.
