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What nonsense. Focusing on your
responsibilities as an employee certainly will drive
your resume… right over a cliff.
Check out the following
responsibilities (gleaned from the extensive Career
Change historical archives), contrast the
responsibilities with the results, and decide how
impressive the responsibilities really are:
Responsibility: “Directed
defense of West Point against British attack.” Result: Turned traitor, plot discovered, escaped
country in disgrace, became a Redcoat.
Employee: Benedict Arnold, General of the
Continental Army: Involuntarily Retired.
Responsibility: “Master of
vessel, responsible for transporting 53 million gallons
of crude oil from Alaska to California.”
Result: Crashed vessel, dumped 11 million gallons
of crude into Prince William Sound, convicted of
negligence, became a paralegal.
Employee: Captain Joseph Hazelwood, Exxon Valdez.
Responsibility: “Handled
navigation on solo flight of experimental, dual-engine
aircraft.”
Result: Heading west from Brooklyn to California,
landed in Ireland, became punch line.
Employee: Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan, Pilot of
the “Sunshine.”
Responsibility: “Organized
and directed Grand Armée on the march to Moscow.”
Result: Left with 450,000 soldiers, returned with
10,000 frostbite victims, lost empire. Quel dommage.
Employee: Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France.
Based on the following resume
snippets, which surgeon would you want carving into your
thorax?
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“Responsibilities include
cutting, suturing, and directing OR nursing staff,”
or
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“Successfully handled three
thousand mitral valve replacements with zero
morbidity, restoring full health and vigor to every
patient.”
If it were my mitral valve
(whatever that is), I’d pick Surgeon Number Two.
Jack Welch of GE fame has observed
that the top 20 percent of employees perform best and
earn the most. The next 60 percent include personnel
with a potential to rise to the top. The bottom 20
percent were ultimately dismissed.
What differentiated the three
groups? One thing…results.
A truly impactful and persuasive
resume will focus on your accomplishments rather than
your responsibilities. Responsibilities are for
bureaucrats and under achievers; accomplishments are for
winners.
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