Fear and Loathing in Your Personal Resume Your Skill Sets

???????Remember when I said, a few posts back, that the first time an employer sees your resume, it is given a 10- second look??And where did he/she they look first? Your skill sets. ?Yes, the 6 or maybe 8 key things you do best. ?It pops out of the top of page one.?They are listed right after the summary statement. ?Sounds like an easy task but let me tell you, here is what I have seen:

?????????????A.???Resumes that look like an inch of paper was pulled out of “War and Peace”.?Nothing but text. ?No skill sets to be found. ?You need to take 10 minutes, a dictionary and a college professor to figure out what you do well.?Give the reader a break! ?Your skills need to be listed, so they stand out. ?Image reading pages upon pages of key word stuffed, blah, blah, blah trying to figure out if any of the drivel is worth figuring out as valuable.?Don’t do this. ?To the shredder this goes.

?????????????B.???OK, you listed your skill sets and, congratulations, you listed them toward the top.?But for crying out loud, do not list 24 of them! ?You are not good at everything. ?No one is.?This is a key word trap that many folks try to sneak past the goalie. ?Stop this. ?You need to figure out the things you bring to the table that will really matter and are unique among all the other folks vying for that job.?Yes, you have less than 9 of them.

?????????????C.???Do not be ordinary either.?I see resumes that list skill sets such as: operations, management, IT, services, marketing, sales (well “sales” can still get you some attention!), etc.?These are very pedestrian, and you come across like a bag of commodities. ?I am NOT advocating you employ marketing spin, lying, or brazen exaggeration of what you can do. ?You must prove you can do these things at some point.?When I get to describing the bullet items of your accomplishments, I’ll get into this more. ?But it’s safe to say, an adjective or some descriptor will help. ?You must have unique skills to stand out. ?Try Company Communicator, Technical Operations, Financial Acumen, Technical and Innovation Strategies, etc.?Yet remember, if you can’t talk about it, you can’t do it. ?Skill sets usually develop after the bulleted items are fully constructed.

?????????????D.???Some “executive” resume formats include a summary paragraph that highlights the real summary, then a summary paragraph for the skills sets and a summary paragraph for the experience!?Gak! ?Why be redundant? ?I don’t have time to read all that stuff, plus, I am smart. ?I will get it the first time. ?Hit me between the eyes with what you can do. ?People who have done some business overseas have found jobs because of skill sets like: Global Business Operations, Global Business Development and Global Program Management.?I also had someone who virtually ran every department you could think of in a large corporate setting. ?That person was truly a Chief Operations Officer but did not know it. ?Why let folks guess? ?Tell them who you really are! ?This guy could prove it.

?????????????My last bit of advice is this:?do not let the skill sets be the place someone perceives you to be someone you are not.?Be careful not to use skills that “sell” you or “boast” your abilities. ?Also, do not include educational trophies such as MBA, PhD or listed patents, awards or kudos in this section.?Titles, degrees and high accomplishments are just that: titles, degrees and trophies. ?These belong at the end of the resume as “validations” of your value. ?Placing trophies at the top endangers you of being perceived as someone who is entitled, wants to be the boss, has an ego, etc.?Why do this and screw up your real value? ?Perception at this stage is everything. ?You cannot change it once that perception is set in an employer’s mind. ?Let them see you as someone of value. ?This way, you don’t have to sell yourself!

Thomas Fleury is a small business advisor, a resume re-positioner and a facilitator of peer to peer groups for Small Business USA.?He can be reached at [email protected].?Details on LinkedIn at ThomasRFleury?