Resume Roadmap Worksheet

 Resume Roadmap Worksheet

A worksheet to help you build your Resume

1 Think about your target job / target audience 

• I am looking for a __________________________________ (type of job or specific job). The following are the industries (or companies) that I'm most interested in: ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ 
• What specific experience or skills are normally required or preferred by these types of employment / employers? (Your responses will assist you in selecting Key Skills for your new resume.) _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 
• What do I think makes me a good fit for these types of jobs, based on what I know about them? What will I bring to these positions that will be beneficial? _________________________________________________________________________________________________
 • Do I have any areas of ability, competence, or education that fall short of what this / these job descriptions require? If that's the case, what are they? (You'll want to think about these and see if there are any specific tactics you can use to help mitigate them.) _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

2 Study/ Review the Job Description 

 • If you have a certain job in mind, that's fantastic. Take a look at it. If you're applying for numerous new jobs, once you have a general concept of what you want, go to one of your favorite job boards and find some job descriptions that match up quite well with your picture of what your ideal future job looks like.

 • What are the required or preferred skills / terms / qualifications that are common to these positions? (Compare these to the things you listed in Question 3 above) ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ 

3 Think about your Value Proposition 

What makes me a great candidate for this (these) role(s)? Why should the hiring manager or recruiter pay attention to me for this role I am pursuing? 

If you don’t have a handle on this, don’t expect your audience to. Let’s spell your value proposition, or your “So What?” Complete these questions / statements with your specific job or target audience in mind: 

1. I am really good at: 
2. One element I'll offer to this job that will make an immediate impact is:
 3. If a recruiter or hiring manager spends just 20 seconds reviewing my resume, what do they need to see / know about me right away? What’s my “must have” messaging?

4 Think about what you’re most proud of 

 For each role you've held, answer these questions. Keep your target audience / target job in mind while you respond so that you may highlight aspects that will immediately appeal to the decision maker in that capacity. 

Often, it's the answers to these questions that will allow you to recognise your genuine worth and differentiate yourself from the competitors.
 1. What am I most proud of? What do I consider my crowning moment(s)?
 2. If you asked the people around me, “Hey, what’s the best part about working with [YOUR NAME]?” here’s what they would probably say: 

5 Summarize and Strategize

 Given the information outlined above, here are the key points I need to make sure come across in this new resume: _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 
And I need to make sure and weave these key skills / key words into the resume and / or include in my Key Skills / Areas of Expertise section _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________

100 Powerful Resume Words

For A Winning Resume

A 

Advanced 
Analyzed
Authored
Automated

B

Boosted
Budgeted
Built

C

Cut
Chartered
Closed
Cultivated

D

Designed
Derived
Drove
Diagnosed

E 

Edged 
Enhanced 
Envisioned 
Established 
Excelled 
Exceeded 

F

Fulfilled 
Formulated 
Formed 
Furthered

G 

Gained 
Gathered 
Generated 
Granted 
Guided 

H

Handled 
Headed 
Helped 
Hired 
Hosted 

I

Ideas 
Identified 
Implemented 
Improved 
Influenced

J

Justified 
Jumped

L

Launched 
Lectured 
Led 
Listed 
Lobbied 
Logged

M

Maintained 
Marketed 
Maximized 
Mentored 
Modernized 
Motivated 

N

Named 
Negotiated 
Noted

O

Observed 
Obtained 
Operated 
Organized 
Originated

P

Planned 
Presented 
Prioritized 
Projected 
Provided 

Q

Qualified 
Quantified 
Quoted 

R

Recovered 
Rectified 
Refined 
Represented 
Resolved 

S

Secured 
Segmented 
Simplified 
Standardized 
Streamlined 

T

Taught 
Trained 
Trained 
Triumphed 
Tutored

U

Unified 
United 
Updated 
Upgraded 
Utilized 

V

Validated 
Valued 
Viewed 
Volunteered

W

Won 
Worldwide 
Wrote 
Witnessed 

Y

Yielded