May 7th, 2015

Is It My Résumé, or Is It Me?

The French word "résumé" means "summary." Yet for most Americans, they prepare a boring autobiography with responsibilities that could go into history for more than 20 years! This is not a summary which may have some appeal to those that cannot hire you, such as Human Resources, or recruiters. No slam intended - many of my clients are HR and recruiting professionals. You need to get to the DM (hiring decision-maker) that can say "yes," NOT to those that can only vet your resume, and silently say "no."

I don't mean to disparage since most people have only written a hand-full of resumes in their entire life. Today, a resume should be considered as vibrant marketing collateral since the intent, in the end, is to market you in print! By the way, a "CV," in Latin, "Curriculum Vitae," is used extensively in other countries. The rough translation is "course of (my) life" and no DM (hiring Decision-Maker) in the U.S. is that interested. That said, those (typically PhDs, M.D.s, etc.) that are published and international speakers may need a CV; their target audience likes to know that information, but it's not for you.

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DMs do not care about what you were "responsible for...," only how you did...the results! They don't need to see your employers, in general, that go back in time for more than 12-15 years since most, if not all, of those skills are now obsolete due to technology and market shifts (and displays your age).

Look at company magazine advertisements...pure marketing collateral to gain enough interest for you to research further. Your resume should do the same! Additionally, an Internet job posting can draw 15,000+ resumes, so companies now utilize ATS parsing software to weed-out candidates based upon age (dates derived from employers, graduation, etc.), location, keywords, or the lack thereof, et al. Your new resume must be designed to survive the parsing software and as "marketing collateral" to gain and hold the attention of the DM so that you get "the call!" Otherwise, your application never receives any response whatsoever. Sound familiar?
     
So, it's not you, or your background necessarily that makes gaining that interview seemingly impossible. It's today's marketplace, your resume, and your cover letter, or lack thereof. Top that off with providing it to people, or departments that can only deny your hire, or move forward a very small portion of applicants. You know the "definition of insanity," so make the changes, or seek professional assistance. A resume MUST be a marketing masterpiece!

No matter your perception of today’s job market, more than 80% of career positions are never posted! There's gold in those hills IF approached correctly!
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