Writing Powerful Action-Benefit Statements

Action – Benefit Statements use your accomplishments and experience to demonstrate the positive impact you can have on a company’s bottom line. An Action-Benefit Statement consists of:

Action:

A Job responsibility or specific situation that you took when faced with a situation, problem, or opportunity that enabled you to achieve a positive result.

Benefit:

The positive result or benefit to the organisation, such as an increase in revenue, a reduction in costs, streamlined processes or systems, or improved morale.

An Action – Benefit Statement might read “Analysing declining sales and developed campaigns that increased orders by 30% in less than one month.” This statement describes the situation or challenge you faced (declining sales), the Action you took (developed a campaign), and the Benefit of your actions (a 30% increase in orders).

Always quantify or qualify the accomplishments and achievements described in your Action-Benefit statement. When you are quantifying results, consider the impact of your work in measurable terms and include the numbers, percents, dollars, and other values that represent your experience in the best possible light.

Before:

Supervised a large staff of retail employees covering multiple territories. Effectively managed business unit P&L and consistently grew profits.

After:

Ten years experience managing 15 employees across multiple territories. Effectively managed P&L of $10 million business unit. Consistently generated 30-35% gross profit.

Alternatively, when you are qualifying accomplishments, consider describing the process, depicting the environment, and including the personal characteristics that a future employer would consider valuable.

Before:

Increased sales through cold-calling, follow-up, and account management.

After:

Consistently grew revenue and profits in a rapidly changing environment through aggressive cold-calling, persistent followup, and relationship-focused account management.

When writing an Action-Benefit statement, it is unnecessary to provide details on how you solved the problem. You can provide this information at the interview. Focus on the results as opposed to the process. If your Action – benefit statements are powerful enough, employers will invite you in for an interview just to see how you achieved the results.

The first step in writing an effective resume requires you to define the position or type of position you are looking for and assess your top qualifications.

If you are applying for several types of jobs, consider writing a different resume for each. You resume will be most effective when you target a specific type of job, and then describe how your skills abilities and experience qualify you for that position.

For each job type, research the job responsibilities and requirements for the position. You can find this information by browsing through job advertisements for your occupation. Determine what your responsibilities will be, what skills, abilities. And knowledge you’ll need, and what personal and professional characteristics are required for success. Once you have determined the requirements of the position, analyze your past experience, accomplishments, education and training for examples of work and personal characteristics and begin building your resume in a way that best demonstrates your ability to succeed.

The best resume describes your accomplishments and experience in terms of an Action-Benefit statement, which is a precise description of an action you took that produced a tangible and measurable result that benefited your company

Once you complete your resume, you can start sending out your marketing document. There are many ways to look for jobs and market your self. Use AS MANY as are appropriate for you.

Remember you have a product to sell – yourself! The best way to do that is to use every available method that is right for you to distribute your resume. What methods will be best for you will be based on your career objectives, the position you want, the industry you’re targeting, the geographic location and your salary requirements.

Networking:

Networking is the key to a successful job search and the number one method that people get jobs. Talk with anyone who may know of an opportunity that would be right for you: friends, colleagues, neighbors, relatives, etc. You may also want to join a professional association that is related to the career field you wish to work in. Many times these associations have regional meetings specifically for networking.

Personal Referrals:

Personal referrals are another great marketing strategy. Personal referrals open doors that may not be accessible to everyone. So, if you know an individual who is employed in a company that you wish to work for, ask them to talk to the appropriate hiring manager and submit your resume.

Job Fairs:

Job Fairs are a great way to meet potential employers. Instead of cold calling or surfing the Internet, job fairs offer the chance to chat with hiring managers in person and pass around your resume.

Targeted job search campaigns:

This is where you send your resume directly to recruiters or hiring managers working in the industry or company you want to work for. You must be careful to select the right recruiters, which can be done through networking or research online.

Professional Associations:

There are hundreds of professional associations for a variety of industries and career specialties. Do your research and find out the professional associations in your field. Many have websites and publications that post available jobs. Many hold national conferences and local “chapter” meetings which are great networking venues.

Newspaper Ads:

Responding to job ads in print advertisements is another method. If you see a job ad in a newspaper, professional association journal or other job announcement publications that you are qualified for, send them your resume. These ads are usually time sensitive so don’t wait.

Posting your Resume Online:

Many sites such as monster.com and careerbuilder.com (there are a multitude) allow you to post your resume on their sites for free. Employers then search for suitable candidates who meet their job qualifications. Many jobs sites give you several options how to post your resume.

Responding to Online Job Postings:

Responding to online job postings is another option, especially with the explosion of online job posting sites such as monster.com and careerbuilder.com. Remember that networking and personal referrals are the number one way that most people find jobs, so only use this as one of your job search methods.

Corporate Web Sites:

Employers are using the internet more than ever to direct applicant flow. Many companies accept resumes and/or have resume builders directly on their own employment sites.

In Person Cold Calls:

This is where you go door to door to companies to look for work. This method depends mainly on luck and being in the right place at the right time. Very time consuming; it is not considered a very effective or productive method, but it does work from time to time.

In Summary…

Resumes:

Speak for you when you’re not there

Serve as a marketing tool

Must highlight your ability to do the job

Should result in you getting an interview

Writing Career Objectives

• Concise, short and to the point
• Target your career objective whenever possible. Don’t make the employer guess
• Be specific – don’t write: “Seeking a challenging position with a large company that will provide an opportunity for growth and advancement.”
• Answers the question “What can you do for the employer?”

Targeted Objective (preferred):

Lists the specific job and company you are applying for

Examples of Good Targeted Career Objectives

• Seeking a position as a Licensed Vocational Nurse for St. Mary’s Hospital
• A position as a Bookkeeper for M&M Tax Consultants
• Position as a Security Guard for Brinks International

General Job Objective:

Occasionally you do not know the actual company you are sending your resume to and a general job objective is most effective in these circumstances. When you do not know the name of the actual company or are going to a job fair and will hand out resumes to several companies, then the objective needs to be more generic. Often jobs that are posted on the Internet are blinds ads from head hunters and you will not be able to find the company name.

Examples of General Objectives

• Entry level position in multi-image production company
• Position as a Health Educator
• Project management position in Marketing

The most effective, well-written career objective is targeted for a specific job (bookkeeper, medical transcriber, diesel mechanic, etc.) with a specific company (General Motors, Johnston Automotive, etc.). Since you may need a different resume for each opening you locate, you will also need to change the job objective and especially the specific company for each resume. Be sure that you know the actual title of the job when you apply. If your resume targets a position that is not open, then you may not be considered. For example, if a line position is open and you are asking for a management job, then you may never get the interview that you want.

Your objective can and should also be repeated in the body of the cover letter. Make the objective short and to the point. Consider this the title of your resume. The rest of the resume must convince the hiring authority that you have the background and skills to do the job and are well worth an interview.

Do not assume that any career objective is better than no objective. If your objective is vague and unfocused, you appear indecisive and unable to make decisions and set goals. This is not a description of duties or a vague description of a job. Avoid statements such as “a position that will utilize my broad talents and allow me to grow.” If this is your objective, leave it off your resume.

Using a career objective has been an optional issue on a resume in the past, but in recent years it has become more important. There are times when you absolutely need a job objective, such as:

• When applying online. Often jobs are sorted by objectives and directed to the correct department for review.

• When applying to large companies, to avoid the human resources department deciding the position you should fill.

• Posting resumes on job search sites, such as Monster.com. Employers decide whether to review your resume based on the job objective.