First, let me say that I always advocate that continuing education is incredibly important AND that whether through college courses or online workshops, we all need to continually improve our Skill Sets. When writing a resume, it is important to include accomplishments/duties performed for each job we list on our resumes. In my book, WRITING STANDOUT RESUMES, I include a "resume filler" section with accomplishments/duties that are typically looked for by employers - experience and expertise they are often seeking in the jobs ads placed online or elsewhere. That section is a guide. For example, for a 'Sales Associate' resume, I included the following bullet points as duties typically placed on resumes:
- Led effort to
expand company’s customer base into new region, which led to a 25%
increase in customers and 35% increase in revenue from services rendered.
- Dynamic customer
service professional with extensive record of achievement in mediating
customer complaints and increasing sales & customer base.
If you are a sales associate and have statistics to show you increased number of customers and increased revenue, then include this in your resume. On the other hand, if you don't have much or any experience in "mediating customer complaints," consider this sample as a guide of experience you should seek out so that you can put that skill down as soon as you acquire that skill. The filler recommended is actually just me saying, such experience catches the eye of hiring managers.
Sample accomplishments/duties for sales, social workers and paralegal professionals:
Sample accomplishments/duties for sales, social workers and paralegal professionals:
Sales Associate
- Led effort to
expand company’s customer base into new region, which led to a 25%
increase in customers and 35% increase in revenue from services rendered.
- Dynamic customer
service professional with extensive record of achievement in mediating
customer complaints and increasing sales & customer base.
- Proficient in point
of sale transactions and processing merchandise returns and/or exchanges.
- Provided superior general
office and customer service support.
Skilled at training new hires in use of point of sale technology
and of new company merchandise & services.
- Continually
exceeded company’s sales goals achieving record sales marks in multiple
quarters.
Social Worker/Case
Manager
- Secured private
grant to fund continuing education for institution’s staff in areas of
child development, classroom management, health & wellness, and first
aid.
- Graduate-level
Substance Abuse Counselor with CASAC-T Certification. Additional certifications in Child Abuse
& Maltreatment, Tobacco & Chemical Dependence Interventions, First
Aid (2014) and CPR (2015).
- Proficient in
patient advocacy and assessment.
Skilled at coordinating patient treatment and healthcare needs with
staff, medical facilities and families.
- Adept at crisis
intervention counseling as well as individual and group counseling. Proficiency in MS Excel, PowerPoint and
Word.
- Accomplished at
facilitating communications between patients, physicians, and discharge
planners. Trained in and
knowledgeable of HIPPAA regulations.
- Facilitate the
securing of proper housing for patients; provide patient referrals to
appropriate social services for medical and financial assistance.
- Adept at records
research and analysis.
- Coursework &
field training in Group Counseling, Childhood Development, Interventive
Methods 1 & 2, and Psychoactive Drugs & Health.
- Proficient youth
mentor adept at advocacy, assessment, and developing & implementing
educational/wellness programming for diverse populations.
- Accomplished at
performing outreach within urban settings and providing individualized
treatment and advisement to clients.
Legal
Secretary/Paralegal
- Led initiative to
transfer client records over to Excel-based database and archive providing
attorneys a secure and global 24-hour access to client files.
- Proficiency in
securing evidence for litigation including digital records, phone logs,
employment files and business contracts.
- An aptitude for
quickly identifying relevant state and federal court decisions relevant to
cases.
- Expertise in
prepping legal team for arguments and case histories of potential use by
opposing counsel.
- Adept in use of
Excel and the use of multiple legal coding/billing software.
- Coordinated
evidence cataloging and completed court requests for evidence and
depositions.
- Assisted in
research of historical proceedings to aid in providing precedence to
support legal teams’ court actions.