Constructing the Dreaded Resumé

In my decades of experience placing and recruiting candidates for employers of all sizes, not a single of those employers ever forwent a resumé requirement from prospective candidates. 

Which is because, at their best, resumés are a concise and informative way to highlight our professional histories. Not just what jobs we’ve held, but education completed, skills and interests, exact areas of expertise, and previous professional accomplishments. Many years of a life, the daily grind, the passion projects, the right foots put forward, all of it compressed into a brief, legible document. That is a resumé distilled to its finest form. 

But at its worst, it can seem pompous. It can be overly wordy. It can be alienating or digressive. It can even diminish your highlights. A good resumé is a secret knock to get you through opened doors. A bad one will have employers passing you over without hesitation. 

So it’s worth knowing how to make one that glows.

Well, how? How do we quantify our accomplishments without sounding boastful, all while communicating the myriad ways we stand out from candidates with similar professional backgrounds?

Let’s start here: When sitting down to write a resumé, we must understand that a person will actually, physically be reading it. Thus, we want it to be visually and verbally appealing. That means no bloated paragraphs or run-on sentences. Ample white space keeps the actual page distinct and readable. Write in simple, declarative sentences where specific actions are followed by clear results. It should showcase only the best of your credentials, not everything you’ve done at every position you’ve held. 

There are more minute considerations as well. Should you include a summary of yourself, for instance? If so, should that be a skills summary or a personal one? Should we order our history by the applicability of our experience, or chronologically? How do we honestly represent employment gaps? Unfortunately, there’s no single, best answer. The only format which will negate an employer’s interest is a bad one. I encourage you to experiment but do so only with a purpose. Include a personal summary, for instance, but only if it showcases something really special about you. And if you’ve spent the last three years kicking it on a Caribbean catamaran, maybe a functional resumé is better than a chronological one. 

Include personal interests and hobbies only when they support and enhance your credentials as a complete candidate. Think foreign or programming languages, creative skills, software mastery, anything that communicates how you are more well-rounded or appealing.  Be careful not to get overly personal, however, just as you would avoid doing in an interview. 

Really, the best thing we can do is understand who exactly we’re sending our resumé to. A small, boutique company with a fun website and colloquialized copy? Maybe you should be fun and colliquializing too! Or is this a more proper position at a Fortune 500 firm? If so, I’d avoid listing your “interests”  and focus instead on professional developments, certifications, and sales data, for example.

You’re an intelligent and appealing applicant. Don’t doubt that. Just be smart about the resumé writing process. Heed the universal rules - be concise, be clear, be readable, be humble - but take time to think about what each specific employer might be attracted to.

  And remember: You don’t have to do this alone. After many years of reading, writing, and revising resumés, I have a keen sense for how one should read and look. Do you feel like yours isn’t getting the attention it deserves? Reach out to me today at www.idealinterviewco.com/contact, or connect with me, Nancy Shield, on LinkedIn. 

p.s. You’ve probably heard about automated hiring software, programs which screen hundreds of resumés, deleting everything inapplicable. This is only half-true. These programs do exist, though they are really only used by immense firms which sift through hundreds, if not thousands, of applications. Most of these programs work by searching for keywords within a document, ensuring that an accepted resumé bears the necessary qualifications. If you’re applying for a job and believe yourself to be qualified, trust your instincts, you probably are.