The Hidden Step
www.necouncil.org/the
hidden
step
STEP FOUR
Build Your Resume
An applicant applying for a customer service position may write the
following general bullet:
(The green text outlines areas that make the bullet general)
Correct
General Bullet #1:
“Charged with the responsibility to
answer high
volumes of calls
, handling
unpredictable and diffcult scenarios
with tact, always achieving a positive outcome.”
This is a general bullet and correct. Specifcs will be added prior to applying
for a specifc position.
Employers reading the frst bullet may conclude that the type of customer
service experience you possess is not the one they are looking for. Al-
though the experience you have is transferable to
any environment, the impression is that your expe-
rience “helping Information Technology Managers
answer technical questions” may not provide them
with the appropriate skills they need to assist their
customers who lack an IT background.
Later on, you will see why this is important. We
are going to use the general bullet (#1) and inte-
grate job description information to make the
bullet specifc for a particular position (this all
occurs at stage 6).
stage four:
the
work Experience
The impression
is that the longer
you are not en-
gaged in a par-
ticular skill, the
more likely that
those skills have
become stale.
That is of course
not always true
but the perception
created carries
more weight than
reality does.