There is no reference at all to influential content, building powerful bullets, or writing text that spurs a call to action. Resume templates exist because most people dislike writing their resume, and haven’t the slightest inkling of how to write a good resume. And, they exist because we acknowledge that visual appeal is useful. After all, we spend a great deal of money on looking good: we know we are evaluated and even judged on appearance. However, we also acknowledge that looks can be deceiving, and that we won’t get anywhere on good looks alone. Hiring decisions are based on a candidate’s value, which is best conveyed through performance and productivity proven with strong verbs and specific content.

Templates provide a set-up for those who fumble in Word, but they do not walk you through developing impactful content. They do not provide a lesson on appropriate or necessary strategy. They do not point you on the path that will most favourably present your skills in action. The purpose of a resume is to express achievements, experience, and areas and levels of expertise. Few know how to capture what they did, describe the challenges they overcame to achieve outcomes; they shrink from answering the what? how? so what? how hard? aspects of their past employs.

If you must use a template, keep in mind the following in order to reframe that cookie-cutter template to a good resume: Go beyond stating what you did to showing how it impacted the company. For example, an HR specialist is likely to have designed an employee survey. So what? So did many of the HR candidates. In order to stand out the HR specialist must develop the story with context. Remember that what differentiates you is not your position description as most of the other applicants, coming from similar backgrounds, will have essentially identical accountabilities. However, it’s unlikely that they achieved the same things because each applicant operates in a different context with unique challenges.

Award-winning and published professional resume writer, Stephanie Clark, is owner of New Leaf Resumes, a full-time resume writing and interview coaching service. Published in several American and Canadian career publications, Stephanie also writes a weekly career article for a local daily paper. Stephanie delivers strategic resumes and unforgettable cover letters by staying ahead of industry trends through participation in, and leadership of, classes in resume design and content development. She continues to hone her own talents with classes from America’s leading resume writers, Louise Kursmark and Wendy Enelow, of the renown Resume Writing Academy.