Resumes Are Useless Without This
J.T. O'Donnell
Founder & CEO, Work It DAILY | Board of Directors, McCoy | Career & Professional Development | Job Search | HR & Recruiting | Employer Branding | Recruitment Marketing | Talent Management | Executive Coaching
We do a weekly live career Q & A where our community sends us questions to be answered on the show. Guess what the most popular questions were about? Resumes.
Here are just a few we received:
- One page or two?
- Objective statement or not?
- Font size 11 or 12?
- Education at the top or the bottom?
- Include dates or not?
- Change it to fit each job posting?
And yet, none of the answers to these questions matter if you don't have one thing: a strategy for getting your resume directly in the hands of a human being who is connected in some way to the hiring process.
A Resume Only Works When Someone's Expecting It
All the formatting in the world will not get your resume noticed. Especially, when you submit your resume online and it goes through a company's ATS (applicant tracking system). The chances your resume will be an exact keyword match is slim-to-none. Which means, the recruiter or hiring manager will never even see it. Wasting hours on end trying to create the perfect resume is a big time suck that doesn't provide a good return on investment.
Your Resume Doesn't Get You the Job - Your Reputation Does
If you want your resume to be useful in a job search, then it needs be put directly into the hands of the person you want to read it, along with a recommendation that it's worth reading. That way, instead of "screening you out," the person reading it will want to "screen you in," based on the referral. If you are looking for a job, you know the statistic: 80%+ of all jobs are gotten via referral. You must leverage your professional network so when a job you want is posted, you can reach out to your colleagues and ask them to help you get your resume in front of the hiring manager. Don't have a big enough network? Well, that's why you're here on Linkedin! It exists to help you expand your professional connections.
Now, I'm Not Saying Resume Design Doesn't Matter
Please know, I'm not suggesting you ignore the design of your resume. You still need a clean, focused, error-proof document to submit to a human being. Otherwise, all that hard work to get it in the right hands will be for nothing. I'm just telling you if you think constantly tweaking your resume and submitting it online is what will get you hired, then you are going to continue to look for a job for a very long time. In fact, if you watch our Web TV show, you'll hear me explain why "less is more" when it comes to resumes today and how to use a simplified resume to get more calls from recruiters and hiring managers.
Just remember, a resume is a marketing tool for your business-of-one. Without the right audience to give it to, it's useless!
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Hey, i was worked as a recruiter some of reason i leave that job right now i am job less and i need a job could you anyone help me Thanks right now i am in K.S.A.(Jeddah)
IT Educator / Sr. Systems Analyst / Binghamton NY Area
7 年I think an additonal task for the applicant to do, is to review the required skills section of the requisition and make sure that the hiring manager is taking a "shotgun" approach to hiring talent. For example, I've seen way too many required skills sections look like: "candidate must have : 10 years of Windows 10, Unix, Linux Mint 20 and the following certifications: MCTP, Linux+, Security+, Security+ 2, CISSP, MCSA, MCDBA Windows 2000/2005/2008/2012/2015/2018/2020; Windows Server 2025 etc. etc." the point is, the hiring manager did not do due diligence in making sure the requirements were realistic, and the HR person who created the requirements did not run the requirements by the hiring manager. As a candidate I would be *very* suspicious of the hiring manager and the HR department. To be sure, this is akin to the candidate puffing up their resume with skills they do not have. Just for the record, many of those requirements simply do not exist, and should be huuuuuge red flags for the potential candidate.
Automated Admin Systems Consultant - Bringing HR into the 21st Century by using technology to automate systems, decrease administrative burdens, and create time for companies to focus on what really matters. people.
7 年Hey there Ms. O'Donnell, I am wondering, because I see these posts in a similar light from you on a regular basis, what are you supposed to leverage when you are first starting out? I have been swimming upstream for a year. I will meet people who work in fields I want to be in, and have had several say they will hand my resume on, only to have them see my resume and ask me to put more on it. The trouble is, I have been working in the service industry to try and make rent after moving to NYC from SF and I don't have more to put on it. Nor time to grow it without making money from what I am doing. I did an internship, I volunteered after school and I still can't get a job. No one will take a chance in me because I don't have experience and can't get experience without someone taking a chance on me. I am pretty much at a loss because I am much older than most entry level candidates and I just can't get my foot in the door. I would like to see an article that addresses people in my situation if you have any advice on it. Thank you!
Real Estate Agent at Compass / @jennyohomes
7 年Great article, J.T.
Think out of the box!
7 年Can I ask for another link under the sentence: Why not invest $9/month and get the career coaching you want and deserve? (last paragraph) - the current one does not work. Because I was in the past trying to extend my benefits from using linkedin but with cost over 40 euros - as employee in Czech Republic, I consider that amount far to high for only such soft support, but 9 dollars would sound to me...