Happy Holidays everyone.

Doug, so if I understand this correctly, a resume should contain ‘Action- Effect’ statement. By that I mean, that an action that you took, and the effect it produced. Although in resumes we begin by stating the Effect first and state the Action/How in the later half of the statement but that doesn’t matter, the crux remains the same. So for example, ” Increased the sales by 20% by introducing new promotion strategies” or “Ensured full coverage of design elements by maintaining a Requirements Traceability Matrix to keep track of requirements and related test cases” .

I wanted to point out something that I look for in resumes and that you unwittingly achieved n the two examples that you provided. I notice quite often that candidates mention in the resume details that they have done something, but provide little to no detail about what they did or how they did it. For example, a person might say, “…interfaced with stakeholders to create requirements…” or “…assisted developers in design…”.

I think, for what that’s worth, that one should never a leave a reader, especially on a resume, wondering what something means or asking, “…and???” or “…so what???” or ” and that is what exactly???”

If there is an accomplishment worthy to note, ensure that it not only trumpets the value that a candidate has provided, but how that occurred. Enhance the vague statements with detail that speaks to the understanding of best practices and how it applies what the task is. In your example, you clearly delineate what you did and then back it with techniques right out of the BABOK, “…by creating mock-ups, identifying stakeholders, and facilitating review meetings.”

This is important for a reviewer for two reasons. The trumpeting says that the candidate is proud of the accomplishment (as you said, a resume is a marketing document). The details make it clear that the person knows what job to do and how to do it. The details can also be adjust to help tailor the resume toward a specific position.

Best Regards
Doug