A visit to any bookstore or library will quickly reveal that there’s an overwhelming supply of resume books offering a host of conflicting advice about how best to construct a resume.
At best, they can tell you how to produce an acceptable document. At worst, the guidance is downright damaging. The books ignore psychological processes that the writer and target audience need to focus on.
The following seven principles are aimed at these strategic concerns. While targeted at managerial- and executive-level readers, the principles apply to job seekers at any career stage. The moment is here. Seize it!
1. Long factual copy sells. Proof of this honored axiom is delivered to your home every day. If shortness worked, brevity would be in your mailbox. And all the companies now using long-copy direct mail could achieve multimillion-dollar savings in paper, printing, and postage…everything that makes a fat letter more expensive than a thin one. Those companies aren’t stupid. They test. They don’t spend money unless the results more than justify the extra cost.
This proven marketing technique, as advertising guru David Ogilvy elegantly pointed out, works on the principle that: “The more you tell, the more you sell.” Incidentally, the only exceptions to the “long copy sells” rule occur with simple products that every recipient is thoroughly familiar with before the mailing arrives. In such cases, explanation of the product is unnecessary.
When you get in touch with a prospective employer, you are always an unknown commodity. You’re not Fortune, Newsweek or The Wall Street Journal. You must always remember this fact.
2. Write your resume with a human reader in mind. It’s unwise to distort the creation of your “business stories” by skewing the language to pass muster with computer scanners and databases. Nevertheless, once you have finalized your basic resume package, it’s wise these days to be aware that resumes frequently are scanned. Fortunately, most of the stylistic advice for a “scanner-friendly” resume is consistent with good resume style in general. Yes, document scanning is a fact of life these days, but it’s not a reason to revamp your entire resume. Write your resume for a human reader and then check it to make sure it’s intelligible to a machine. Beyond that, don’t worry.
3. Treat who receives your documents as a business development campaign. Too many job seekers aren’t strategic about how they approach companies and search firms. I suggest they behave as presidents or marketers seeking new business for their companies.
They wouldn’t approach a company they are looking to do business with by sending an email and saying, “I’m of ABC Company and looking for business. Will you speak with me?” They would find out the name of the right person to speak with and create a strategy for setting up a dialogue. They must research and carefully select who will receive their resume as another project in their career, not as a job hunt.
4. Have a specific target. Would you buy a product from a salesman who didn't know what he was selling but had a specific price? The notion of "keeping your options open" is a misguided approach to job hunting, managing a career and, especially, resume writing.
A prospective employer should know in the first two to three lines what type of position you're looking for, and in the first 10 to 15 lines the greatest benefits you can bring to the role. Having two or three resumes with different targets still allows for an effective, manageable search.
If you're unable to narrow your target, focus on assessing your skills and career research, not writing your resume.
5. Use a profile or summary section. This section is the first and most important section of your resume’s main text. In your first 10 to 15 lines, you should let a prospective employer know what you can do and why you're good at it. Coming immediately after your heading and contact information, a well-written profile puts a positive spin on every entry that follows and eliminates the need for a separate objective.
Typical headings for this section are "synopsis," "profile,” "key skills/qualifications," "highlights," or "summary." An effective profile will include your skills and/or experience. To be credible, a profile requires a focus on specific, verifiable claims. Almost every item should be substantiated or self-evident.
6. Include skills, scope of responsibility, and accomplishments. This is the "Golden Rule" of resume writing. Don't shortchange yourself out of concern for keeping your resume to one page. Your resume should cover as many selling points as possible; a one page marketing flyer is nonsense and does a disservice to your candidacy. If you adhere to this checklist, length should be of minimal concern.
7. Gain an introduction for yourself and your resume. As a courtesy, search executives often will speak with candidates who are referred by someone they know and respect. I’ll phone or meet with candidates, if they are referred by someone I trust or have been in positions at companies I know. I always try to spend 5% to 10% of my time each week talking or meeting with such senior candidates who have contacted me but who don’t necessarily fit any of our current searches.
Joe Hodowanes, a career strategy adviser in Tampa, Florida, offers a free resume
and career analysis. Fax your resume to (813) 936-0201 or email it to
jmwanes@jmwanes.com For questions, call Joe at (813) 936-0091 or visit
www.jmwanes.com on the Web. All Job Search Advisor articles on this website are the property of
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© 2005 J.M. Wanes & Associates.
