A question I hear a lot from job seekers is, “Which resume template or format should I use?”
Less often, I am asked, “How do I identify the accomplishments that will make an employer want to interview me?”
This tells me that too many professionals spend more time choosing fonts, layouts, colours, and columns than they do reflecting on the value they’ve created throughout their careers. It’s a bit like spending more time choosing a picture frame than creating the artwork that goes inside it.
A professional-looking resume certainly has its place. Presentation matters, but presentation alone has never landed someone an interview.
Content does.
When a hiring manager opens your resume, they aren’t evaluating your choice of template first. Their attention quickly shifts to a much more important question: Does this person have the experience and track record to solve the problems we’re hiring for?
That’s why substance consistently outweighs style.
Employers want to see clear evidence of your value. They look for examples of problems you’ve solved, opportunities you’ve created, teams you’ve led, projects you’ve delivered, revenue you’ve generated, costs you’ve reduced, efficiencies you’ve introduced, or challenges you’ve navigated successfully. Every accomplishment helps answer the same underlying question: What impact is this person likely to have in our organization?
A polished resume can certainly improve readability and create a positive first impression, but presentation has limits. No amount of sophisticated formatting, modern design, or attractive graphics can compensate for content that is generic, overly focused on job duties, or fails to demonstrate measurable results. A well-designed resume simply presents your story. It is the quality of that story, supported by evidence and outcomes, that captures attention and earns interviews.
Consider these two examples.
Candidate 1
Managed a team of customer service representatives.
Candidate 2
Led a team of 18 customer service professionals, improving customer satisfaction scores by 22% while reducing average response times by 35% through workflow redesign and coaching initiatives.
Which candidate would you be more interested in interviewing?
The second example gives hiring managers something tangible to evaluate. It moves beyond responsibility and demonstrates capability. That’s exactly what employers are looking for.
One of the biggest mistakes I see is resumes that read like job descriptions.
They list responsibilities, describe daily tasks, and explain what someone was expected to do.
Unfortunately, every other candidate with a similar job title is likely to describe many of the same responsibilities.
What makes you different isn’t what your employer hired you to do. It’s what you actually accomplished.
Ask yourself questions like:
What problems was I brought in to solve?
What changed because of my work?
Where did I improve performance?
What business results did I influence?
What challenges did I overcome?
What did I build, create, streamline, or transform?
Those answers become the foundation of compelling resume content because they shift the focus from activity to impact. Employers already understand the responsibilities associated with your title. What they want to understand is what you accomplished while performing that role and why your contributions made a difference.
Many professionals tell me they “don’t have accomplishments.”
Yet everyone has done great things in their work, and often they just need time to analyze roles and identify impacts...
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Additional resource to help
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