Answers to Your 5 Toughest Resume Questions

Here at Ivy Exec, we get a lot of difficult resume questions from our members.

On a recent webinar presented by Nii Ato Bentsi-Enchill, Ivy Exec’s Senior Manager of Resume and Coaching Services, our audience had some fantastic questions that we don’t hear every day, so we wanted to share them (along with the answers) with you!

So without further ado, here are five of the trickiest resume questions from our audience:

I’m concerned that one of the bullet points on my resume looks too good to be true – that readers might think I am exaggerating or lying. Should I keep it on my resume?

We hear this question fairly often at Ivy Exec as we help our clients improve their resume. You have fantastic achievements, and some people may think you are exaggerating. Don’t leave it off your resume! After all, your resume is a “brag sheet,” so don’t sell yourself short.

Just make sure that what you write down on your resume is defendable. “If you can defend what you’ve done, it’s not overselling – it’s true,” said Bentsi-Enchill. So be prepared to explain or defend your resume, especially in the interview.

When possible, introduce the actions that led to the results within your resume. Use these actions to legitimize the achievements. As always, think: “Problem – Action – Result.”

Also read: PAR (Problem, Action, Result) Strategy

How do I describe achievements when working as part of a team?

Nobody does everything on their own! So how do you discuss work done within a team (or when you manage one)? “Remember that you ‘owned’ a piece of the puzzle,” shares Bentsi-Enchill, “cite that you were part of a team – but talk about the piece you owned and how effective you were in delivering your piece.”

Ivy Exec Resume Writer, Renita Kalhorn, offers this example:

• Initiated new relationships with 14+ asset managers, exceeding 12-month revenue target by $1M in first year – grew contribution to $9M of $45M production budget, achieving top-three ranking in sales coverage

And for team managers or group leaders? Take global credit for the group, but then take personal credit for your parts. As the leader, you can take more accountability – but still, mention your team.

What should I do if I can’t obtain all the info needed to quantify data on my resume?

Perhaps you are in a situation where the company doesn’t share access to all the information. Or maybe you are trying to pull up some figures from a previous job and don’t have an insider who can pull info for you. What can you do in that situation? “At the end of the day, sometimes your best estimate is better than not having any data whatsoever” shares Bentsi-Enchill. A bullet point that says “Increased revenue,” with no hard numbers, would leave the reader guessing and unimpressed.

It’s better to provide your best estimate to the stat than nothing at all. That does NOT mean you should lie – err on the side of caution.

What should I do when the business results are weak because the company/industry is in decline?

If 100% of businesses were on the rise 100% of the time, the world would be an interesting place. But here in the real world, industries collapse, companies sink, and employees try to bail water from the ship. Nobody expects you to single-handedly revitalize an industry or company, including prospective employers. So don’t feel embarrassed including these experiences on your resume, or let them deflate your job search.

To best represent your work on your resume in a declining industry, you want to benchmark your performance versus others. “Are you preventing losses or mitigating negative circumstances?” asks Bentsi-Enchill. Perhaps you were able to keep the company going longer than your competitors. Look for the silver lining that your work produced for the company, and focus on that aspect.

You should do the same when working for a company that is on the decline or losing out to larger companies. Bentsi-Enchill recently spoke to a gentleman who works for a small music company. The company was going through rough times as it tried to compete with the larger players in the industry. “It turned out, that without him, the company would have fallen apart…he was creative with his resources and was able to create new partnerships, strategies, and products. Within the circumstances, he was a shining light that kept the company going” said Bentsi-Enchill.

It’s all about context! Focus on how you made the best of a bad situation.

Can ‘developing a strategy’ be considered an accomplishment if it hasn’t played out yet?

Perhaps you just finished a consulting project or left a company before it was able to execute on a strategy you devised. Sure, you might not have been able to execute it personally, but the opportunity is too juicy to leave off the resume!

Coming up with a strategy can be considered an achievement to list on the resume. To make it work on your resume, talk about the projected outcome. A consultant might show how they performed a market analysis for a Tier 1 Telecom provider and discovered a 5MM rev opportunity, then created a strategy to go out there and get it.

The company hasn’t executed on your strategy yet, but you’ve put things in place to let the company get there.

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Have more resume questions that you would like addressed by our team? Let us know in the comment section below, and we will share the answers in a future installment.