Boston Career Counselor Blog

Whether you wish to improve your current resume or you’re starting from scratch, try this 10 minute exercise to get those creative resume juices flowing and your mind on the right track.

10 Minute Resume Exercise

Sit down in a comfortable place with a notebook and pen (or laptop). Your goal is to brainstorm answers to the following questions. Don’t worry about having complete answers; just jot down whatever springs to mind. If you get stuck on something, move on. This is meant to be a starting point, not a comprehensive account!

1. Jot down instances at work where you’ve really felt proud and excited. These could be particular tasks done well, compliments for things you do habitually or specific accomplishments you’ve achieved.
2. Write down any awards or formal recognition you’ve received in your industry and/or at your workplace.
3. Think about numbers. What kind of figures can you think of that relate to your past work experience? Think of clients gained or kept, money earned or saved, employees managed or hired, new initiatives accomplished, percent efficiency or employee morale gained or improved. Make up numbers for the time being if you don’t know them off the top of your head.
4. Now, imagine you were your boss. What does (or should!) your boss value most about you?
5. What things do you do, or have you done, that show how you live up to #4?

Now step back and think about how you can incorporate this information into your resume. Remember, a resume is about showing what kind of value you can bring to a prospective employer. It is not a place to write comprehensive job descriptions. That’s for human resources! So use the information you gained in this exercise to demonstrate your true value on the resume. And if you feel like you don’t have enough to write a great one yet, keep these questions in the back of your mind and repeat this exercise in a few days.

1. Describe briefly what your job is.

Investment Data Analyst: I maintain existing data and datafeeds of securities (that’s stocks, bonds, derivatives, etc) information for a medium sized private mutual fund and hedgefund company. That’s the simple answer.

2. What do you like most about it?

I like to solve problems and I am interested in financial markets, securities and the economy. This job allows me to learn a lot about investments and gives me the opportunity to solve problems.

3. What do you do in a typical day?

In a typical day I monitor feeds of data from vendors, look for errors, try to increase coverage of fields, create workarounds or new processes, write procedures and technical documents. Have meetings to discuss whatever issues, projects or clients that are currently relevant. The rest is running around putting out fires.

4. What made you decide on this career in the first place?

I love Economics and Math which I studied in college. I am not interested in sales like a Financial Planner would have to be (they do a lot of cold calling for example). I am also not really interested in the high profile/ high stress trading jobs like a Mutual fund manager. Most days are not terribly stressful, although somedays the software doesn’t work or the clients are mad at you.

5. What kind of education or experience is necessary for this job?

College Degree in whatever field. 5 years or so experience in the industry. You can be a specialist and work your way up to analyst at some places.

6. What makes you good at this job (personality traits, strengths, skills, etc.)?

I’m very organized. I like logic and math. I can work by myself for hours and not get bored but I also work well with other people like the Developers, Tech Support, Internal Clients, External Clients, and Vendors.

7. Who would be perfect in this job?

Problem solvers. People who like working with numbers, computers and people. People who like to constantly learn new things.

8. Tell me something people would be surprised about regarding this job.

It can be a lot of fun and pretty satisfying for the right person. If you hate math or working in a cube, don’t consider this job.

9. Any funny or interesting job-related stories or anecdotes?

Fun?! No fun allowed!

10. Do you have any advice for someone wanting to enter this field?

Keep your resume up to date and do not be afraid to keep interviewing over the years even if you like your job. You might trade up and even if you don’t, it can’t hurt. You may learn something useful from a failed interview, like where not to work or how other people run their companies.