Bad News Resume Boo Boos

What do you think of my resume? What’s wrong with my resume? Why isn’t anyone responding to my resume? These are some of the first questions I get as a Career Transition Expert. Let’s start off with the basics and acknowledge that contrary to many resume-writing books, THE resume is not the most important part of a job search. Your resume can be an effective tool if designed and used correctly. It can also mar and hurt your job campaign. So let*s take a look at some of the --BAD NEWS RESUME BOO BOOS-- I’ve garnered over the years. I have no doubt that these 5 tips will change the way you look at your resume.

Tip 1: LOV*EM BUT LEAV*EM

I mean your friends and family that is...be sure to leave them out of your resume rewrite campaign. If you don*t believe me, give your resume to 5 of your best friends or relatives and see if you don*t get 8 different opinions. Everyone has a preference and, everyone has an opinion. Uncle Harry, the CPA, may want you to list every job you had since you were 19, but unless you*re sending it to the IRS forget it. The best thing you can do with your friends and family is to give them your resume with specific instructions. First, make sure you tell them what you’re looking for. Second, encourage them to bird dog their friends. You never know--your Aunt Hazel may be godmother to a CEO. And above all communicate! Make sure you follow up with whomever they gave your resume to and ask for more leads and advice.

Tip 2: ASK & YE SHALL RECEIVE

Get a second opinion on your resume by giving it to 2 people who you really respect and admire, and or 2 folks that know the industry or field you want to get into. Four critiques are plenty and don*t change your resume until all verdicts are in. No use in modifying, cutting, pasting, and annihilating what you’ve written. If you*ve engaged a consultant--trust your consultant’s advice. Otherwise, you*ll confuse yourself and you may end up with a disjointed mess. So first sit down with your notes, see if there’s a common thread, and if the suggestions feel good in your guts, do the surgery. In the end your resume has to be you.

Tip 3: FAILURE TO ENGAGE

Make like a Star Trek Captain. In order to get somewhere you’ve got to ENGAGE. Ever open your snail mailbox at home and groan? Watch what you do. If you’re like most people, you’ll read the first several lines, which takes about 3-5 seconds. You’ll read the top of the letter, the bottom of the letter and then decide whether you want to spend some time on what*s in between. Otherwise you*ll toss it. Likewise with resume readers. So engage your reader quickly, top and bottom. Here*s 4 bonus tips:

-- Don*t confuse the reader. Tell them what you want in your Objective. If it*s more than one line, then you probably don’t know what you want. Write a clean, crisp, clear Objective or leave it off.

-- Objective Statements are optional. Don*t confuse the Objective with the Summary Statement. Your Summary should be well...a dynamic Summary of YOU. Three to five lines at the most.

-- Don*t generalize yourself thinking someone is going to like something about you, you*ll end up looking like the last three Summaries they read--ho-hum. They know you’re hardworking, no need to stuff that in your Summary right?

-- If you’re not sure of your focus and must make your Objective and Summary more generalized, then plan on using the telephone a lot more so you can Engage the hiring entity. Actually you should plan on using and using and using the telephone. If you aren*t comfortable with the phone look for our upcoming Teleseminar *HOW TO USE THE TELEPHONE TO GET A NEW POSITION* on the ARALeadingEdge site, http://www.ARALeadingEdge.com Details will be coming up in the next month.

Tip 4: THE DAILY GRIND

Some people write their resume as if everyone wants to know exactly what they do from the time they get their coffee in the morning to ad nauseum at 5:00 PM. Hit the high points; don’t drone on paper, every job duty in the last 4 years with Wigit Corp. does not need to be accounted for. Give them the sizzle, let them call you if they want the steak. Some people write a four-page cow and wonder why they never get a call. When Harriet HR has 150 to 1,000 resumes in her email, it*s risky to even think your going to get consideration from her if she has to slog through your 9 to 5. She*s got her own to worry about.

Tip 5: POLISH OR PERISH

Print the dang thing and read it out loud to yourself. You’ll get a real eye opener and you*ll find some stuff where you*ll say ugh--like the word too for two or their for there. Use an old proofreader’s trick to catch misspellings (no Virginia, you cannot trust your computer) read the lines from right to left. Avoid hackneyed trite terms: results oriented, seasoned (sounds old doesn*t it?), self-motivated--but of course!

Here*s one of my favorites: I*ll start reading and on the first line is the word *developed* then on the 4th line is that same old hiccup. Whoa there it is again on the 8th line, by the 5th *developed* I*m starting to wonder if the guy is a photographer, not a project manager. Watch out for duplicate words.

Since we*re polishing I have a couple of other axes to grind:

-- I*m talking to Joe and he tells me he*s taken a month off after being downsized. As I glance down at his resume, I see it has 2000 to present. To present? Seems like he could have spent the last month changing the ending date on his last job. At that point, I start to question his integrity and his work ethic. Keep your resume current. The *I didn*t have a chance to update it* doesn*t fly well with an employer.

-- Yes, at least 10% of the executives out there put white lies, little fibs, whatever you want to call them on their resumes. It’s dishonest so don’t be one of the 10%. What is it you don*t understand about *Thou shall not*? -- Your Summary Statement looks like you copied every phrase in every resume-writing book you found Saturday afternoon at Borders. Sparkling vocabulary is great, but be genuine. Being genuine, that’s the key in life and in writing your resume.

Laura leads the Free Resume Boo Boos Teleseminar weekly, every Wednesday at 1:00 or 7:00 pm Eastern For details or to make reservations go email mailto:seminar@araleadingedge.com or call 1-888-280-5291 ext. 16 now.

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