Wayne State University Law School Career Services Office Enhance the Experience Section of Your Resume Your resume is the cornerstone of your job search. It is a sales tool that must convey your qualifications to a prospective employer in a clear, succinct and appealing manner, highlighting the most relevant aspects of your background. The principal building block of your resume is the Experience section. Unfortunately, the Experience section is often the most difficult to write. Many resume writers merely list job titles and general job responsibilities. Though employers are interested in what you did, they are more interested in how well you did it. In other words, your accomplishments are more important than your responsibilities. For example, which is more impressive, the fact that you were responsible for estate planning or that you structured trusts to minimize clients tax liability? Drafting powerful statements that provide specific examples of how you achieved success and demonstrate the value of hiring you requires forethought and a shift in perspective. First, you must determine the work experience and skill sets most highly valued by the prospective employer. Then you must examine your experience and skills, select what you must emphasize in your resume, and compose descriptions that highlight how well you performed and convey your value as a potential employee. Start by asking yourself questions that identify what you did that made your prior employers better for having hired you. For example: Was I commended for work on a particular project? Was I the go-to person for any particular type of work? Was my work product submitted with little or no editing? Did I receive positive performance reviews and what was cited? Was I given additional tasks beyond those entrusted to others at my level? Did I interact well with clients and co-workers? Did I generate business? Did I save my employer money? Did I offer or implement ideas that resulted in more efficient operations? Did I achieve positive results for clients/customers?
Next develop PAR and FAB statements. PAR statements enable you to catalog your achievements and categorize what you ve done to help solve, improve, change, and successfully implement strategies or otherwise benefit your employer. FAB statements serve a similar purpose. They refine your PAR statements to illustrate the benefits associated with hiring you. PAR (Problem/Action/Result) Statements PAR statements have three components: P stands for PROBLEM. At the beginning of the statement, state a specific problem or task that you confronted. The A stands for ACTION. The middle of the statement identifies the action you took to solve the problem or complete the task. Finally, the R stands for RESULT. The last part of the statement states the result of your action. Examples: Corrected severe product failures (PROBLEM) by developing a new failure analysis system to help identify specific field failures (ACTION) saving over $1.0 million in one year (RESULT). For client confronting liability for age discrimination (PROBLEM) drafted successful motion for summary judgment (ACTION) avoiding potential damages in excess of $250,000 (RESULT). FAB (Feature/Achievement/Benefit) Statements The purpose of FABs is to highlight the potential benefits associated with hiring you. They can be used in a variety of applications from cover letters and resumes to interviews. The first step in developing a FAB statement is to identify what you accomplished for your prior employers and how that benefited the employers. Think in terms of features and the resulting benefits. For example, the feature is that your cellular phone includes voice mail. The benefit is that you'll never miss a call. To the extent possible, FABs should always be tailored toward cost savings, reduction in expenses, better productivity, more efficiency, profit, revenue, or other performance based quantitative metrics inside an organization. The better FABs have money, percentage, time or some other quantitative element associated with the FAB. Examples: Interned for federal judge (FEATURE) acquiring valuable insight and experience in litigation and court system (ACHIEVEMENT) thereby enabled to immediately contribute to litigation practice group without considerable training (BENEFIT). Wayne State University Law School 2 Career Services Office
Honorable U.S. Army discharge (FEATURE) with extensive telecommunication training (ACHIEVEMENT) providing immediate application trouble-shooting experience to reduce costs (BENEFIT). Ask yourself questions like these to develop FAB statements. 1. Did I help to increase sales, productivity, efficiency, etc.? What was the percentage or dollar contribution? How did I do it? Did I have a unique approach or different results from others? 2. Did I save money for the company? What were the circumstances? How were my results compared to others? How much more than others did I save? 3. Did I institute any new systems or changes? What was the situation that led to the change? Who approved? Why was this system selected over others? Did it compete with others? What happened as a result? 4. Did I identify any problem that had been overlooked? What was the problem? What was the solution? Why was it overlooked? 5. Was I ever promoted? Why was I promoted? How long between promotions? Did I do something outstanding? How much more responsibility? Was I given significant salary increases or raises? 6. Did I manage others and, if so, how many? Did I train anyone? Did I develop training techniques? Is my technique being used by others? Why is that? 7. Did I suggest any new programs? What were they about? What were the results? Did they increase efficiency or generate business? Were they published or presented at any industry seminars? 8. Did I help to establish any new goals or objectives for the company? Did I convince management to adopt these goals or objectives? 9. Did I ever undertake a project that was not part of my responsibility? 10. Did I do anything to lighten my job or make it easier resulting in increased profits or productivity? Selling yourself to a prospective employer can be an awkward and frustrating experience. However, if you devote time and attention to reviewing your past work experience to reveal your true assets and craft PARs and FABs that highlight your accomplishments and demonstrate your value as an employee, your resume will prove to be a much more effective sales tool. Wayne State University Law School 3 Career Services Office
Use the worksheets on the following pages to develop PAR and FAB statements to enhance the Experience section of your resume. Wayne State University Law School 4 Career Services Office
PROBLEM ACTION RESULT Wayne State University Law School 5 Career Services Office
FEATURE ACHIEVEMENT BENEFIT Wayne State University Law School 6 Career Services Office