• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Candidates often stuff their resumes with laundry lists of the functions and responsibilities they’ve had in past jobs in a desperate attempt to cover all their bases. This approach rarely pays off, however, because the amount of information you would have to put into a general, all-purpose resume is so enormous that you’d need to write a book—which of course no one would read.

Length is not an issue. Content is. People will read any length of resume if the content is of interest to them, and that’s the secret. Ideally, a resume should contain no more and no less than the exact information an employer is looking for. After all, every employer expects that you are so interested in their company that you have written a resume just for them. Realistic? No. Reality? Yes, I’m afraid so.

Never assume that just because you had a particular responsibility, performed a particular function, or accomplished miracles that required super-human effort, the person reading your resume can automatically link that to the challenges faced by their company. The onus is on you to guide them to the conclusion you want them to draw. You have to motivate them to pick up the phone and schedule an interview with you.

The content of your resume has to be relevant to your reader. It must address their specific needs clearly—instantly. It’s a laser-guided missile, not a dumb bomb. If your resume is in response to an advertised opening, it reflects the exact needs profiled in the ad. If it’s sent to a targeted group of companies, it demonstrates how you can make them money, save them money, and increase their efficiencies. If it’s a networking resume, it addresses the type of problem your contact’s peers are likely to be facing. It’s never vague or wishy-washy. It’s always direct and specific.

Guerrillas know this. They understand that people are motivated by their own selfish interests. They know they need to guide, cajole, and dare interviewers with a snapshot of what you can bring to the table. A hint of the results you can accomplish.

Most people have many great accomplishments they can leverage for their next career move. Yet for many of these same people their resumes are bland replicas of the generic all-purpose resume in vogue these days. A document that merely mimics what a resume writer thought was important. In reality, only you understand what you’ve accomplished that would be of interest to a potential employer.

Ask yourself. No—better yet—cut your name off the top of your resume and give it to a couple of your best friends. Tell them it’s the resume of one of your mutual contacts and ask them if they can guess who it is. If they can’t tell it’s you or, worse, if they think it’s someone else you have a problem—the description of your accomplishments and your jobs are too generic. If it makes you look like a hundred other applicants who are also “project managers,” “teachers,” “accountants” or whatever, how do you expect an employer to select you for an interview? Yes, you could get lucky, but luck is so unpredictable!

So, your first objective is to make sure your resume is read. One of the biggest mistakes candidates make is assuming that just because they send a resume to a prospective employer or recruiter, it will be read. Ain’t so!

■ ALL RESUMES ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL

If you want to be seen, you have to have a competitive resume to stand out. It’s rarely the most qualified that land interviews; it’s normally the ones who are the most impressive on paper. The best resumes “speak” to employers, providing quick insight into your personality and drive to succeed.

A resume can serve you in a variety of ways, but it is primarily used in making contacts with prospective employers so that you can:

• Respond to a job opening.

• Create unsolicited demand for your skills.

• Cut and paste to fill out an online application form.

• Supplement (not replace) a company’s standard job application.

• Rehearse before interviews.