Resume-Building Brainstorming Questions

Resume Brainstorming Questions

"The Hard Facts"

·   School info...

o Where did you go to college?

o When were you there? (optional, maybe)

o What did you study there?

o What was your GPA? (optional)

o Did you receive any awards, scholarships, recognitions?

o Did you participate in any clubs, sports teams, or other extra-curricular activities?

·   Work info...

o Where have you worked?

o When did you work there? (might be optional)

o What was the purpose/mission of the business you were working for?

o What was your title and role in the business?

·   Skills...

o Computer skills? (think software - ex: MS Excel, Quickbooks, PeopleSoft etc)

o Industry-specific skills? (Accounting, construction, etc...)

"The Intangibles"

·   What were you responsible for? (in other words, if you weren't there every day, what wouldn't have gotten done)

·   What did you lead? (projects, programs, teams, etc)

·   How did you take initiative? (ie: what did you do on your own, without direction from your boss? Or what did you do that no one in your office had ever done before?)

·   What problems did you solve? Or what problems did you help solve?

·   How did your work save your company money?

·   How did your work earn your company money?

·   What did you learn how to do "on-the-job"?

·   Did you ever interact with customers? How did that go - what were the results of those interactions?

·   What substantial presentations did you give or participate in?

·   What ideas did you have that were implemented?

·   Why did your boss think you were valuable? (ie: Why did your boss like you? How did you make him/her a success? What positive performance evaluations did he/she give you?)

·   Did you train anyone? Was the effort successful?

·   Were you the in-house "expert" on anything? (ie: were you the "go-to" person for anything?)

·   Why did your co-workers enjoy working with you? What did you bring to the team? How did you make them a success?

·   What research did you do? What recommendations did you give based on that research? What was the result?

·   What reports did you write or contribute to?

"The Final Touch"

The last part of creating a resume is assembling all the information from above into a format that's both professional and appealing, so that when it hits the desk of a crazy-busy HR person, he/she will actually notice it and want to take the time to read it.