How do you handle criticism on your resume?

If you challenge a 100 people to review your resume, you'll probably get back several hundred changes. Implement the grammar and spelling changes and then review the rest for common themes. Making ever change suggested and asking more people to review can be an endless cycle. Ultimately this is your marketing document and you must own it. Go Grand, Never Bland, Brand to Land & #KeepRockingLinkedIn! Kevin On a Mission to Eliminate Organizational & Personal Blanding?

When soliciting feedback it's important to get it from people who are experienced in current hiring practices. I encourage people to seek guidance from a handful of people -- recognizing that EVERYONE will have an opinion. It's when 3 of 5 people say the same thing that you have an issue/trend worth considering.

One thing is helpful is considering the source. Opinions on resumes, are as diverse as the employers, and help organizations that provide them. A good indicator of the quality of your résumé is if it’s getting past the ATS in your outcomes are producing opportunities to interview. The proof is in the pudding they say a company might have a particular. Preference for style of résumé, such as chronological, no matter if a Skills base résumé might be more helpful to you, is a great example. I would except all feedback with grace and apply what you feel is going to get you more hits in interviews overall.

There is no definitive right or wrong way to write a resume. Everybody has different ideas and perspectives on them. As was mentioned in an earlier post, if you are getting conversions to interviews then the resume is doing its job. Always remember to tweak the resume to target vacancies you apply for.

Remember that resumes can be very different depending on what type of position you are looking for. I have heard from candidates for years that they paid someone to do their resume and the "resume expert" told them to keep it to one page. A one page resume for someone that has been doing consulting in Engineering or Information Technology simply doesn't work. The resume needs to detail what you have done and what technologies you used at the various clients and it can't be done on one page.

Unfortunately, you are more likely to get bad resume advice than good these days. While well-meaning, most professionals don't have the time and money to study resume best practices and hiring trends full time. They are speaking only from their personal experience and preferences. If you want an unbiased and informed opinion, it's worth spending $100 to $200 for a professional resume audit. Quality firms who offer this service will spend 2-4+ hours fully evaluating your document and will provide recommendations, resources and writing examples for each section. Implementing their suggestions can significantly increase your resume success.

Resume criticism is a paper-mirror's reflection, a rearview glance at your career. The real challenge isn't just spotting the typos, but decoding the unspoken narratives hidden within its lines. Do they whisper the tale of a wandering generalist or bellow the epic of a driven specialist? Know where you have been and where you want to go.

Remember, if you send your resume to twenty different people you'll get twenty different opinions. While their feedback matters, it will also cause you to stress when you may not need to. Just because one recruiter/hiring manager hates bullets--or your format--or your accomplishments--or WHATEVER--it doesn't mean they all do. In the end, if your resume is relevant to the role you want, your accomplishments, strengths, and skill set are listed, and YOU like it, then that is what matters.

Keep in mind that every candidate is different, so what works on one resume may not work best on another. However, opinions on what “works” varies drastically from person to person. Do your best to get the fundamentals down and someone out there will appreciate it! Side Note: Be skeptical of critiques from “professional” resume reviewers. There is a very good chance they will inflate the issues with your resume to encourage you to purchase their services.

Also, feedback is not universal and should be tailored for each resume based on the position. It is okay for an applicant to have more than one resume especially if you are open to various positions. Someone with sales and management experience may have two completely different resumes where one is sales focused and the other is leadership focused and the feedback they get may for one may not be applicable for the other. A similar case can be made for federal versus civilian resumes. These are going to look very different. So getting feedback on your civilian resume will do you little to no good when creating or editing your federal resume.