Often located at the top of your resume, it provides an introduction and acts as a highlight reel to entice the recruiter to continue reading your resume. Your statement of qualifications is a few sentences to explain why you are qualified for the job role, and what benefits you can provide to the employer. It should focus on your work experience and your skills, and reference any significant achievements that you may have previously gained.
How Does the Statement of Qualifications Differ From a Resume Objective?
There are some similarities between the resume objective and the statement of qualifications. Both are designed to entice the recruiter to read more about who you are as a candidate and choose you over other applicants. However, your resume objective is much more about you. It tends to focus on:
Your employment goals Your aspirations Your preferred working style
In contrast, the statement of qualifications is a summary of how you meet the employer’s job requirements and highlights how you can help the employer. As such, the summary of qualifications is designed to help the recruiter understand what you can do for them.
Why Should You Include a Statement of Qualifications in Your Resume?
Competition for jobs is fierce. For each job, recruiters can expect to receive hundreds of applications, and they simply do not have the time to review each application in any detail. Even if a recruiter is choosing to use automated software to filter through applications in line with pre-set parameters, they still need to manually review each application once they’ve passed through the software. This means that recruiters may only take a passing glance at your resume to see if you are right for the role. With just a few seconds for your resume to make an impression, using a tool such as a statement of qualifications can be enough for your resume to stand out and declare “Choose me!” to the recruiter. It allows them to see almost instantly whether you have the right qualifications for the role before they read more detail within your resume or your accompanying cover letter.
What Should a Statement of Qualifications Look Like?
Broadly speaking, most statements of qualifications are a collection of between four and six bullet points that summarize your qualifications and experience. These bullet points should include any tangible evidence of what you have achieved and be aligned to the requirements set out within the job description. Where possible, try to use measurable outcomes to validate your impact on your previous job roles and provide further context to what you have previously achieved.
Remember to Tailor Your Statement of Qualifications to Each Job Application
You need to tailor your CV or resume to each job application. As such, you must tailor your statement of qualifications to each prospective employer to reiterate what you can do for them. You can then craft your statement of qualifications around these highlighted phrases. Not only will this maintain the relevance between your application and what they are looking for, but it can help you to determine what keywords and terminology you should be using. Repeating the same phrasing can help your application to pass through any automated software system.
Your Statement of Qualifications Template
If you’ve never seen or read a statement of qualifications before, here’s a sample template to help you understand what to include:
How many years of experience you have working in this particular profession. Your academic achievements – Make sure that these match the requirements stated in the job description. Professional credentials – If you’ve achieved any significant certifications or you hold professional licenses or memberships state them clearly. If you are applying for a managerial or leadership position state how many people you’ve been responsible for/the size of your team. Details of any major projects that you’ve worked on that are relevant to the job description. Remember to include measurable statistics or data to show its impact as well as the wider context. Where possible, try to include quantifiable results. This could include an increase in sales, the number of contracts, the expansion of your database or an increase in profit margins.
Writing Tips to Enhance Your Statement of Qualifications
Now that you know what you should be including within your statement, let’s take a look at how you should write it.
Keep It Short
You have limited space on your resume, so your statement of qualifications needs to be concise; avoid duplicating any information that could be found elsewhere on your resume.
Check the Job Description
Earlier on, we suggested working through the job description armed with a highlighter pen so that you are clear on what the employer is looking for. Make sure that everything you write relates directly back to the job description – it’s the most effective way to ensure that a recruiter takes notice. Your summary of qualifications should act as a teaser to encourage the recruiter to continue reading. Therefore, it should focus on the things that are most important to the employer. They want to know straight away that you are the right person for the job. Find the strongest elements of your resume that match the employer’s needs and focus on these areas.
Quantify Your Experience
Try to provide as much quantifiable evidence as possible. Don’t just tell the employer that you’ve improved sales – tell them by how much. Of course, you don’t want to give away commercially sensitive information (especially if the prospective employer is a competitor to your current workplace), but you can use percentages to add a quantifiable impact to your statements.
Get to the Point
Using action and power words can help your statements to pack a punch and capture a recruiter’s attention. Words and phrases such as ‘mentored’, ‘supervised’, ‘conceptualized’, ‘performed’, ‘maintained’, ‘updated’, ‘collaborated’ and ‘facilitated’ are all powerful words that can lift your statement from drab to fab.
Statement of Qualifications Examples
We’ve broken down these examples into three distinct groups; for those starting their careers, those progressing into managerial positions and for those working in senior roles.
Entry-Level Statement of Qualifications Example
Focus on any previous paid work that you have undertaken and also showcase your academic credentials. You may wish to explain your GPA or any projects that you’ve worked on for school that have allowed you to develop transferable skills (such as the ability to multi-task or work logically and methodically).
Mid-Career Statement of Qualifications Example
The mention of the personal award wins shows that this is a person who is highly regarded by their current employers and is seen as an asset to the team.
Senior Position Statement of Qualifications Example
This statement of qualifications not only references their achievements but also shows how they’ve used their influence to make a positive difference in their local community.
Final Thoughts
As you can now see, the way that you write your statement of qualifications can have a significant impact on your resume. However, it’s important to remember that the content included within the statement shouldn’t be a mere duplication of content written elsewhere within your resume. You should consider the summary of qualifications as an overview – it should highlight the strengths of your career history, your skills and your academic/professional achievements. Bear in mind that the way you write your summary of qualifications is just as important as what you write. Your choice of language and phrasing can make a big difference in helping your resume stand out from others. Using action verbs and providing quantifiable evidence of your achievements means that the recruiter can start to feel excited about your application before they’ve even begun reading. This feeling of emotion amongst recruiters can play a significant role in helping you to be wanted and selected as the right candidate for the role. Hopefully, these top tips will help you to create a statement of qualifications that positions you as the candidate of choice.
