How to Brag on Your Resume Without Sounding Like a Jerk

When crafting your professional summary or describing your work history on your resume, avoid using vague and flowery language that does little to showcase your actual abilities.

Instead, make it a priority to offer concrete evidence of your skills and achievements, always aiming to “show, not tell“.

To achieve this, it’s useful to break down each job into two distinct sections: a brief paragraph outlining your duties and responsibilities, followed by a list of impactful bullet points highlighting your standout accomplishments.

This format allows potential employers to quickly scan your experience and easily digest the most important information.

However, it’s vital to use bullet points judiciously. While they are effective at drawing attention to key points, bullet-pointing everything can lead to information overload.

Remember that a resume that’s too dense or difficult to navigate can quickly turn off potential employers, so use bullet points selectively and strategically to showcase your most important contributions.

Bragging on Your Resume- Crafting Your Job Experience to Fit Your Career Goal

As you reflect on your past work experiences, it’s key to consider how each role and its responsibilities align with your current career goals, especially if you’re considering a career change.

To showcase your qualifications, you should try to quantify your previous job roles as much as possible. This can include highlighting the number of team members you led, the geographical regions you managed, the budget size you oversaw, the range of clients you supported, and more.

Even if you remained at the same organization for an extended period, it’s worthwhile to reflect on how your responsibilities evolved over time, irrespective of any formal promotions.

If you’re struggling to articulate your previous positions, researching comparable job titles on the company’s website or other job boards can provide useful insight.

Similarly, analyzing job listings for your desired career path can also provide helpful phrasing to describe your past experience.

Find out: Breaking Down the Components of Award Winning Resumes: A Step-by-Step Guide

Bragging on Your Resume- Accomplishments & Results

When crafting your resume, it’s vital to  remember that bullet points can be your chance to showcase your achievements.

Each bullet point should focus on the results you have accomplished and the significant contributions you’ve made to the organization.

Consider the following questions:

• Did you identify ways to improve operations, increase profitability, or enhance safety?
• Did you help reduce costs, eliminate roadblocks, or increase productivity?
• Did you meet or exceed your quarterly or annual goals?
• Did you complete projects ahead of schedule or under budget?
• Did you receive any awards or recognition for your work?
  

If you answered yes to any of these questions, be sure to include them in the bulleted section of your work experience.

If you don’t have specific numbers to back up your accomplishments, think in terms of tangible benefits such as faster turnaround times, improved efficiency, or increased revenue.

When detailing your achievements, start each bullet point by highlighting the results you achieved and then describe the actions you took to achieve them. For example:

• Streamlined the budgeting process for the organization’s five business units, resulting in a 23% reduction in turnaround time.
• Earned the Rookie of the Year award by achieving the highest sales commission among all representatives with less than two years’ experience in the field.
• Developed an integrated marketing campaign that included online ads, targeted emails, social media initiatives, and TV commercials, resulting in $1.3 million in new business for the online subscription business.

The number of bullets you include for each role will depend on the length of time you worked there and the relevance of that experience to your current job goals.

For example, if you spent over 10 years with a company, you should aim to have at least five strong bullets highlighting your accomplishments.

For those who are just starting their career, it can be challenging to showcase a long list of achievements on a resume.

However, this doesn’t mean that you should feel discouraged. Rather than emphasizing accomplishments, focus on highlighting the skills you’ve acquired, the projects you’ve contributed to, and any significant responsibilities you’ve taken on.

For instance, you can mention how you collaborated with the account management team to handle more than a hundred client calls, displaying professionalism and friendliness throughout the interactions.

Alternatively, you might want to showcase your sales skills by detailing how you built strong relationships with loyal customers and upsold their orders, leading to a significant revenue increase.

Remember, a resume should present your accomplishments in a humble and factual manner.

By listing your responsibilities and contributions to projects, you can show potential employers what you’re capable of without coming across as boastful.

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