Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Resumes

Peter F. Drucker wrote the following in the Wall Street Journal (March 29, 1995): “Most resumes I get … list the jobs the person has held. A few then describe the job that the person would like to get. Very few even mention what the person has done well and can do well. Even fewer state what a future employer can and should expect from that person. Very, very few, in other words, yet look upon themselves as a ‘product’ that must be marketed.”

Are you guilty of this error? Do you simply list your jobs in chronological order putting the name of the company in first place rather than what you did for the company? Do you dismiss some of your skills as worthless because you are not being paid to do them? Do you neglect to include all the skills you developed in volunteer positions, or while in school, or while raising a family?

Most people have serious misconceptions about what, exactly, a resume is meant to do. Prepare yourself for a shock: The vast majority of resumes are completely ignored.

A resume is not a single document that you can write once and consider “finished”. A resume needs to be targeted to a specific job and/or a specific employer.

A resume is not an affidavit. It is an advertisement, a marketing tool to get you in the door where you can impress the interviewer with your experience. Think about the flyers you see from furniture stores. They show you some of the items they have and let you know that there is much more, just “come on down”.

A resume is meant to be scanned quickly. Long, dense blocks of type are difficult to read, so it is important to present the information in a way it can be easily scanned such as bullet points. You only have a few seconds to make a good impression. Most people scan for key words and spend between 30 and 60 seconds on your resume. Check yours out. Ask a friend to take only 30 seconds to read it and then tell you what they know about your skills.

A resume is a convenience for the hiring official. Often it is used as a way to screen you out of the organization, particularly at job fairs. If they are looking for a certain level of education, they scan your resume and put it in the plus or minus pile. If they are looking for a particular skill set and don’t see it, then it doesn’t make the “interview” pile. Often they may not even accept it.

So, what is a resume? A resume is an opportunity for you to leave the reader wanting to learn more about you.


Fran

P.S. Contact me if you woult like some help in targeting your resume.



Resources used: WOW Resumes - Leslie Hamilton