Resumes

Back in the day, even during recessions, life seemed a lot easier. If you wanted to search for a new job, you typed up a one page (no more) all purpose resume and carried it down to your neighborhood print shop. The printer would set the type and print one hundred copies of your resume on a decent quality cotton bond paper. Then you would compose a specific, targeted cover letter indicating you knew something about the company in your gun sights, drop the two of them into an envelope, and hope for the best. In my first major job search without the help of my university’s Career Services Office, I sent out about 35 resumes with hand written cover letters. I dabbled with calligraphy back in the day. My efforts produced 2 serious interviews and one offer.

By the time I graduated from Engineering School in 1985, the world was already changing. This time I sent out something over 100 resumes and cover letters. The resumes were still professionally printed but the cover letter was produced by a primitive word processing program that resided on the University’s VAX cluster. My efforts at direct mail marketing produced two serious interviews and a job offer I didn’t want. To be fair, my prospective employers looked at my resume thinking plant manager material. I wanted to work in Research and Development. After nine years, I had a belly full of the manufacturing. This effort did produce a marvelous collection of rejection letters that were so similar it was comical. They ran something like this, “While we were thrilled and amazed with your talents and experience, we have no openings at this time that would match your incomparable abilities.”

Serious people from new generation management, like Seth Godin, believe the day of the resume is over. Networking combined with a body of work produces jobs. The old model of filling a defined position from a pool of interested applicants only exists in the Government or large bureaucratic corporations. Both Government and large corporations are downsizing and/or outsourcing.

Who you know has always been more important than what you know.

Even back in 1985 I was able to get my foot in the door of my current employer not with my resume or my academic record, but with photographs of my junior design team project, a small electric powered all terrain vehicle we built for a crippled child. The woman representing my current employer at the career fair was in charge of the handicapped hiring program. She personally saw to it that I was connected with the right people. Interestingly, some six months after I started work at my laboratory I received a rejection notice from our personnel office generated by my resume. It is still one of my most treasured keepsakes.

A resume is still a requirement for a job search.

Today resumes are put into massive electronic databases where programs search for keywords associated with a desired set of job skills. This first cut sends a finite number of resumes with the largest occurrence of keywords to the interested parties in management. If you are lucky, your resume gets 30 seconds. Unless we are talking entry level positions, management already knows who they want to hire. They go through this song and dance because it is required by legal and personnel regulations. Personal reports on the Internet indicate the old fashioned mass mailings of the past are a waste of time and money.

If you want to target a single company, write a specific resume and cover letter for that particular company. Call or visit the personnel office to express your interest in that company. Get at least one name. Then follow up with the resume and cover letter. In the cover letter state that you will make a follow up phone call at a particular time. Make that call. Then write a simple thank you note addressed to a particular person.

Because a resume will only get 30 seconds, professional resume writing services stress the importance of layout and white space tailored to attract the eyes of the reader to the most important material in your resume.

There seems to be some agreement that resumes should be two pages or less.

Tailor your resume to your target. Word processing software and cheap laser printers have changed the world. Still, it is recommended you use high quality paper. A light cream color or a subtle grey cast is considered better for resume paper than white as it will cause the resume to stand out.

Don’t use the passive voice. Instead say, “I did this.” Be specific, state things like: I used Microsoft Project to develop schedules and budgets for projects in the $200,000 to $650,000 range. I selected personnel for the Acme Roller Skate project that required a major redesign and extensive field testing. I supervised the project. I wrote the report.

If you have specific quantifiable achievements, trumpet your accomplishments. This is not a place to be shy. State, I reduced rejections in the grinding room by 30% over six months by requiring spot inspections during the shift rather than only at the end of the shift.

For heaven’s sake, please have somebody proofread your resume for spelling and grammatical errors. My wife is a very good proofreader. I am not.

Have your friends, supervisors, and mentors review and comment on your resume. Use every connection you can make with anyone who might be in a position to assist you. Always be on the lookout for that one person who might make the difference.

Proverbs 11:14

Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellers there is safety.

Proverbs 15:22

Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellers they are established.