Resume Examples

FOUR PRINCIPLES FOR COMMUNICATING WITH IMPACT

I. Put your most important message first

A. Survey everything you did for a project or responsibility, identify the most important actions, skills or experiences, and
put them at the front of the bullet
A good test for your resume is to fold it in half lengthwise. Can the reader readily scan the left-half of your resume and
get your most important points. People review resumes quickly; putting your most important messages first helps to
ensure your reader will see them. See examples one through three.

B. Use lead verbs that are strong, active and specific

When you choose a lead verb, ask yourself whether it is strong (versus weak), active (versus passive) and specific
(versus vague/general). Verbs that are strong, active and specific generally convey much more impactful messages. See
examples four through six.

C. Put your bullets in order of priority See example seven.

II. Focus your bullets on the specific actions you took

A. Focus primarily on the actions you took and the role you played within a project
When you start off a bullet with “assisted”, “participated in”, “supported”, and the like, your reader will want to know,
“but what specifically did you do.” Ask yourself, “how did I assist”, “what was the nature of my participation” or “how
did I provide support”? By focusing on your specific actions, you create a more impactful impression of you as an
independent contributor. See examples eight and nine.

B. Occasionally, you may wish to emphasize participation in projects or processes instead of the specific actions you took
For instance, say you worked on a new product launch and you want that idea first because it’s an important part of your
story concerning why you want to go into brand management. When you do this, make certain, however, you have good
reasons for doing so. See examples ten and eleven.

III. Highlight the impact of your work

A. Use quantitative measures to illustrate the impact of your work
Did you increase profits, reduce expenditures, increase productivity, increase market share, or decrease production time?
Quantifying the impact of your work makes a powerful statement about the kinds of contributions you can make. When
you quantify, consider what measures will be most meaningful and relevant to your reader. See examples twelve through
fourteen.

B. Use qualitative measures to illustrate the impact of your work

Often you can’t quantify your results. In these cases, look for qualitative results. Did you create something new, did you
create something that became the office standard, how did your work help others? Ask yourself, “What did my work
allow our group to do or to accomplish that we couldn’t otherwise do?” See examples fifteen through eighteen.

C. Highlight awards and acknowledgements

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IV. Focus on the interests of your audience
A. Know what your audience is looking for and address those interests
What skills are important for your new career? What areas of expertise? What characteristics? Address your audience’s
interests to create a stronger impression. See examples nineteen through twenty-one.

B. Edit out technical language and jargon from your prior work – unless it is relevant
Especially for career changers, technical language and jargon often make it appear that you are looking for a job in your
old field of work. See example twenty-two.

PUT YOUR MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE FIRST

Example 1
This student was a lawyer prior to business school. She wanted to move into corporate strategy roles.
• Negotiated settlement of a million dollar lawsuit for less than .5% of the alleged claim
By itself, this bullet has some strong points. Her resume, however, was filled with negotiation experiences. What she really
wanted to highlight was strategic thinking. This student stepped back and generated a list of everything that went into this
particular project. All of the following were on her list: interviewing constituents, conducting factual due diligence, researching
case law, summarizing the legal position of both sides, settling on a legal strategy, persuading clients of the advantages of the
proposed strategy, enacting litigation to force the opposing party toward preferring a negotiated settlement to continued
litigation, and negotiating the specific terms of the settlement. Making this list gave her some choices about what to emphasize.
She re-wrote the bullet to emphasize the skill of identifying/creating a strategy or approach.
• Devised strategy for minimizing expense and financial risk based on financial and legal analysis resulting in a
negotiated agreement for less than .5% of a million dollar claim

