Show Your Impact

It's critical to include accomplishments in your resume. Here is a simple way to identify them.

Make a four column, four row table. On top of the columns, list these questions across the table (one per column).

* What did you succeed at or accomplish?

* When, where and with who did you do this?

* How did you do this? What actions or steps did you take?

* What was most satisfying about it and why?

Remember that accomplishments are about impact - on the job, the field, the world, your life. Ideally, impact can be measured with numbers (e.g. percentages, dollars, amounts) and is directional, meaning you moved something from one place to another (increased, improved, raised, launched, etc.)

I like to use positive words because people usually like to be associated with something growing, expanding, opening up, happy and forward-looking. In some cases, words like "reduced" and "decreased" are appropriate.