Most job-seekers write their resumes with one thing in mind—themselves! They toot their own horn so loud the interviewer is blown away by the sound. The “I did this” and “I achieved that” approach is important, of course. The hiring manager wants to know what you’ve accomplished in your previous line of work and how you can benefit his or her company in the new position.

Reading Between the Lines

BUT—he or she is also looking for some intuitive abilities that a potential employee can express on the job without every detail being spelled out. This means the new hire should be able to anticipate and sense problems and challenges and be able to meet them instinctively.

For example, suppose you hope to be hired as an administrative assistant to the president of a financial corporation. You have computer skills, an ability to organize corporate data, you’re capable of keeping the filing system up-to-date, and you’re ready to field phone calls and e-mails for the executive without being told.

Beyond the Job Description

These skills look good on paper, but for your resume to move to the top of the pile, include a few sentences that state what else you can do that may not appear in the job description. Example: Able to chair a meeting of corporate executives when the president is unexpectedly detained or called away on emergency business; able to trouble-shoot with customers on the phone, keeping the president free of time-consuming entanglements; able to stimulate essential communication between employees in other departments and then report back the findings to the president.

An employee of real value is one who not only meets the requirements for the job, as described, but goes beyond them, delivering both practical help and heart-felt support that call for intuition and attentiveness.

Jimmy Sweeney is the president of CareerJimmy and author of the brand new, “Amazing Resume Creator.” Jimmy is also the author of several career related books and writes a monthly article titled, “Job Search Secrets.”