驱逐陈词滥调，让你的简历被一眼相中

    如今，就业市场惨淡。求职者是淹没在竞争者的汪洋大海之中，还是赢得面试机会，甚至最终被录用，可能就取决于简历能否脱颖而出。要想获得放手一搏的机会，一份精彩的简历必不可少，秘诀在于：摒弃陈词滥调，取而代之以罗伯•麦戈文所提倡的“成就型语言”。

    作为求职社交网站Jobfox的创始人和CEO，麦戈文每月要阅读几千份简历，他的团队专门为付费的求职者修改简历。他说：“求职者最常见的错误就是用简单的工作职位或头衔来描述自己，而忽视了对实际工作成绩的介绍。”

    两者的区别究竟在哪里？“方式一：简单写明职务如软件程序员和担任此职位的工作时间；方式二：‘成功开发新程序，且新程序的漏洞比上一版本减少60%，顾客接受速度比上一版本快三倍’。”麦戈文还说，后一种语言“为未来雇主清晰地展现了求职者的能力。”

    麦戈文提到，销售主管们好像特别不愿意采用“成就型语言”。“在他们的简历里，通常可以看到这种字眼：‘负责西北地区’，这样的语言没有任何信息量。”麦戈文说，“但是如果这样写：‘带领六人的销售团队在2010年实现了4百万美元的收益增长’，就一定能够吸引我的注意。”

    取“创业精神”的例子来说，这个词在求职者的简历中随处可见，通常都缺乏支持性的证据。“这个词已经用烂了，所以不必再用,”麦戈文说。

    “创业精神的真正含义是主动尝试新事物，所以一旦决定采用这样的词汇，就要给出具体的例子，比如说，‘建立了新的业务流程，使客户满意度提高了若干个百分点’，或者其他的成功事例。”

    麦戈文说，近期，各公司每个招聘职位所收到的简历数量之多前所未有，“现在比较流行的做法是以职业概述为开头，简单概括迄今为止求职者的职业生涯。常常可以见到‘可靠’‘专注’‘注重细节’这样的用词一连串的出现在概述段落中。”

    更好的方法是：“在简历开头的醒目位置，用务实的语言描述一到两个最重大的成就。简历应该是求职者的一份详细的成就履历，并且展示其为前雇主所解决的实际问题。大部分简历正是因为没有做到这一点，所以才无人问津。”

    麦戈文称，找出简历中的陈词滥调，并用“成就型语言”加以替换，可以极大地提高求职成功率。“我们有过一个经典案例：一位已经失业六个月的求职者，适当修改简历后，三个礼拜就找到了工作。”他还谈道：“通常我们为求职者剔除简历上无意义、陈旧过时的用语，再加工成‘成功型语言’，如此润色过程要收取350美元的费用。但其实不用花一毛钱，求职者自己也可以做到。”这真是个好消息。

    译者：富来细特\汪皓

    In this dismal job market, a resume that stands out from the crowd can make the difference between getting hired -- or at least making it to the interview stage -- and getting nowhere. The secret to a CV that will give you a fighting chance: Learn to replace tired old words and phrases with what Rob McGovern calls "accomplishment-speak."

    Founder and CEO of job networking site Jobfox, McGovern sees thousands of resumes every month and, along with his team, gets paid to rewrite them. "The most common mistake job hunters make is defining themselves by a role or title, instead of telling what they actually did," he says.

    What's the difference? "It's one thing to identify yourself as a software programmer, period, and quite another to say, 'Developed a program with 60% fewer bugs that was adopted three times faster by customers than the previous version,'" McGovern says. The latter language "gives prospective employers a clear picture of what you can do for them."

    Sales executives, he notes, seem to have a particular aversion to accomplishment-speak. "They'll write 'Managed the northwest territory.' Well, that doesn't tell me anything," McGovern says. "Instead, say something like, 'Led a team of six salespeople who increased revenues by $4 million in 2010.' Now you've got my attention."

    Or take the word "entrepreneurial," which gets often splashed onto people's resumes without any supporting evidence. "This word is a big yawn, so don't use it," McGovern says.

    "What 'entrepreneurial' actually means is that you can take the initiative to start new things, so give an example of a time when you did that, for instance, 'Created a new business process that increased customer satisfaction by X%,' or whatever it was that you achieved."

    McGovern notes that, with companies seeing more resumes per job opening than at any time in recent memory, "a current trend is to put a career summary at the top, to give a concise overview of your whole career so far. Cliches like 'proven,' 'dedicated,' and 'detail-oriented' often get strung together in those paragraphs," says McGovern.

    A much better approach: "Use that prime real estate to describe one or two of your biggest achievements in concrete terms. A resume should be a history of your specific accomplishments and tell what problems you have solved for previous employers. Most resumes do not do that, and that's why they don't get read."

    McGovern claims that deleting clichés and using accomplishment-speak instead can give your job hunt a significant boost. "We've had people who were out of work for six months rewrite their resumes correctly and find a job in three weeks," he says, adding: "Usually, we charge $350 to circle the worthless clichés in a resume and send it back to the person for translation into accomplishment-speak. But you can do it yourself for free." Nice to know.