Some employers say they don’t like Summary/Profile sections because they are full of unsubstantiated fluff. Therefore, it’s incumbent upon the job-seeker to substantiate as much of the Summary/Profile section as possible — with stories, as well as with numbers, examples, and quotes from those who know your work. Any bullet points that are not substantiated in the Summary/Profile section itself should be substantiated later in the resume. Here are examples of story-substantiated bullet points:
- Demonstrated organizational skills at the highest level; successfully completed all assignments meeting all goals and timelines, from initiating complex and sensitive operations in the United States and abroad to establishing overseas office.
- Successfully deployed unsurpassed interpersonal skills during professional interactions with U.S. government personnel, representatives of Fortune 500 defense-industry corporations, and as an instructor/lecturer for business groups and government employees.
- Innovative decision-maker who consistently made informed purchasing choices on ERP and other software packages by developing fully operational, user-configurable, corporate intranet, and numerous in-house custom-built, Oracle-based applications.
- Accomplished facilitator with reputation for highly effective team-building skills proven through overcoming team resistance and collaboratively completing key intranet project well before four-month deadline.
- Enthusiastic self-starter who addressed seemingly insurmountable technical difficulties in software program that threatened timely document submission to National Drug Administration; research efforts resulted in software upgrade that enabled swift completion of time-sensitive documents.
- Solutions-oriented manager who overcame negativity of two unsuccessful prior project attempts by applying specialized project-management methodology and design techniques.
Tell Me About Yourself: Storytelling that Propels Careers, Quintessential Careers Press, ISBN-10: 1-934689-00-9. Find out the ways you can own the entire book.
