Trying to Do too much with your Resume

I have been reviewing a lot of resumes lately and it has struck me that many people are trying to do too much with their resume. They are using the resume as their primary communication vehicle to the hiring community and seem compelled to explain their work history in detail to prospective hiring managers.

Let’s be practical. The purpose of the resume is to attract prospective hiring managers to contact you for an interview. No one is going to decide to hire you on the basis of your resume. They will decide to call you, if you are interesting and a possible fit for their needs. Too much information in the resume and they can make a decision on you just from reading your resume – and usually that is not good.

Common mistakes

The most common mistakes made on resumes are the lack of targeting and listing tasks instead of achievements. The next biggest mistake is giving too much information, such as explaining situations. In my experience, job seekers seemed to be compelled to give an explanation to properly tell the truth. Good grief, Charlie Brown, save it for the interview!

Your resume needs to be loaded with achievements and interesting. It is a marketing tool designed to get you into the office or to get a call from the potential employer. Adding explanatory information often proves ineffectual, often perceived as negative and gets you disqualified based on the information in your resume – ouch!

So how do you correct and overly wordy resume? Get out your marking pen and highlight the key points. Get rid of the explaining words and use bullets. You will look a lot more interesting and they will have to call your to get the explanation.

One size does not fit all

While we are talking about resume mistakes. Let’s confront the issue of using one resume for all replies. You need to have a resume that you write for yourself which you use to tailor your Linkedin profile and post on job boards. This resume is targeted on companies or organizations that have your ideal job position.

A coaching colleague of mine, Megan Pittsley-Fox, contacted me about an open requisition that one of her clients asked her to help fill. Megan knew that I was helping a person that would qualify and asked me to alert the job seeker. The job seeker sent her standard resume, even though she had a full job description available to use in tailoring her resume. It disappointed Megan that the respondent did not take the time to do a quality response. I felt that I should have coached my client better.

Tailored resumes are a must

When responding to an advertised position that you find on Craigslist.org, CareerBuilder.com, or one of your target company websites; you must tailor your resume to fit the employer’s requirements. Here’s how you do it:

1. List every requirement and qualification on a sheet of paper or spreadsheet. This is often called a T-chart or Q-chart.
2. Create another column where you list how you meet the requirement or have relevant experience.
3. If you are weak on a requirement or qualification, take immediate action to sign up for a course or do concentrated study in the weak area. Don’t let your weakness stop you from applying make sure that you can demonstrate that you are taking corrective action.
4. Take your top achievements from your STaRs inventory, ranked in order of importance for this position and insert them into your resume.
5. Position yourself as a qualified candidate on the top 1/3 of your resume by your headline, what sets you apart from others with the same headline, and a short list of your top achievements (distilled STaRs).
6. Next list your work history in chronological order and list your STaRs for each position.

If you follow these steps, you will have positioned yourself as a qualified candidate and your will be ready to interview.

Keep track of your resumes by company or job position

You can keep track of your different resumes easily by creating a file for each company or job position on your computer. When you get a call back, simply go to the file and open your T chart, your resume and your list of questions that you have about the job they need filled. You will be organized and ready to interview.