It’s not the fancy school that you went to or the latest programming language you’ve learned that will land you the fattest paycheques. No, there is really only one skill that you need to demonstrate on your resume to get hired for the top jobs – regardless of what field you are in.
Shark Tank member and billionaire Mark Cuban recently mused that “creative thinking” would be the most sought-after job skill of the next ten years. He reasoned that companies will need problem solvers, people who can come up with innovative solutions to emerging challenges, and as robots and artificial intelligence take over more and more jobs, creativity is still something that cannot be automated.
Creativity isn’t enough
All of that is true. Creative thinking and problem-solving are essential skills for succeeding and getting ahead at work. But they are just a means to an end – and it is the end itself that actually matters. People who make the really big pay cheques take it that next level.
To win the top jobs, your resume shouldn’t be a list of the skills that you have or things that you know. What is important at this level is what you have done with what you know. The only skill that really matters is your proven ability to deliver results.
It’s the results that matter
This is what employers will be looking for: your ability to get things done, to accomplish, to achieve.
The most sought-after candidates will always be those who can:
understand challenges,
strategize practical solutions,
and execute the plan to a successful outcome.
Of course, to do those things you will need to have and use creative thinking and problem-solving skills – but it’s the demonstrated ability to generate the measurable accomplishments that matter.
Don’t take up valuable resume real estate listing your assets – highlight instead what you’ve done with them. And use numbers whenever you can to prove your measurable results.
Leaders make things better
You don’t need to be the president of a company or even the head of a department to demonstrate your ability to deliver results. Whatever your job title or rank, there will be challenges to face and opportunities to improve how your company tackles them. Find them. Discovering problems to overcome, taking opportunities to innovate, these are the real keys to success and landing the top jobs.
Those chances that you have to generate accomplishments on the job that others in a similar position might not are the building blocks of your successful career. That is how you demonstrate the leadership qualities that employers need.
While of course, you will always be talking about your past work in your resume, the message between the lines is really the future:
Here is what I encountered in my career, how I managed it, the results I have delivered, therefore just picture what I could do for you moving forward…
And this is what the recruiters of top talent will be looking for in the resumes they source for the high-paying jobs of the future.