Perfect Resume: How to Write Powerful Achievements

The promise of this email mini-course is simple:

“Give me 15 minutes of your time, and you’ll learn about the most efficient way to become a senior project manager.”

But why should you care so much about career advancement right now?

The real project management starts when you stop juggling multiple small projects and start working on one or two big projects.

Only on a bigger project with enough authority do you get the fulfilling career you dreamed of.

Only on a bigger project do you get the opportunity to apply all your skills and make a long-lasting impact!

So, if you are an ambitious Project Manager and want to advance your career and gain recognition for the hard work you do…

…or if you're a seasoned PM who wants to transform their vast experience and become an industry-recognized expert…

…you're going to discover how Achievements-Based Resume can help you achieve your career goals and stand out in a competitive field.

So, it’s not about a higher salary and title. Becoming a senior project manager is the only way to avoid burnout and stagnation in managing small, unimportant projects.

But before we tackle today’s practical assignment, let’s recap the most critical points from the previous lessons.

On Monday, we explored why an Achievement-Based Resume works much better than a traditional resume. Please read that email first before proceeding with this one.

That discussion led us to the one critical conclusion:

You need to re-write your typical PM responsibilities into quantifiable achievements. Studies show that recruiters want to see actual accomplishments in your resume. But 99,9% of people won’t do it or do it completely wrong.

But I almost hear you say this:

The fact that you don’t qualify for a senior PM role yet is a good thing because you have time to gain the correct experience.

Let me explain!

You probably run several small projects right now. This means you repeat the same simplified project management approach (Scrum or Kanban) for the same small projects.

Unfortunately, those skills won’t make you a senior project manager. Quite the opposite, these skills make you STUCK running small projects.

Instead, you need to gain the practical skills that senior project managers need while you still run small projects. Moreover, you need to change the way you see your role on the project.

How to Gain Experience You Don’t Have

At this point, usually, people say something like, “Great! But still, I run only small projects. I don’t have the opportunity to do what professional PMs do.”

One critical revelation happens when you start thinking about your professional development in terms of achievements.

Right now, you pull the content of your resume from the experience you got accidentally. In other words, you have access ONLY to the experience that naturally happened on your projects.

That often leads to funny knowledge gaps. For example, you managed small IT projects with Scrum for five years. However, you never had an opportunity to manage a project budget.

Most people will simply accept this as a fact. Instead, successful project managers intentionally craft opportunities to apply the skills they lack.

If you don’t have access to the project budget, ask for access. If your boss doesn’t want to share that information, try to derive it and track the budget via team efforts (aka person-days) and average salary rates. Calculate the profitability of your team.

Just do the exercise!

Notice that we are not lying about experience or faking it. We do gain knowledge and skills, but only with derived data. The processes and tools we use are REAL.

I hope this opens up a new dimension of opportunities for you and your resume because I know the lack of certain skills was holding you back!

Now let me show you the true power of the Achievements-Based Resume.

#1: Get the Resume Template

Several studies show that recruiters and hiring managers spend under 60 seconds reviewing your resume. After that, you are either rejected or moved to the next step of the hiring process.

According to Jobvite:

But what does a “well-formatted resume” mean?

• It’s easy to scan.
• It’s easy to read.
• It’s short.
• It has a simple layout.

I’ve been testing resume formats throughout my career. In the long run, I’ve identified the one that performs best. I used this format to get job offers from Amazon, FLYR, and other well-known companies.

​Click here to get access to Achievements-Based Resume Template.

(Please make a copy or download the template. Do not request permission to edit.)

#2: Nail Your Summary Section

When I said we need to address the needs of recruiters and hiring managers, I meant it!

For example, these guys don’t read your resume. They scan it.

First, they scan to see if you are a good fit for the job opening. They do this on an elementary level.

That’s why you need to have a job title that matches the job title in the job description. Moreover, you must repeat it in:

1. Resume header.
2. The first sentence in the summary section.
3. One of the first in the list of skills.
4. As the first job title in the experience section.

Ideally, you want to repeat the same job title six to eight times. Nothing scammy. It’s just the way our brain works.

Recruiters will also search for the main criterion for the job opening. Usually, it’s the number of years of experience.

That’s why your Summary Section should always start with a sentence in the following format:

After that, you can add one or two sentences to justify any inconsistencies between your resume and the job description. Or you’ll use those two sentences to explain the additional value you can bring to the company.

I want you to understand the importance of what we do here.

Just because recruiters opened your resume doesn’t mean they’ll read it.

Structuring your resume this way and putting this information helps us grab attention. The goal of the summary is to make recruiters read at least one more sentence in your resume.

If they get confused, overwhelmed, or bored, they’ll go to the next candidate.

If they read something that triggers their bullshit detector, they’ll go to the next candidate.

Yes, it’s that hard to get a recruiter’s attention these days! And, yes, it’s that easy for them to skip you.

#3: Transform Responsibilities into Achievements

Now, you need to write your achievements to stand out from the crowd of candidates.

Here’s a step-by-step process:

Step #1: List all your current responsibilities. You can take the job description and your current resume.

Step #2: Read a responsibility statement and add “...which resulted in…” at the end and describe quantifiable additional results.

(e.g., I was responsible for risk management, which resulted in finishing 3 inter-dependant projects on time and within budget.)

Step #3: Filter out achievements that you are not really proud of, don’t have any quantifiable results, or don’t feel like additional value or special effort.

Step #4: Add details to the valid achievement. It should be 2-3 sentences long.

Step #5: Improve your achievement until you nail most of the criteria of an outstanding achievement that I mentioned in the first email.

Please pay close attention to the “believability” criteria. You should balance your achievements between “uncomfortably bragging” and “yeah, as a PM, I can relate to that.” Be mindful not to trigger the recruiter’s buzzwords or bullshit detectors.

The Rule of 20

If you think, “I’m not very good at writing, especially when I need to brag about myself.” Then, the rule of 20 is for you!

The idea is simple.

You write the first draft of your achievement. You can write it as ugly as you want, as long as you want. Just capture the idea.

Then, select one aspect of the achievement and consider how to communicate it better. Make this slight improvement in the next draft. If necessary, you can iterate on several more drafts.

Then, take another part of the achievement. Improve it through the several alternative versions.

You got the point! By the 20th version, you’ll inevitably get a well-written achievement.

The critical rule:

You don’t re-write the whole achievement. You always work with a part of it.

You only discard the idea when you cannot improve it after 20 attempts.

Your Homework

1. ​Get a copy of my resume template.
2. Write your summary section.
3. Write one achievement.

That’s the crossroads! You either join 99,9% of people with traditional resumes because “it’s too much work.” OR you start your transformation into a senior project manager today.

Do your homework because, on Friday, I’ll share your 90-day development plan to a senior project manager. Guess what? Your new achievements-based resume is the centerpiece of the whole process.

P.S. Here’s a time management tip for you:

If you want to catch up on all the homework and read through lessons carefully, go and create a meeting with yourself in your calendar midday this Friday. Block the time to focus on your career development.