As a career services professional and a hiring manager before that, I have been afforded the opportunity to see many, many resumes prepared by both job seekers and resume writers. After working with clients to prepare resumes for the past 6+ years, I am amazed at how many candidates like a broad-based resume to cover all of the options that they might consider as they go through their job search.
Is It Possible to Create a Broad Resume?
The first thing many clients ask is, "Can you just create a broad or general resume for me that I can use with almost any position that I'm interested in?" The answer, of course, is "yes, I can." Any resume writer can develop a nice-looking resume that explains your work history, education, training, and so forth.
Is It Effective?
Whether a broad-based resume can be developed is not the proper question, however. The key is whether a broad-based resume can actually be effective out there in the real world. The answer to that is a resounding "No"! Think about it. Very few employers are seeking candidates that have a little bit of everything, mainly because it usually amounts to a whole lot of nothing!
Employers are looking for job seekers with very specific skill sets, related experience, and a track record of success. A broad-based resume may be general enough to use for any type of job, but it is not specific enough to be useful at all.
A general resume will water down the experience and achievements that could be found in a resume with a much narrower scope. They are so diluted that the employer, assuming they read the whole thing, will wonder what it is you are really looking for in a position, because it certainly could not be the one you applied for.
What Do I Do?
If you have a diverse background AND have an interest in pursuing jobs that span different types, it is best to create a separate resume for each focus. You can probably even carry over some of the content, like general position descriptions, from one resume to the next. However, your profile, accomplishments, and keywords, as well as the objective, should be geared specifically for the position at hand.
You will find, I am confident, that employers will take you and your experience much more seriously when they can understand clearly what you want and why you are qualified for it.
So who am I anyway? Why do I think my advice is so valuable?
My name is Stephen Van Vreede. My company is called No Stone Unturned, and I have been in the career consulting business since 2002 with 8 years of hiring experience prior to that. You can check out my website that offers tools such as the No Nonsense Job Search Strategy guide and other Job Search Tips.
The short story is that I have an MBA in Marketing from Villanova University and a dual B.S. degree in Finance & Logistics from the University of Maryland. I am a certified professional résumé writer (CPRW) and a member of the Professional Association of Résumé Writers and Career Coaches (PARW/CC). As I mentioned, I paid my dues in the corporate world eventually running a large-scale call center for a major truck rental company, and I have spent the past 6 years with No Stone Unturned, assisting job seekers in achieving their goals.
I know that my products will work for you because they are based on commonsense principles leveraged with good, solid expertise and knowledge of the job search process. After working with countless job seekers, I have become more and more convinced that most of them do not properly prepare for a job search and rely way too much on online sites and trendy articles to tell them what to do. Thus, they waste a lot of time, money, and energy.
If you still aren't sure whether our services are right for you, feel free to give me a call toll-free at 1-866-755-9800 or e-mail me at
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