Instructors: Remind your students that effective résumé statements are written in a truncated style that eliminates personal pronouns (I, me, myself) and skips most articles (a, an, and the). These concise statements employ strong action verbs and specific nouns to describe employment achievements and skills.
Try a “round robin” approach to see how students edit on the fly! We’ve included printable files at the end of the post for your convenience.
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Résumé Experience Statement Exercise
Revise the following experience statements for conciseness. Some statements may also be improved by replacing weak verbs.
Example
Poor: In one of my classes, I researched, compiled, and wrote a 35-page business plan by myself.
Improved: Researched and wrote 35-page business plan.
- I was responsible to make sure that four employees did their daily tasks.
- I attended to a variety of client inquiries in a busy office of 16 lawyers.
- Decided how to handle tenants’ problems including everything from clogged drains to broken windows.
- It was my job to make sure customer bills went out on a set schedule.
- Was a coach for an after-school baseball program where I coached a group of 12 boys and girls.
- Managed an entire database for two months for one of the sales departments in the company while the manager was away on maternity leave.
- As a volunteer, I participated in beach clean up and collected trash that was left over from the holiday weekend.
- Promoted after only six months to one of the first managerial positions for a start-up company’s business.
- Used various bookkeeping software applications such as QuickBooks and Quicken to help prepare clients’ monthly statements.
- Went to Spanish classes to improve my speaking and writing of Spanish.
- Part of the group that raised over $2000 for a charity that gave the money raised to help underserved youth.
- Wrote drafts of press releases to be posted on the company website for my supervisor.
- Designed and created a system that improved the day-to-day operating procedures.
- I was awarded outstanding salesperson prize for making more sales than any other salesperson for three months in a row.
- Did the planning for a regional meeting and successfully obtained a speaker and was able to find an appropriate venue.
Solutions
- Supervised four employees and oversaw daily tasks.
- Addressed client inquiries for 16 attorneys.
- Resolved tenant complaints.
- Distributed customer bills on strict schedule.
- Coached 12 children for after-school baseball program.
- Managed sales database while manager took two-month leave.
- Participated in beach clean-up volunteer day to collect post-holiday trash.
- Promoted to managerial position at start-up company within six months.
- Performed bookkeeping tasks using QuickBooks and Quicken to prepare monthly client statements.
- Attended Spanish classes to improve speaking/writing skills.
- Helped raise $2000+ in donations for organization helping underserved youth.
- Drafted press releases for posting on company website.
- Created system to improve daily operations.
- Awarded outstanding salesperson prize for three consecutive months.
- Planned regional meeting; secured venue and speaker.
