A friend was looking to hire a driver for his car. A busy man, he wanted to use his commute time to catch up on emails and texts. A number of people approached him for the job. To each he asked the same question - why should I hire you? The answers were pretty much uniform. They would be one or more from a standard set - I am a good driver. I am a safe driver. I have experience driving different types of cars. I am honest.
One person answered, "For my last employer, I brought the maintenance cost on the car down by 10%. I did this by driving safely and keeping the car in good shape. I reduced spare part expenses by driving within the limits of the car. For instance, I was able to make the tires last longer. Furthermore, I reduced insurance costs by ensuring that we were eligible for the no-claim bonus each year." My friend hired the guy on the spot.
Why? Because he was the only one who outlined the impact he made in the role, while the rest listed tasks they could do without calling out impact.
As a recruiting manager, most of the resumes I receive from technical writers fall in the List category. A technical writer with any reasonable experience would have written some combination of user manuals, installation guides, troubleshooting guides, release notes, API help, etc. Unless the job description specifically asks that you have created or worked on a certain type of documentation, listing the types of documents you have worked on adds no value to the information that you are a technical writer. When crafting your resume, approach it from the perspective of impact. List out the impact your documents or content has made to the team or company.
To be able to do that, you should have been thinking about impact as part of your work. Every time you are asked to create a document, you must ask yourself why you are creating the document and how you can know whether the document meets the goal. As a writer, it is your job to track the effectiveness of your content. Sometimes the answer is not obvious, but that just means you need to dig deeper and ask more questions.
Apart from setting you apart from the other applicants, presenting your experience as a set of impacts shows your prospective employer that you are committed to the organization's success. So, the next time you apply for a role, ask yourself what kind of resume you are sending into your prospective employer.
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