Example 2
This student worked in private wealth management and wanted to move into consulting.
• Provided client service to high net worth individuals and endowments across various asset classes (value, growth,
international, emerging markets, fixed income, REITs)
“Provided client service” is an umbrella statement that summarizes his whole job. It doesn’t allow the reader to get a full sense
of the various skills the student used. By breaking down all that went into client service, the student was able to identify specific
skills and experiences that he wanted to highlight.
• Developed individualized financial solutions for high net worth clients resulting in client investments of $10M
o Interviewed high net worth clients to identify financial goals
o Devised and sold investment strategies and products

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Example 3
This student had a computer engineering background and primarily did coding. He had the following bullet in the “Additional”
section of his resume.
• Adult Literacy Tutor for Black Cultural Center
There is nothing wrong with this bullet. As is, it demonstrates an interest in people and also community involvement. The
student in question, however, had a very technical background and was worried he would be stereotyped as an engineer who
lacked people skills. As a result, he was seeking ways to communicate that he did indeed have solid people skills. He turned this
bullet which merely describes something he did into a bullet that carried this important message.
• Interviewed adult literacy students to assess learning needs, created individualized lessons, and tutored over 20 adults in
reading and writing skills

Example 4
This student worked as a financial analyst prior to arriving at the GSB.
• Provided direct financial support to a division with annual expense base of over $100 million by analyzing and
interpreting financial data for planning and control purposes
“Provided” is vague. Further, “providing support” doesn’t send a compelling message. The more interesting part of the bullet
concerns the analysis and interpretation. This student sent a stronger message through a very simple change - he reversed the
order of the two halves of the bullet. Note the use of a much stronger and more specific lead verb.
• Analyzed and interpreted financial data for planning and control purposes for a division with an annual expense base of
over $100 million

Example 5
While working as a research assistant in a lab, this student was responsible for the daily operations of experimental research.
• Coordinated several projects at once, met daily deadlines, planned various methods and controls, and presented
rationale for unexpected results.
“Coordinated” is vague and as a result is not particularly strong. The student chose a stronger, more clearly active verb for her
first revision – “managed”.
• Managed operations for multiple research projects including planning methods and meeting milestones. Projects
produced three professional journal articles.
This student also surveyed everything she did and decided to separate out the last part of the bullet – “presented rationale for
unexpected results” – and to put it within its own bullet. This last part represents analytical skills that the student wanted to
highlight.
• Managed operations for multiple projects including planning methods and meeting milestones. Projects produced three
professional journal articles.
• Identified themes in unexpected research findings allowing for a new interpretation that led to two additional research
projects.

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Example 6
This student had a history of finance experience but wanted to move into brand management.
• Prepared marketing materials and client presentations for Managing Directors and Vice Presidents and participated in
new business pitches
“Prepared” is not particularly strong. In this case, the student simply selected a stronger lead verb – “created”.
• Created marketing materials and client presentations for Managing Directors and Vice Presidents and participated in
new business pitches
She then stepped back and surveyed everything she did for this kind of project. She decided that creativity was demonstrated in
other bullets. She decided to use this bullet to highlight an important message for brand managers - that she could understand
consumers. She rewrote the bullet to emphasize this new message. Again, note that she uses a strong and active lead verb.
• Assessed the needs of clients and tailored marketing materials and presentations for new business pitches; participated
in pitches with Managing Director and Vice Presidents.

