Please fire your resume, it's not doing its job

First, I don't write here much anymore, things have changed quite a bit for me and I just don't find the time.  I've decided to keep this blog open for the rare opportunities (like this one) that I do get a chance to write something.

You resume is NOT DOING IT'S JOB AND SHOULD BE FIRED.  I'm not speaking to everyone but as a job seeker (yep, I'm still looking; talk to me if you know of anything in training or recruiting in the Tulsa OK area) I have a chance to help a lot of other job seekers.  I stay active in a ministry that works with job seekers and helps them with resumes, interviewing, networking and the job search in general.  I see a lot of resumes and many of them have the same problem.  YOUR RESUME SHOULD BE A SALES FLYER FOR YOU.  YOUR RESUME IS NOT SELLING YOU OR YOUR PROFESSIONAL VALUE TO AN EMPLOYER.  So, let's talk about that...

Your resume should be a sales flyer for you.  It's only purpose is to convince the reader "I need to call this guy!"; everything else is on your shoulders (I may write about that later).  The reader is only going to give your resume 15 seconds or (in most cases) much less so we have to help the person reading your resume.


Stuff that should be on your resume no matter what...
YOUR INFORMATION.  Put it right at the top; give your name, your contact number (mention if it's a cell, home, whatever), your email address and maybe your LinkedIn profile address.
YOUR JOB TITLE.  This should explain quickly, WHAT YOU DO.  Be willing to customize the title to more closely match a job that you are applying for but have a general title that works when networking.

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY.  I don't like "objective" statemtents, I think they sound selfish.  A professional summary does a better job of describing your value.  This is 4-5 (or less) sentences that describe what you do and how what you do brings value to a company. Don't say stuff like 'go-getter' or 'self motivated' or anything else that is intangible.  Speak to real results and mention an accomplishment that transitions well into any position you will apply for.
YOUR SKILLS.  This is the keywords section and can go anywhere in the resume, near the top, second page, it really doesn't matter but a lot of people put it right below the professional summary.  Some people don't even put this section in their resume.  As long as your keywords are somewhere, that's all that matters.

YOUR PROFESSIONAL HISTORY.  This is where I plan to spend most of my time today and this is where many people fail to show their true value.  A lot of people fail on this section for two reasons.
#1 - they don't know how.
#2 - It is a lot of work to do this right and many of the people who know how don't realize the importance or the return for their effort.



Most important - DO NOT WRITE THIS SECTION LIKE A JOB DESCRIPTION FOR PAST JOBS YOU HAVE HAD.  Too many people list the job duties and add nothing more.  This is great for a job posting but horrible for your resume.  It leaves each of your responsibilities open for the reader to say "this person failed at X".  You didn't tell them any different, why should they think otherwise?  It also makes your resume look like the 500 other resumes the hiring manager has sitting on his desk.  You will not stand out from the crowd and probably won't get an interview.


I suggest following the steps below to write a powerful professional history section.  You are going to do a lot of writing.  You are going to write about the same thing more than once.  Some of this will seem redundant, it is.  I want you to think about your professional responsibilities from different perspectives in order to pull as much value as possible from each task.




Step 1) PUT DOWN YOUR RESUME.  DON'T LOOK AT IT, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. I want you to get away from thinking about your resume while we work on this section.  I want you to focus on what you have done during your career but not think about how that will fit into your resume.

Step 2) Find a comfortable place to do a LOT of writing.  For some (me), this is a quiet place with a notepad and pen.  For others it is sitting in front of a PC.  Make sure you minimize interruptions as much as possible (I don't want anything to affect your thought process) and you have sufficient resources.  I don't want you breaking your thought process to get up and sharpen a pencil.  A LOT of this process is mental.  I want you to walk through every job you have ever held in order to identify why these people cut you a check every week.  This is an intense mental task and only gets harder when you are interrupted.

Step 3) Write down your job history, and I mean ALL of it.  I don't care if this was mowing lawns when you were 14; I don't care if it was 'sack boy for local grocery store'.  Write down the name of every company you have worked for.  Write the title (or titles) you held while working for that company and a general calendar reference.  When did you work there? We are not looking for exact dates here, maybe the years or year & month.

