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First of all I think resumes are a waste of time for many fields. This is especially true of PR, marketing, social media, advertising, et al.
Why? Because they tell me virtually nothing about you that truly matters. How strategically do you think about complex problems? Would you be fun, interesting, inspiring to work with? I don’t care that you can hold a job, even it sounds cool. You could’ve been a cog in the wheel. You could’ve embellished.
Resumes go in big stacks. They don’t get read, if they do you have something like 15-20 second to impress someone with a piece of paper you probably spent too much money on and Times New Roman. Fah-get-about-it.
Resumes get your foot in the door. Guess who wants their foot in the door in this economy? That’s right. Everyone. And their mom. There are significantly better ways to get your foot in the door.
IF… IF you insist on sending a resume please keep these things in mind:
> Unless you’re in academia keep it to one page. Seriously. Nobody is going to read your second page. Whatever your explanation. It’s wrong.
> If it doesn’t pertain to the company you’re applying for a position at, leave it off. I don’t care if you were an awesome cater waiter, leave it off. Maybe it shows perseverance, and that’s great, but I want to know if you can sell widgets. You’re welcome to explain how being a cater waiter taught you the discipline you need to succeed a X company, just save it for the interview. If you get it.
> Throw an interest or two on there at the very bottom. Plenty of people will disagree, but I’ve found it to be an excellent conversation point if it’s something unique, potentially relevant, and/or aligns with the interests of the person interviewing you.
> If you’re a Junior in college or older, do not under any circumstances tell me that you were the captain of your football team. With a ton of context this could be valuable, but my initial reaction is that your graduating class was 11 people, and I don’t care. Student council secretary though, that’s a big deal.
> Be creative. If I was applying for a job right now, one where I thought I’d have to send a resume I’d break all the rules your business school tells you. I would make a huge Venn diagram with my specialties, the companies specialties, and how the two align to create something awesome in the middle. Yes, some would throw it away, but others would stop flipping through long enough to stop and take a peek. They’d be more likely to remember it. And who knows, my ideas might warrant an interview.
And a better alternative to a resume?
How about starting a blog. Then hiring managers can get a solid indication of your ideas, your thought process, how you communicate, how well you write, who you affiliate yourself with. It’s a much better measuring stick. Who knows, you might become a thought leader and end up on the other side of the interrogation.
What say you?
I agree with all of your resume points and think they are good ideas. As far as Be Creative, I would caveat it with be selective about when you want to gamble. Or in other words, you're basically answering the "What's the most courageous think that you've ever done?" question with, "Not answering this question."
As far as start a website, start a blog, video, interpretive dance, or anyting alternatives, if it takes the recruiter/HR person more than 30 seconds to review it, you aren't helping them.
Resumes may be lame but since we can read faster than someone can talk, it's the most efficient way to get enough information to a recruiter in their alloted review time.
Your other examples are really more of a portfolio. If the job asks for a portfolio, great. If the job asks for a resume, it's really saying, "Present your information in my alloted review time (generally 30 seconds)"
In general, I can learn more about someone in 30 seconds from reading their resume than watching them do an interpretive dance. If you want to bypass the resume, better be a hell of a dancer.
@ Dead Hedge
I think my point is that I don't know how many people actually have resumes that will stand out in that 30 seconds. My strategy, and it's worked well for me, is to:
1.) Determine the company I want to work for.
2.) Research a person in a position similar to the one I would want and spend time building a relationship with them.
3.) Figure out what how you can contribute value, and then put together something demonstrating your knowledge of the company and what you can provide, how you could potentially fit, etc.
It takes significantly longer than 30 seconds, and it doesn't always work, but it when it does it's worth the effort. And it's usually a job/opportunity you really want, can learn from, etc.
Hi Ryan, I think your last comment actually makes more sense than the post - you really get a job by finding the person you want to work for (I would actually say the relationship to develop would be with person who would be supervising you, not someone of equal position)and develop a relationship with them.
However, I think you are limiting the actual concept of the resume to something that gets sent to HR and ends up in a stack. This is least effective way of using a resume. When you develop that crucial relationship and the person is ready to talk about hiring you, they will need your resume to run it by their peers. This resume should be something that actually talks about relevant things, and how you solve problems and what you can do for them in 30 sec. I'm a strong supporter of the "objective" which you can also use as a spoken pitch or in an e-mail of introduction. If that sounds good, then you qualifications (school, jobs, relevant skills) should be easy to find next.
Sending someone a slideshow or a website link is more likely to annoy them when all what they are looking for is a quick explanation of who you are. That's what resume is for.
But I do agree, just sending it to HR will not get you a job.
Question: If I only have 15-20 seconds to read a resume, how much time do I have to read your blog?
@Kate - Why would you read my blog? Just look at my picture. I'm pretty :)
@Morana - Good point re: "Objective Section." This is something I don't see very often, but I'm also a fan of that particular approach. It's a great way to convey what you're capable of and what you think you can provide in a succinct way that has the potential to entice me to read more.
R
Morana explained my point better than I did. You need a resume as a business card for when you do all that networking stuff.
Except, I disagree with the objective section being valuable mainly because I have never seen an effective objective statement. The mostly say something like "Results-driven outcomes-oriented marketer seeks to work in dynamic, entrepreneurial company."
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