Example 7
This student worked for an investment and development corporation dedicated to infrastructure projects in Asia. She had the
following bullets on her resume.
• Planned to establish an international investment fund for national infrastructure projects.
• Provided financing support and financial analysis for utility and transportation projects.
This student had volumes of experience working with finances but wanted to send stronger messages concerning problem
solving and people skills. Her first bullet refers to a project in which she developed the idea of a single consolidated investment
fund. The fund would support a wide range of infrastructure projects in China each of which was, on its own, too small for
major financial institutions to consider. Her current language, however, needed work. “Planned” can be a strong and active
verb. But “Planned to establish” is vague – it didn’t say much. She created the following revision to emphasize problem
solving:
• Created and presented novel solution for funding constraints for infrastructure projects. Elicited support from Chinese
governmental officials.
• Provided financing support and financial analysis for utility and transportation projects.
Her second bullet also needed work. “Provided financing support” is vague and not particularly active. Second, she was not
sure she wanted to highlight herself as a “support” person. She decided to drop the idea of serving as a general support person
and instead focused on the second half of the bullet – providing financial analysis. She inventoried all the things she did when
she analyzed financial projects. One of her roles was modeling. Another was presenting her results and making
recommendations. Both of these sent much more useful messages about her as a potential employee. She then crafted a new
version:
• Created and presented novel solution for funding constraints for infrastructure projects. Elicited support from Chinese
governmental officials.
• Modeled multiple financial scenarios for international utility and transportation projects; presented optimal financing
scenarios to senior team leaders.
Finally, when she looked at the two bullets to consider which carried a more important message and should therefore go first. It
was really a matter of judgment and it could be argued either way. The student, however, felt the first bullet was stronger. It
represented a specific instance where she had observed a problem, devised a potential solution, and sold the idea to a very
difficult audience. Thus she decided to leave the first bullet first.

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FOCUS YOUR BULLETS ON THE SPECIFIC ACTIONS YOU TOOK

Example 8
This student was a project manager for an engineering firm. He had the following bullet on his resume concerning a project he
managed.
• Assisted in the preparation of monthly financial forecasts for Brazilian telecommunications project.
The student included this bullet because it was one of the few instances where he did any kind of financial analysis. At the same
time he recognized that the bullet lacked impact. He began to rework it by asking the question, “What specific actions did I
take?” His role was to analyze projected expenditures for aspects of the engineering process and to identify potential problems.
As he thought about it, he realized that on several instances he had identified specific problems and solved them. He rewrote the
bullet to tell what he actually did. In so doing, he was able to keep the fact that he had some exposure to financial data, but
offered a stronger presentation by highlighting what action he took.
• Analyzed finances for engineering operations and recommended purchasing and processing improvements that reduced
operational costs by 15%.

Example 9
This student worked in a financial consulting firm.
• Worked closely with leadership team including CEO and CFO to design various internal and external management
reports
“Worked” is vague; it could mean almost anything. As a result, it doesn’t carry particularly active or strong connotations.
Another way to write this is to change the verb to more clearly describe how the student worked with the leadership team.
• Collaborated with leadership team including CEO and CFO to design various internal and external management reports
This option can work if the student in question truly “collaborated” with the leadership team. As an analyst, however, he was
not on par with senior management and he felt “collaborated” didn’t adequately describe what happened. As a result, he
surveyed the specific actions he took and re-oriented the bullet around one of those actions.
• Designed various internal and external management reports that met the specifications of the CEO and CFO

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 Example 10
This student worked in product marketing for a technology firm. S/he wants to continue working in marketing.
• Developed sales collateral and user guide, website content, and coordinated awareness of PR events in support of VoIP
product launch.
She had a good amount of experience developing marketing materials and doing various kinds of promotional work. This was
summarized throughout her resume. What was missing was involvement in strategic processes and decisions. She decided this
bullet was a place where she could communicate participation in such a process – a new product launch. She did this initially by
simply switching the order of the bullet. Her new bullet read:
• Supported VoIP product launch, developed sales collateral and user guide, website content, and coordinated awareness
of PR events.
“Supported”, however, was not strong, active, or specific. She thought about her role for the product launch. She was one of a
team of five. She decided to select a team/people verb to convey that it was a joint effort.
• Collaborated with new product launch team on VoIP innovation including developing sales collateral, website content,
and promotional events.

