Mistake #1: Listening to resume experts  

When I started twenty years ago as a programmer, I read every book and article I could find on resume writing. Over the past five years, I’ve had the privilege to recruit hundreds of IT professionals, reviewing no less than 65 resumes a day. I look back at some of the advice I read and have only one word: Poppycock!  

Resume experts have leveled forests with how-to books. They have many different theories on resume writing, most subjective, some contrary to others, but all designed to sell books. To be sure, no single book fits all when you consider the different professions, industries, and employee grade levels from clerk to CEO. What’s good for one profession might not apply to another.  

Here's an example. Many books and articles stress the idea that you must quantify the impact of your prior jobs in terms all companies understand: dollars!  Increased sales 30% by implementing this and that... Reduced shipping costs 25% with a revolutionary system I wrote… Dollar quantification is great advice if that is what your position is all about. But if I am an IT manager looking to hire a programmer, I don’t necessarily care if the candidate’s last program saved the company a half billion dollars. I only care that he or she has the technical skills to work on my systems and the ability to take our business requirements and translate them into technical solutions in a timely manner. My company has a management team that decides what programs will financially benefit the company. The programmer’s job is to develop them. If you want to quantify the impact of your prior jobs, do so in terms the hiring official can appreciate. (i.e. developed programming standards that reduced development time for new applications and improved maintainability on existing programs, etc.)

Tip: Do not accept all resume advice as the gospel; make sure your gut tells you the advice is relevant to you and your needs. This includes the additional advice I’m about to give.  

Mistake #2: Sending the one-size-fits-all resume

The three most important aspects of the resume: Emphasis, Emphasis, Emphasis.

Okay, here’s the situation. I’m a sleazebag recruiter and I’m advertising a systems architect position for one of my many clients.  I have a desk full of job orders to fill and more under- and overqualified candidates than I can possibly interview in a year’s time, and they’re steadily coming in by the droves. My ad requests candidates to first submit a resume. If you are qualified, I will contact you. And you can bet I will because I desperately need to fill this position before another sleazebag recruiter scoops me.

John Q ignores my instructions and calls instead. Just like any other recruiter with too many callers and too little time, I normally pre-qualify a candidate on paper before I invest an hour discussing the particulars. However, I’m desperate for a candidate, so I reluctantly take his call. And I’m glad I did. He is exactly what I need. I tell him to email his resume ASAP. When my inbox chimes, I open the resume with high hopes. But I’m sorely disappointed and now understand why John, as he put it, ‘can’t seem to get an interview.’ What I have in front of me is a one-size-fits-all resume. And buried deep within the resume are vague hints at his systems architect work that we discussed in detail for almost an hour. Where is all the good stuff he told me? It’s a fortunate thing he got through to me on the phone because otherwise I would’ve never given this guy a second glance based on his resume. I call him back and coach him on the necessary revisions. I get him set up with my client and provide him with the basic interview tips. John, bless his soul, gets the job, and I’m able to make the mortgage payment one more month.

Unfortunately, not every job seeker gets a second chance like John. In fact, I’m quite certain I have more John Qs than I realize; but I’ll never know because I don’t have the luxury to interview every candidate whose resume doesn’t meet my job criteria. I can only go by what’s on paper, same as my client. That’s why your resume is so important.

Tip: Revise your resume to showcase your experience that relates specifically to the position for which you’re applying.  

Mistake #3: Trying to reel in the big one without a hook

When jobs were plentiful and skilled workers were at a premium, you could expect a hiring official to study each resume, willing to make whatever mental leap necessary to deem the candidate a fit for the job. Today, hiring officials believe there are enough resources on the market that they do not need to settle for anything less than the perfect candidate. Budgets are tight, and by golly they expect the most bang from every buck. The price for finding this perfect specimen is sifting through a mountain of resumes. To do this, hiring officials must shift into rapid elimination mode, allowing each resume only a brief glance to prove itself worthy of the short list.

If you are going to make that short list, you must grab the hiring official’s attention immediately. Writers refer to this as ‘the hook.’ And every writer knows you must create this hook in the first paragraph or risk losing your audience. You literally have only a few precious seconds to do this.

