Many people think of a resume or application as a sales tool that they can use to help sell themselves. That is a good way to look at these documents; after all, applicants are often viewed as a product by the agencies or companies that do the hiring.
Think of salespeople you know. Some of them are successful, winning vacation trips to the Caribbean islands each year in the sales contest, while some of them barely hang on, not even getting sent to Rock Island or Long Island. If we can identify what differentiates the successes from the also-rans, we will be able to emulate the successful salespeople when we go about the business of selling ourselves to a prospective employer.
Any salesperson that hopes to have a chance at succeeding has to know the features of the product. What are your features? Did you manage a staff of ten? Have you reduced the time required to perform a task? Have you cut costs? Did you receive an award for perfect attendance? The more features you can use to describe yourself, the better a chance you will have of doing well in the job search competition.
In all cases, a resume or application that includes in your features things you have accomplished will do better for you than one that simply lists your responsibilities, or parrots your position description. Who would you rather hire