Example 11
This student had experience as an analyst in a bank. He wanted to become a bond trader.
• Assisted traders in management of fixed-income portfolios by tracking trades, reporting market activity, interacting
with market makers, and identifying trades
The student has chosen to highlight the fact that he was involved in the process of fixed-income trading instead of the specific
actions he took in the process. Given his career goals, it seems to make sense. Are there other ways to write this that still
emphasize his involvement but that also bring out an important role he played?
• Identified fixed-income trades for traders by tracking market activity and interacting with market makers

HIGHLIGHT THE IMPACT OF YOUR WORK

Example 12
This student worked in a non-for-profit organization as a communications director prior to the GSB and wanted to move into
marketing. He wrote the following bullet two ways. Which is more preferable?
• Improved marketing material resulting in $30,000 of additional corporate sponsorships
• Improved marketing material resulting in increased partner sponsorships by 40%
The first uses absolute terms ($30K) and the second relative ones (40%). One way to assess whether to use absolute or relative
terms is to ask whether or not your audience knows whether $30,000 is significant. For the NPO, $30,000 was a great deal. The
student felt recruiters with little experience in non-for-profits may not recognize this fact. In order to make clear the
significance of the accomplishment, the student decided to use relative terms. He then developed the bullet by surveying
everything he did for the project and by re-orienting the bullet around a specific action that he took.
• Developed creative messaging for new promotional materials that increased partner sponsorship by 40%

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Example 13
This student had extensive experience as an IT consultant. She had the following bullet on her resume.
• Identified opportunities for alliances and partnerships. Conducted exploratory meetings with potential vendors for
partnering opportunities in customer care, payment processing, and content management.
As is, there are several strong elements within this bullet. For instance, “identified” is a strong and active verb. Further, the
bullet is about creating opportunities. Still, it’s not yet clear what became of her effort to “identify opportunities”. Were any of
these opportunities pursued? If so, to what end? The student improved the bullet by highlighting the value of her efforts.
• Identified cost saving measures, researched key vendors, and initiated partnering discussions. New relationships
reduced client’s operating expenses by 12%.

Example 14
This student worked for a non-for profit organization prior to the GSB. As a part of that experience, she managed a citizenship
drive that encouraged immigrants to apply for U.S. citizenship. She had the following bullet on her resume:
• Managed teams of 10-15 volunteers for naturalization seminars
The results of her management are unclear. To what ends did her efforts lead? How did her leadership improve the drive? In
this case, the student felt that her leadership did make a big difference. When she examined everything that she did, she realized
she made several changes in the organization of the staffing. Her re-organization and training allowed the staff to be much more
efficient. She captured this result in her revised bullet.
• Trained, managed, and motivated teams of 10 to 15 volunteers for a mobile citizen application effort resulting in
improved processing efficiency by 60%

Example 15
This student worked as an analyst in a bank and wanted to move into an investment analyst role.
• Developed an index of hedge funds with investment styles and key players for use by the Prime Brokerage Capital
Introductions desk.
It’s nice that he produced a report. But how was this report used? What was its value to the organization? It’s difficult to
quantify the impact of a report. You can, however, ask how your analysis affected organizational decision-making and/or
operations.
• Authored a detailed research report on the effect of demographic shifts in municipal and agency bond pricing. Results
employed by Head of Fixed Income Research to refine overall fixed income strategy.

Example 16
This student served as an assistant in an asset management firm.
• Disseminated relevant market information to management team as well as assisted in the execution of market trading.
This is a description of what she did on a routine basis. Because it was a routine process that she did everyday, it’s hard to
identify a single instance of this activity that yielded measurable results. Still, her information was important to the people who
used it. She revised the bullet in an effort to show the value of her information to those who used it.
• Disseminated relevant market information to management team allowing just-in-time analysis that drove trading
strategies.

