Resume Sway

Spend a little time in the wonderful world of resume writing, and you will find that it is a far more complex place than most people realize. Back in my college days, I distinctly remember the two extremes, those seniors running around fretting about their resume and whether they had followed all the "rules" to get them that key entry position into some Fortune 500 and those seniors who simply shrugged and said, "what is there to it?"

Personally, I was somewhere in the middle. I didn't want to be completely apathetic, but I was pretty sure that obsessing over the process wasn't going to do much good either.

Now that I have moved on from that time, gone through one corporate career, received my MBA, and started a company of my own, I can tell you that things haven't changed much. Whether it is a recent college grad, a mid-level manager, or a corporate exec, these two extremes still exist (along with a few stragglers caught in the middle).
You have the obsessing camp that wants a formula to follow, wants to "wow" everyone who reads the document, and wants to fret over every comma. In the end, they rarely end up satisfied (mostly because they aren't sure what will satisfy them) and typically waste a lot of time and energy. Even if they should wind up with a strong resume, they rarely recognize it because they have placed more emphasis on 2 pieces of paper than anyone should.

Then you have the "why bother" camp that sees the resume as nothing more than a nuisance, that barely even glances at the document created for them, and that generally doesn't take the process too seriously. In the end, they rarely end up with an effective resume, by and large, because they either spent their time with a resume writer downplaying everything and providing vague answers. And even if they should wind up with a decent resume, they also rarely recognize it because they don't get what all the fuss is about anyway.

And then there are the stragglers in the middle, not really sure how much to obsess over it and how much to downplay the whole thing. They just want something that works.

Unlike the old days, however, I no longer fall in the middle. Personally, I no longer even believe there is a middle ground here.

The problem is that both of the extreme camps really miss the boat when it comes to why they need a resume in the first place. Therefore, it doesn't do any good to be stuck in between two ineffective camps.

So what is the purpose of the resume? Well, let's start by talking about a few things the resume is NOT:

1. A resume cannot get you a job.
2. A resume is not a flashy marketing promo, meant to bedazzle its readers.
3. A resume is not a comprehensive professional summary of all past achievements and work history.
4. A resume is not the answer to your career woes. It won't be the salvation you need.

Now let's look at what a resume is:

1. A resume is a tool that if wielded effectively will help to secure interviews, which provided the job seeker can manage that discussion successfully, will lead to a new job.
2. A resume is not about the job seeker but about the person reading the resume. The resume needs to anticipate its audience, what the audience wants to hear, and what problems the audience is trying to solve. A resume also needs to be placed in the right hands.
3. A resume is just a document, whose effectiveness lies, again, in its ability to communicate to its audience in a manner that is professional and strategic. It should look nice (neat, really), but nothing more. (Seriously, I worry about hiring managers who want to see flash; after all, who wants to hire form over substance?)

Hopefully, once you break things down this way, you can see the problem with the two camps above. Neither of them is really considering the resume and its purpose. Once you get the expectations right, then you can get the proper perspective. And the proper perspective goes a long way.

So who am I anyway? Why do I think my advice is so valuable?