One way to achieve the hook is to write a professional summary at the top of the resume that is carefully tailored to emphasize the exact criteria of the job. Think of it as an abridged cover letter—a short paragraph no more than 75 or so words that speaks very clearly to the job specifications. Granted, if you have only a vague description of the job, you have little choice but to blast the Hail Mary one-size-fits-all resume and hope for the best. But if you want to connect with the hiring official and improve your odds drastically, do whatever’s necessary to get detailed job specs. If you have the specs and still can’t compose a summary that targets the position, you’re probably wasting your time on this one in today’s competitive job market.

Keeping with my initial scenario, let’s say you’re in technology and over the past ten years you have been a database administrator, a programmer, a systems architect, and a network engineer. You’re applying for my systems architect position. Your professional summary should speak to your systems architect experience as it pertains to my job spec and either underplay or omit all the other experience unless these things are secondary requirements to my job.  

Once you’ve created this masterful summary, you then need to make sure the rest of your resume supports (emphasizes) what you’ve written by expanding those areas that boast your systems architect experience. You might be thinking, “No way! If I tailored my resume for every different job I apply for, I’d do nothing but write resumes all day.”  Well, hopefully you’re focusing on positions that are similar enough that after a few 'saved' revisions you’ll be able to cover whatever comes your way. If not, I’d be concerned that you are floundering and unfocused in your job search.  

Tip: Grab the hiring official’s attention with a hard-hitting summary that’s targeted specifically to his or her needs. 

Mistake #4: Elevating yourself above the job

How many times have you heard the word overqualified?  Anytime I see a manager applying for a lesser position, I immediately assume this person is looking to take any available job until he or she can find a better one. 

Tip: If you truly want the lower level position, downplay the upper level responsibilities and emphasize the lower level tasks and accomplishments required at that level.

Mistake #5: Butchering a good resume because of little or no response

I have job seekers on a regular basis approach me, asking if they should redo their resume. After a careful review, I’m impressed at how well they’ve put together the resume: aesthetically pleasing, solid hook, right level of detail supporting the hook, no gaps in employment history, etc. (By the way, if your resume is functional, you might want to consider chronological instead. Many hiring officials suspect a candidate might be hiding something with the functional.)   

When I tell the candidate her resume looks fine, she invariably asks, “Then why am I not getting any responses?” I soon find out her job leads consist solely of want ads and online job postings. Therein lies the problem.  

Too many job seekers rely on job boards and want ads as their only source of job leads. Since these leads are public knowledge, job seekers are competing with what feels like the entire human race, or at least the part that has an Internet connection. No matter how well you’ve written your resume, you’re going against tough odds. You could be getting lost in the numbers.

Tip: Advertised jobs make up only 20% - 30% of all the open jobs. You must uncover job leads in the hidden job market. As a soccer coach, I instruct my players to "find the open space."  The DMC Group puts out a downloadable booklet that demystifies the recruiter's task of finding this 'open space', thereby providing access to new or upcoming jobs before the general public catches wind. I highly recommend it if you are struggling in this area.  

Okay, let’s review.

Tip Summary

1.                  Don’t take all resume advice as the gospel, only that which makes sense to you and your position

2.                  Get detailed job specifications and emphasize these areas accordingly on your resume

3.                  Create a solid hook by opening with a professional summary that speaks to the job spec

4.                  If you’re applying for a job below your qualifications, tone down your accomplishments to match the position.

5.                  Do not blame your resume for lack of response; it could be that you’re getting lost in the numbers. Learn how to go where the others aren’t ... find the open space.

If by chance you’ve made numerous changes to your resume and feel a resume doctor may be in order, by all means give it a try. But be prepared to shell out a C-note or better. And get solid references on a service before engaging them. One of the acclaimed resume doctors in the business is at www.resumedoctor.com.  If you enter Dodgers12 in the ‘Recruiter Referral Code’ under the sign up form, you’ll get a 10% discount.  

Hope this information helps you in your job search.

Sincerely,

J. M. Escue