What Your Resume Says About You!
By: Felicia Peoples, Editor
Most
job seekers understand the importance of dressing for success. They wouldn’t
dare show up for an interview dressed in jeans, tennis shoes and a tee-shirt.
Instead, they would choose interview attire that presents them in their best
light from the very first glance. When it comes to resumes however, the divide
between job seekers who understand that appearances DO matter and those who
don’t, increases significantly.
To
assist
job seekers and potential clients in determining the effectiveness of
their
current resumes, we offer Resume Evaluations. This is great for persons
who
have a resume but don’t know if it needs an update or a complete
overhaul in
order to help them find new employment or to advance in their current
company.
Our job is to rate it in the areas that we know matter most to hiring
managers
in today’s competitive job market. On many occasions, I have evaluated a
resume
that in terms of content and/or appearance screams:
AMATEUR…INEXPERIENCED…UNACCOMPLISHED…CARELESS;
I’ll stop there before it gets really ugly.
Then one day, the person whose resume I have ripped to shreds (figuratively speaking), calls the office to enlist our services. We schedule a consultation and to my surprise, he or she is a brilliant, accomplished professional who is attentive to detail and a recognized asset in all positions and departments to which he has served. I let out a sigh of relief because the powerful resume I thought would be so difficult to create, will in fact be a breeze. Contrary to what his current resume told me about him, I won’t have to stretch, bend and embellish the ordinary to find ways to make this client appear to be accomplished, visionary and results driven. This client is in fact all these things and more!! I liken this revelation to one day discovering the disheveled guy wearing wrinkled jeans and a dingy tee-shirt you see at Starbucks every morning is in fact the CEO of a multimillion-dollar company. Interesting... you always thought he was homeless.
While I know you can’t judge a book by its cover and you shouldn’t even try to, this cliché just doesn’t work in our modern, fast paced world. People don’t always have time to speak with you for an hour (as we do in our consultations) to get to know you on the inside. This is especially true as it pertains to hiring managers. The internet has reduced the world’s size so significantly that the pool of candidates for any particular job has increased exponentially. In other words, the Administrative Assistant job you are applying for in your home city of Atlanta, has been seen online by fellow job seekers all over the country. So not only are Atlanta job seekers applying for it, but so are the hundreds of persons who would like to relocate to Atlanta.
Gone are the days where hand-delivered resumes are expected, accepted or even welcomed. The days when you could show up, impeccably dressed and maybe score an impromptu interview are a thing of the past. Your resume didn’t have to do ALL the talking then. But now, with one swift click of a button on a laptop, desktop or even smart phone, your resume can be sent in response to 100 job postings per day, if you so desire. This ease in application translates to more applicants for any one position which translates to more competition: fierce competition.
Focusing only on traditional means of staying competitive: stellar job performance, impressive academic credentials and continuing education, is simply not enough in today’s cyber job market. In order for a hiring manager to be aware of your awesome job performance and excellent credentials, your resume has to convey this. There’s no other way around it. So in these tough economic times, it’s no longer a question of whether you can afford to pay for a professional resume; its can you afford not to?
So, think of your resume and what it says about you much like you regard the clothes you choose to wear to a job interview. Be as meticulous and scrutinizing in its appearance, formatting, structure and content as you are about the suit, shirt and tie combination you choose to wear to the interview for your dream job. After all, your resume is going to determine if you even get the opportunity to interview, sell yourself and seal the deal. If you’re still unsure, remember the guy at Starbucks.
I’ll stop there before it gets really ugly.
Then one day, the person whose resume I have ripped to shreds (figuratively speaking), calls the office to enlist our services. We schedule a consultation and to my surprise, he or she is a brilliant, accomplished professional who is attentive to detail and a recognized asset in all positions and departments to which he has served. I let out a sigh of relief because the powerful resume I thought would be so difficult to create, will in fact be a breeze. Contrary to what his current resume told me about him, I won’t have to stretch, bend and embellish the ordinary to find ways to make this client appear to be accomplished, visionary and results driven. This client is in fact all these things and more!! I liken this revelation to one day discovering the disheveled guy wearing wrinkled jeans and a dingy tee-shirt you see at Starbucks every morning is in fact the CEO of a multimillion-dollar company. Interesting... you always thought he was homeless.
While I know you can’t judge a book by its cover and you shouldn’t even try to, this cliché just doesn’t work in our modern, fast paced world. People don’t always have time to speak with you for an hour (as we do in our consultations) to get to know you on the inside. This is especially true as it pertains to hiring managers. The internet has reduced the world’s size so significantly that the pool of candidates for any particular job has increased exponentially. In other words, the Administrative Assistant job you are applying for in your home city of Atlanta, has been seen online by fellow job seekers all over the country. So not only are Atlanta job seekers applying for it, but so are the hundreds of persons who would like to relocate to Atlanta.
Gone are the days where hand-delivered resumes are expected, accepted or even welcomed. The days when you could show up, impeccably dressed and maybe score an impromptu interview are a thing of the past. Your resume didn’t have to do ALL the talking then. But now, with one swift click of a button on a laptop, desktop or even smart phone, your resume can be sent in response to 100 job postings per day, if you so desire. This ease in application translates to more applicants for any one position which translates to more competition: fierce competition.
Focusing only on traditional means of staying competitive: stellar job performance, impressive academic credentials and continuing education, is simply not enough in today’s cyber job market. In order for a hiring manager to be aware of your awesome job performance and excellent credentials, your resume has to convey this. There’s no other way around it. So in these tough economic times, it’s no longer a question of whether you can afford to pay for a professional resume; its can you afford not to?
So, think of your resume and what it says about you much like you regard the clothes you choose to wear to a job interview. Be as meticulous and scrutinizing in its appearance, formatting, structure and content as you are about the suit, shirt and tie combination you choose to wear to the interview for your dream job. After all, your resume is going to determine if you even get the opportunity to interview, sell yourself and seal the deal. If you’re still unsure, remember the guy at Starbucks.
posted by WSteele @ 10:18 AM
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