Step 4) Start with a clean page and think about your job history.  Start with the first company and think about what you did while you worked there.  Put the company name and your title at the top of the page.  Plan to build a fresh page for each position held during your career.  First, think about your day to day tasks.  What did you do every day while you were in X position?  Write this down.  Now I want you to think about special times while you were working there.  Did you work on any special projects?  Did you do anything outside of your daily tasks?  Try to think of at least one thing you did while working there that was not part of your daily routine.
(Here is an example.  I was an inventory manager working on a project to RFID all of our PC's so the account managers would know what we had when approaching new clients.  One morning I noticed a semi trailer parked at our back door and maintenance unloading boxes.  Once I realized we had ordered over 300 new chairs and they were unloading those chairs, I joined in to help.  This is the only time in 10 years I ever helped unload a truck for this company; way out of my normal job duties.  I can use this to show I'm a team player, a leader (I convinced others to help us unload), I'm not afraid to step out of my comfort zone, I'm not afraid of hard labor, etc etc. Lots of value in this one simple story.)

Note on Step 4 - Don't give up.  I know this is hard to do.  I know this will take a lot of time and I know there are things about past jobs that you don't even remember.  Now is a great time to do some networking. Reach out to people you worked with and ask them for help.

Step 5) Repeat the previous step until you have a notes page on every job you have ever held.

Step 6) Go back through those notes.  Organize your notes so you can quickly recognize individual tasks.  You are still keeping everything separated by Company & title.  Think about it in outline format if it helps.
"(1)" would be Company
   "(1.a)" would be title held at that company
      "(1.a.1)" would be a task
"(2)" would be a new company.

Step 7) Describe each task using the S. A. R. format.  Situation - Action - Result.  Write as much as you need to in order to provide a full description.  Don't worry about how this will fit into your resume (remember? your not supposed to be thinking about your resume right now!) just make sure you write a description that a total stranger could pick up and understand.
Answer the following questions.
   What was the Situation?
   What Action did I take?
   What were the (positive!!) Results?
(Here is an example, still using my special task from step 4 - "When arriving for work one day I noticed a semi trailer parked outside our back door.  While headed to my office I realized the semi was a shipment of chairs for our call floor.  I then remembered our controller had ordered over 300 new chairs and that this must be that shipment.  I set aside my morning tasks and helped our maintenance crew unload the truck, inviting other staff members to assist.  I probably convinced a dozen staff members to join in and with our help the truck was unloaded in a few hours instead of taking our maintenance crew all day"  In most cases you want the Result to mention a tangible value; $$$ saved or earned, % increased or decreased, efficiency improved, etc.  I use this example to show that while you want as many tangible numbers ($$$/%) as possible you can still show value in non-measurable, seemingly unimportant tasks).

Step 8) Pat yourself on the back.  You now have a powerful library of accomplishment stories that you can use when networking or interviewing.  When someone asks you a question, you will have a great story to answer with!  Each story will not only answer the question but will show how you bring value to a company.  I LOVE it when someone asks me a question starting with "Tell me about a time..."!!!  Keep these stories somewhere that is easy to find.  You will want to refer to these when preparing for a job interview.  It's also a great way to build yourself up during an emotional down day.  Read back through these stories and remember all the great accomplishments you have had during your career.

Step 9) This step is optional but helpful for many people.  Categorize your stories.  Each story can have multiple categories, some will only be categorized as "general".  This may help when interviewing and may also help when inserting these stories into your resume.  This is especially helpful if you are looking to make a career change, the categories will make it easier for you to see how your skills transition to a different career.

Step 10) Choose which stories you want on your resume.  Mark the 'resume stories' so you can identify them easily.

Step 11) Start with your most recent job.  Re-write each accomplishment story so it is only 2-3 sentences long.  Each story should be a bullet point in the professional history section of your resume.  I suggest at least 3 bullets for each job title held.  Reducing each accomplishment story can be hard.  Remember the "Result" section of the story is the most important and the "Action" is the second-most important.  Your goal is to turn each accomplishment story into quick statement that speaks to your value using an example from your career.  You may find that one story can speak to different results.  Don't hesitate to use one story to build multiple statements for your resume but try not to 'over-work' a single situation.  If you have put in an honest effort in the previous steps you should have plenty of stories to choose from.

Step 12) Re-read your Professional Summary section at the top of your resume.  Does is speak to your value?  Does it describe a situation that transitions well into any position you apply for?  You have a great collection of accomplishments, you may want to consider changing your professional summary.

I suggest keeping your resume to 2 pages in length.  If you see a need, build a resume that is longer than two pages and use it for special situations.  My experience has taught me that hiring managers, HR departments & recruiters prefer 2 page resumes.  Remember you can always share the stories that didn't make it to your resume during the interview!