Using the Challenge, Action, Results (CAR) Method to Improve Your Tech Resume
By J.M. Auron ACRW. Expert IT Resume Writer—Providing Professional IT Resume Writing Services for More than 15 Years. First Published May 2012 / updated August 2023
There's been a good deal of interest in my older articles on using the Challenge, Action, Results - or CAR - approach to building an interview-winning IT resume. Here we look at how CAR can help you analyze your career, uncover your unique value proposition, and create a resume that can win the interview. In addition, CAR can help provide a critical framework to excel throughout the interview process.
Most tech resumes I review focus too much on either career actions or career results. But, whether the resumes that cross my desk focus too much on actions, or too much on results, very few resumes give a strong sense of the initial challenges. It's the challenges that define what you've done, and give the reader a clear sense of the potential you bring to a new opportunity.
Technical professionals, including Software Engineers, Network Engineers, IT Managers, IT Directors, and CIOs / CTOs, frequently focus too much on actions - without giving enough weight to the critical achievements that differentiate careers. Resumes in this category can tend to be very text heavy, process oriented, and often difficult to read. In addition, these IT resumes may give the impression that you're at a lower level in your career than you really are. Finally, too strong a focus on actions gives the impression that you're not looking at IT strategically - as part of a clear enterprise strategy.
On the other hand, Enterprise Software Sales professionals and Sales Engineers frequently stress achievements, but may not give the reader adequate context for those achievements. Numbers are important; I work to include as many quantifiable achievements as possible in every IT resume I create. But those numbers are more valuable, and far more impressive, if the reader fully understands the challenges you overcame. In these IT software sales resumes, there may be great numbers, but without any background to demonstrate that you've worked effectively with C-level clients of Fortune 500 organizations, or that you've successfully used consultative sales techniques to close complex contracts with (very often) long sales cycles.
Whatever the focus of your technical career, it's essential to think about the major challenges you've worked through.
You can use Challenge, Action, and Results as a resume strategy to showcase your major accomplishments. Here's an example showing how to use CAR to focus your resume:
Challenge: Lack of alignment between internal IT organization and business stakeholders.
Actions: Interviewed business users and gathered requirements. Led focus group discussions to identify IT project roadmap opportunities. Established steering committee / working groups to facilitate communication between business groups and IT and to prioritize IT project roadmap projects.
Results:
Increased ROI for IT spend by 65% through elimination of low priority projects.
Ensured rapid, appropriate issue escalation / resolution through implementation of multi-level backend support system.
As you can see, this approach cuts through the clutter, and clearly demonstrates the value the candidate can bring to a new opportunity.
I don't use this approach explicitly that frequently. To make CAR work as an overall resume strategy, a client's career needs to have been strongly focused on clearly definable, very specific challenges, and that's not always the case.
CAR can help gain critical clarity on what you've done throughout your career.
It's easy in a busy IT career to move from one challenge to the next, to get things done, and move on to the next issue. That's one of the reasons that so many resumes that cross my desk primarily consist of disjointed bullets that don't tell a coherent story. But while these "nugget" resumes may give some great information on your career and accomplishments, the lack of overall structure and resume architecture makes it very difficult for the hiring authority to determine how you can solve his (or her) most pressing issues.
Defining the challenge is often the most difficult aspect of creating a strong IT resume.
That's why it's so critical to focus on the major challenges you've encountered and overcome. When I'm interviewing a new client, I'll frequently ask about overall mandate. In most IT roles - especially at the leadership level - you've been hired to transform a given aspect of enterprise operations. That may be reducing IT costs through virtualization, growing uptime, or overcoming a negative relationship between IT and external departments.
Of course, this mandate may not be explicitly stated. But if you can think back over your career, and clearly define the primary mission that you had to accomplish in each role, you're ahead of the game on creating an IT resume that will clearly detail what you've done for your previous employers, and what you can contribute in a new opportunity.
To create an interview-winning IT resume, look for the major threads in your career.
As your career advances to the IT Manager, IT Director, or CIO / CTO level, it's very probable that you've built a reputation for solving certain problems better than your competition. Those challenges - those skills - are a major first step in defining your personal brand, the value proposition that you bring to each new opportunity.
Once you've defined the challenges you've overcome, you'll have a clear structure to focus the actions you've taken throughout your career. With this information, you'll be able to determine which results have been most critical - and rank those achievements within a clear resume architecture.
