Resume Rant

 Stop writing a resume that ONLY tells a story about where you’ve been!  The only time you need a resume is to get the NEXT job that you want!

 I speak to a lot of people every week, I mean a lot!  I read even more resumes.   For the most part they are all terrible.

 Yes, the intent of a resume is to share your previous employment experience and to highlight your successes.   So good for you – you won employee of the month in 2016 and are currently in a role responsible for reimaging PC’s and manning the service desk.  But hey, I get it, I need to find you a job as a Sr. .NET developer making $125k because you told me you have the experience.  No worries – I got this.

 In all seriousness, job seekers are not doing themselves any favors with their resumes.  Don’t just talk about WHAT you’ve done, talk about HOW it fits into the NEXT BEST JOB you want.    Experienced job seekers - As you read through the job requirements of the coolest and most exciting job you’ve ever seen, make sure the bullets in your resume speak very specifically to those requirements and what the company is looking for.   Don’t assume that the recipient of your resume knows what you’ve done, or better yet should know you’ve got the experience for their job just because you applied for it.   People Do NOT read resumes.  They scan resumes looking very specifically for what they are very specifically looking for.  Confusing?  No, in fact very simple.  

 If an employer is looking for a Sr. .NET developer with experience in C#, AngularJS and AWS and if you have that experience then Spell. IT. Out. in the resume. Don’t make me work to find it.   If you don’t have all the experience the employer is looking for then talk up what you do have and become conversational in the areas you are lacking. 

 So, what do you do if you are a New Grad?  Because ‘tis the season for 2019 graduates to start knocking on our doors virtually begging for an opportunity to let them in.  I don’t envy the battle they have vying for few jobs at their skill level.  So how do you get your resume to the top of the pile?  Make sure it is tailored for the job you WANT.  Don’t just list every general education IT class that everyone else had to take to earn the same degree.   Often new grad resumes are very generic highlighting a combination of Project Management, Development, Systems/Network etc….  So now what?  What kind of job do you want because it looks like you can do it All.

 If you want a job in Cyber Security, then the first bullet in your resume should talk about the Infosec classes you took, the internship you kicked butt in, the User Groups that you are a part of, and NOT that you are fluent in German. 

 Don’t over complicate the resume.  Write it for the job you are applying for, not just for the job you can do.