To get a job, TELL YOUR STORY

Note from Kathy Bernard, author of WiserUTips: Some of the following advice goes against what I teach on crafting resumes. I am all about strategically scoring high for jobs on online application tracking systems used by 94% of companies. But, if you are applying for jobs offline (via email, mail, or in person), a storytelling approach like this just might work. 

Your career background is the reason employers consider you for their open positions. That’s why you take great care to list all your experiences with details in your resume.

Unfortunately, hiring managers are not interested in reading a list. They want to know about YOU. That’s why I propose a better way to describe your experience. TELL YOUR STORY. 

That’s what I do for my resume clients and it always works to interest hiring managers.

So, instead of listing your experience like this …

Ranchers Insurance      2016–Present
Multi-Line Supervisor

• Served on Customer Service Experience team.
• Helped train supervisor team members for expanded review of the customer service focus. 
• Oversaw quality outcomes of team claim files.
• Skilled in identifying and developing future talent.

… Tell them a story like this:

I am very good at policy review, change management, and leadership. I proved myself in these areas when I was entrusted with consolidating a nationwide bill-paying process. This process helped coordinate the bill-payment process for medical records, legal bills, and process serving. I was able to act as the main point of contact to help build a more efficient payment method, which led to better record-keeping and satisfied leadership. I coordinated my efforts with the legal department, IT, compliance, vendors, and claims adjusters.

In this role, I acted as a client services manager to all and helped make sure that all stakeholders were held accountable to their subject areas. I identified and helped build an easy-to-use process. This effort saved money and time for both the company and our vendors. Outcomes included:

• We negotiated a rate that saved $3 million per year in hard savings.
• We increased internal customer satisfaction by 25%.
• I was promoted to Multi-Line Supervisor from Single-Line Supervisor.

Conclusion

When you are not getting the desired results, change your tactics and TELL YOUR STORY.

Guest post by Mukesh Shah

Mukesh is a resume writer. Read about his resume strategies at Job GettingResume. On his site, you can gain a new perspective on resumes, learn new things, take a Title Test and adopt it’s results, which Mukesh promises will get recruiters’ and hiring managers’ attention even before they read your resume. You can also hire Mukesh for his resume services.

Thank you for reading. Please comment or ask questions. Mukesh or Kathy will respond.

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