CAR is also interview preparation
CAR does more than create a strong resume. The time you've taken (whether on your own or working with a professional IT resume writer) is preparing you to answer the most critical questions in the first, second, and third interviews. After working through these steps, you'll be able to clearly define and express your value proposition - both at the level of strategic challenges and at the equally critical area of tactical execution. Those interviews stay top in mind with interviewers – and are much more likely to get calls back, and ultimately job offers.
If you'd like more information on how I can help you use CAR to create a powerful IT resume – or if you would like to take advantage of my free, 15-minute resume review and consultation, you can upload a copy of your current resume and I'll get back in touch with you as soon as possible - within one business day at the outside - and often within a couple of hours.
Do you want to apply the CAR method to build a great resume?
More thoughts on using CAR for Technical Resume Writing
Over the years, I’ve written extensively on how the Challenge, Action, Results framework can help with resumes, ideas from older articles are summarized here:
Every Career is About Solving Real-world Issues: Every technology leader’s career revolves around addressing tangible business problems, and the magnitude of these challenges, actions, and results scales up with career progression.
Seeing Major Themes, Avoiding Details: The CAR approach assists technical leaders in recognizing the major themes of their career rather than getting lost in minor details.
The Importance of 'Why', 'How', and 'So What?': Embracing all aspects of CAR can help answer pivotal questions about one's career: Why did you take on certain challenges? How did you approach these challenges? And most importantly, what was the impact of your actions?
Avoiding Career Traps: Even if you are good at a particular task (e.g., problem-solving in crisis scenarios), it doesn't necessarily mean you enjoy it. Recognizing this distinction can prevent you from getting trapped in unsatisfying job roles. The ultimate goal is to find a job role that aligns with both skills and passions, ensuring genuine job satisfaction.
Crafting a Clear Career Story with CAR
Often, the most daunting part of crafting a resume is ensuring that it narrates a coherent career story. The CAR approach isn't just a tool for format; it’s a lens through which you can perceive the intertwined threads of your professional journey and spin them into a cohesive narrative. A majority of IT professionals sometimes lose sight of this larger picture, presenting merely fragments of their career instead of a holistic story.
Striking a Balance: Challenge, Action, and Results
While the CAR method encompasses Challenges, Actions, and Results, it's easy to unintentionally give undue weight to one component. Some might highlight challenges they've faced prominently but may undersell the strategic actions they've undertaken. Others might be action-oriented but may not provide the context of the challenge or the tangible results of those actions. Achieving a harmonious blend of all three elements ensures your resume paints a balanced picture, presenting a clear narrative of problem, solution, and outcome.
The Introspective Power of CAR
Diving deep into the CAR methodology also has another profound benefit - self-reflection. While curating your resume, you aren’t just showcasing your achievements but also understanding yourself better. This introspective journey can reveal not just what you excel at, but also what truly resonates with you. Do you thrive in crisis management, or do you feel more aligned with strategic planning? The answers to these questions, unearthed by the CAR approach, can guide you toward opportunities that don't just leverage your strengths but also align with your passions.
Overcoming Resume Writer's Block with CAR
Many IT professionals, even at senior levels, struggle to articulate their achievements. The task of drafting an IT resume can feel overwhelming, especially if one has been away from the job market for a bit. The beauty of the CAR method is that it not just enhances the content but also aids the writing process. Reflecting on the challenges faced can act as a catalyst, triggering memories of significant achievements and breaking through the writer's block. It offers a structured way to think, bringing clarity to past accomplishments.
Incorporating CAR Format in IT Resumes
The versatility of the CAR format extends beyond its introspective benefits. It can also be directly weaved into the fabric of the IT resume itself. For instance, in Project Management resumes, the CAR methodology can help prioritize and present multiple projects in a manner that sets your application apart. For senior technology executives, the format underscores the value they bring to the table, highlighting their proactive approach to problem-solving rather than a mere maintenance of the status quo.
Mindful Use of CAR Stories
While the CAR format is a potent tool, like all tools, it's essential to use it judiciously. Bombarding a resume with multiple CAR stories might end up diluting the overall impact. Selecting the most impactful CAR stories ensures that the essence of your professional journey remains concentrated and potent.