In my line of work, I look at a lot of resumes, and I’m happy to say most people grasp the concept of the who, when, where, and why of the resume. But I’ve found only few do an adequate job with the what. This is surprising because the “what” is, well, what it is all about. Without the what, all we have is a name with a list of dates and places leaving us to wonder what, how and how well they are doing it. It’s not just one what either, it’s several, 4 to be exact. Before we get to the 4 What’s, we should review the other basics of the resume. The easy parts, the ones folks typically get spot on.

To review:

• Who: Refers to both the one writing the resume AND their employer/s.
• When: Refers to the dates a candidate worked at a given employer.
• Where: Refers to both the location of the candidate AND the location of the employer/s.
• Why: The basic purpose of a resume is to advertise themselves to potential employers.

Now for the 4 What’s of the resume or LinkedIn Profile.

What 1:

What Are you working on? This is big picture stuff. What is the big thing you’re a part of? Tell us about it. Is it a product, a service, a team, a process, a standard? Talk about scope; how large or small is the “thing” you’re working on. What is its reach? Is it local, regional, national, global? Even HR folks such as myself are working on something and it can be qualified. We’re building companies, and people by bringing process and support to the most valuable resource companies claim to have, people!

What 2:

What Is your role? This is where you talk about where you fit into the big picture. Job titles can give some insight here, but not in enough detail. This is where it’s ok to get granular with details on your day to day work. Are you building something? If you’re not building, what are you doing? Are you designing, coding, implementing, maintaining, managing, enhancing, selling, supporting, administering?   Whatever your role is, own it and define it!

What 3:

What is your Impact? Why is the company better because you are there? Do your best to quantify your impact. This may be easy in some roles such as sales, support, or production where the numbers are generated just by doing the job and can be reported as “met or exceeded expectations/quotas.” If this is the case, go a bit deeper and tell by how much you exceeded. In some disciplines, such as engineering or development, release dates and/or budgets are either met or not. Talk about it. Other disciplines such as HR, accounting/finance where things can be a bit more ambiguous may require a bit more creativity. But no matter where you are, there are metrics by which impact is measured, so measure and report. If you’re unsure about this, ask your boss how reviews are done. Those processes you helped design or improve, did it yield a result? What did it mean to your team, the company, the bottom line? Did it save time, resources, money etc.? This single “what” may be the most over looked “What” of them all, yet is the most powerful because it speaks directly to impact.

What 4:

What tools are you using? Okay, technically this could be the “how” of the resume, but I count is as a “What” because when I look at a resume the 3rd question I ask myself starts with a “what”. What tools are they using? There’s nothing like having the right tools for the job, and every job requires tools. List them. What are the tools you use to do your job, they may be physical tools, specific software suites or applications, an understanding of processes or standards, etc. For the technical talent I recruit they’re usually programming languages, platforms, operating systems, etc. But for HR, marketing or even sales roles they may be specific software packages, processes, procedures or methodologies. Whatever tools you use, be sure to list them. Many times those tools are the “Key” words recruiters use to identify candidates with specific skills and by listing them, you’ve just increased your relevance.

There you have it, the 4 “What’s” of a resume. By putting a little extra time into the “what” of the resume or LinkedIn profile you are giving much better insight into the skills, value and impact you offer potential employers. In addition, you increase your chances of being found by potential employers because you are talking about things which are relevant to them, which is a topic for a future post.

Copyright © 2018 Ward E Wilson