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 Example 17
While working as a tax accountant, this student helped bring on-line new audit software for use in engagements.
• Formulated new data analysis methods following switch to new software. Promoted procedures to seniors, creating
protocol
What was valuable about the new methods? Did they improve the audit process by making it more accurate? Did they make
audits more efficient? Perhaps the accomplishment was simply being able to introduce a new system in the midst of an audit
while maintaining the quality of service to the client.
• Formulated new data analysis methods allowing audit teams to more quickly identify client problems. Promoted
methods to engagement managers and authored new protocols

Example 18
This student described a contribution while serving as an analyst in an investment bank as follows:
• Created financial services valuation template adopted by San Francisco office for standard use.
This bullet is good in that it points out that his template became an office standard. The bullet is fine as is. Can it be improved?
Perhaps by indicating how the template improved on what previously existed, though his re-write does sacrifice some brevity.
• Created financial services valuation template that highlighted salient factors driving the valuation; template was
adopted by San Francisco office for standard use

FOCUS ON THE INTERESTS OF YOUR AUDIENCE

Example 19
This student spent two years working for a small, wine-producer. He had the following bullet on his resume:
• Produced 3500 gallons of wine entailing all aspects of the process from vineyard cultivation, wine making, bottling
and proper storage.
Very few recruiters understand what goes into “producing wine”, “cultivation”, “wine-making”, or “bottling”. As such, they
can’t really tell what skills or expertise the student possesses. The student was interested in marketing and learned that being in
touch with consumers is very important. As a result, he dropped everything about wine production and instead focused on
experiences in which he learned about their customer base.
• Analyzed customer feedback which led to a 100-fold increase in sales for 1998 and the development of three new
wines.

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Example 20
This student had banking experience in a small investment bank. He wanted to move to a strategic and planning role in a
corporation. He had the following bullet on his resume.
• Valued acquisitions ranging from $10M to $10B and advised middle market companies on mergers and acquisitions
and private placement opportunities
While speaking with professionals in the field, he learned a critical competency in strategy is decision-making. As he
continued to explore what strategy means, he found that the manner in which strategic decisions are made and supported is a
critical issue in all businesses. After surveying his banking experience, he decided this bullet would allow him to address this
important interest of his target audience. He did so simply by focusing on the second half of the bullet.
• Advised middle market companies on mergers and acquisitions and private placement opportunities; supported
recommendations with valuation analyses
He noticed his bullet lacked results. The bullet did not tell a specific story but focused on what he did in general. He selected a
specific instance in which he offered advice to a client. This allowed him to bring out the impact/results of his efforts.
• Advised middle market CPG firm on potential merger opportunity based on valuation analysis; recommendations
provided well-supported go/no-go decision criteria

Example 21
This student was interested in consulting. Prior to returning to school, he worked for a local municipality doing community
development work.
• Advised and helped local group, the Latino Outreach, to formulate strategy on how to research and write grant
proposals resulting in an award of $10,000.
He knew consultants help organizations with specific problems and act as catalysts for growth. He re-wrote the bullet to make
it clearer and more succinct, but also to incorporate language that would be more familiar for his target audience. Notice how
the “local group” in the first bullet becomes a “client organization” in the second.
• Advised client organization on research and grant writing leading to an award of $10,000

Example 22
This student worked as a computer programmer prior to coming to the GSB. He wanted to go into a strategy role within a
corporation or into consulting. He had the following bullet on his resume.
• Designed and developed Virtual environments using C, C++, Sense8’s World Took Kit, and IRIS Performer on SGI
workstations. Additional responsibilities included Experiment setup, configuration of the virtual reality immersion
environment and provide necessary technical support.
While this bullet spoke directly to the interests of many computer programmers, it did not address the interests of business
people. Whenever H.R. people looked at his resume, they instantly thought of placing him in IT roles. He did a total overhaul of
the bullet. He began by surveying everything he did for this project. The project involved creating a virtual simulation for
training purposes. A large part of the project involved understanding the needs of the people who would use the program. He re-
oriented the bullet to emphasize the process of interacting with others to learn to better understand their needs. He felt this would
appeal to his target audience.
• Interviewed U.S. Army psychologists to design and develop interactive Virtual Reality battlefield simulation system.
System was used to study human behavior in computer-simulated environments.

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