The purpose of your resume and cover letter is to convince a would-be employer to give you an interview.
It is a marketing and sales tool to grab the addition of a busy HR Person and help you stand out in a sea of similar applicants.
Does yours do that?
Most resumes I have seen, my own included, don’t.
It seems most people believe a resume is a place to cram everything you have done in your career into one or two pages, usually using the smallest size font that still allows an employer to read it.
For too long, many of us have been guilty of thinking H/R people want to know everything about us and we have hoped they will read every nugget; neither is true. HR people are very good, talented people but they are busy and don’t have the time to read every resume in minute detail, especially the ones that don’t grab their attention. Their job is to hire the best person available – quickly.
Thanks to some helpful advice from Samantha at my local employment office, I am suggesting a different approach.
My resume until now has resembled the first picture, an accumulation of all my skills, experiences, perspectives, and attitudes; in essence, I am throwing everything at the H/R person and hoping they will see how valuable I am. Albeit informative, it is not what the job advertisement asked me to provide. H/R people provide job opportunities describing the skills they are looking for; resumes should match those skills. Using my current resume, a H/R person has to read everything and sort out what applies and what doesn’t; for a busy person, that is a lot of work, especially when other applicants are tailoring their resume as a sales tool.
Moving forward, I suggest to you, is to consider the second picture. One small bag, this bag will not carry as much as the multitude of suitcases, but notice it is unique, it has character, it is durable, and it only has enough room to carry the most practical and useful tools, which is what my and your resumes should do to help H/R people find the best people available when they go to market.
What to Unpack
Start with your current resume and consider these tips.
Old or irrelevant information.
Think of your resume as a sales tool to sell yourself, your skills, your experience, and your ability to accomplish things that set you apart from other applicants. It is not a chronological history of your experiences; it is a document to show why the employer should hire you.
Consider eliminating anything more than 15 years old unless the skills directly apply to the opportunity presented.
Remove anything listed more than once; for example, my resume had a section called “Professional Summary” listing my strongest attributes but then I listed them again in the “Skills” portion. If you believe it is important to repeat your attributes, consider using different adjectives and terms as multiple redundancies do not help you.
Subtract things that are “assumed;” for example, if you are a university or college graduate,” it is assumed you completed high school and elementary school and is not necessary to have on your resume.
For younger adults, summer and part-time jobs are important to include on your resume; for older adults, their importance fades as regular work experience accumulates and should not likely be included.
Information that can foster bias.
Any form of discrimination is illegal; however, it does exist even if only subconsciously; you should build your resume to minimize the opportunity for bias. Older adults can compensate by focusing on more recent accomplishments and avoiding providing their date of birth, age, or any other personal information that might cause age discrimination. Employers do not need to know the number and ages of your children, your sexual preference, and information on your religious beliefs.
Awkward or ineffectual language.
All words are not created equal; review the words used on your resume asking:
How many times do you use the same adjectives to describe your skills?
Are there better and more powerful descriptive words you could use to be more effective?
What should you repack?
Features, Advantages, and Benefits (FABs)
Many resumes, my own as well, are guilty of “burying the lead,” the most important skill, experience, perspective, or attitude you have to offer an employer, in the body of your resume. You cannot assume an HR person will even read your entire resume; you must be clear and concise, and your best core skills should jump off your resume.
- Consider having a section on your resume dedicated to your best skills, experiences, and performance results; for example, “Demonstrated or Relevant Skills.”
- Imagine you could only tell an employer one thing about yourself. What would that be? Your best skill, experience, perspective, and/or attitude; should be the first point on your resume.
- It is not enough to write what that “thing” is; use appropriate “action” descriptive words to tie your “thing” to what the employer is seeking. As a sales trainer, I teach people to use “Feature, Advantage, Benefit (FABs);” what is the feature you are offering to the employer, what is the advantage the employer will enjoy, and what is the benefit of them choosing you?
- Then your second best, third, fourth, etc. skill, experience, perspective, and attitude? Use as many as you believe are relevant.
- You may consider repacking the order based on what the employer has requested in the job description.
Work/Academic Experience
Depending on the phraseology used to present your FABs, listing your work or academic experience requires care to avoid repeating the same points.
Pay particular attention to include any ongoing education you are or have been pursuing.
Awards, Certificates, Achievements
Your resume is the place to show your achievements; remember your purpose is not to “show off,” instead it is to show why you are the best person for their opportunity.
Include professional, academic, and civic awards for high achievement, particularly team and individual accomplishments.
Certificates for First Aid, Mental Health First Aid, Diversity training, and Professional development such as PMP fall into skills and experiences that could decide the difference between yourself and other candidates.
Some people like to list their activities and interests, many employers seek well-rounded people; including them can be helpful; however, be conscious of space.
Volunteer Activities – Volunteering and helping to build your community is a great thing to add to your resume. Unlike direct work experience, volunteer work skills and experience show an employer your dedication and commitment to helping others. Volunteering is a great way to learn additional skills that are not always readily available such as diplomacy, reliability, and community service.
References
I believe references help you and reduce risk for your prospective employer. For employers, hiring a new person exposes them to risk and is expensive. Using references who are willing to provide a character and/or work reference for you reduces their risk.
- Choose references who know how you work and who believe in you.
- Ensure your references know you are looking for work, they want to help you and will not mind getting calls or emails.
- Never choose immediate family as references.
- Usually have at least three references (current and former managers and supervisors, co-workers, teachers, and other professionals, all are excellent choices)
Stand out, stand apart: Format/Appearance
Your resume should represent you, what you have done, what you are doing, and help you get to where you want to go. Keep these points in mind.
- Your resume should evolve, a good resume should be fluid and tailored to each opportunity you wish to pursue.
- Seek expert people who can help craft you and your message.
- Always have someone review your spelling and grammar, even if you use AI tools like Grammarly.
- I would suggest using Artificial Intelligence to help you check but not to write your resume for you. Your future employers are hiring you, not the AI software you are using.
- Font, colors, and appearance. With digital resumes, the expression of individual creativity has never been more accessible.
- Look at your resume to see it from an employer ‘s perspective.
I believe you should have the best resume you are capable of presenting. Appreciate when employers go to market, their advertisements represent who would be the perfect applicant; they know that person is rarely available, so they look for the best person they can find, your resume helps to show them you are that person.
Will you ever have the perfect resume?
You are a work-in-progress, what is perfect one day, will change the next. Use these tips, allow yourself and your tools to evolve and improve and I believe you will be successful more than if you continue to use a resume that is more a historical document of everything you have done; rather than a sales presentation of how you can help a prospective employer accomplish what they need.
Good luck,
Paul.