Comments on: You said WHAT on your resume?

By: Hired! The Old-Fashioned Way « Girl Talk Career Blog

Hired! The Old-Fashioned Way « Girl Talk Career Blog — Sat, 22 May 2010 02:32:50 +0000

[...] or at least on time for her interview. However she wore a skirt and blouse and carried a purse, no resume in hand and no notebook in [...]

By: Jim Edwards

Jim Edwards — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:45:59 +0000

Resumes only became customary after World War II, as a means for employers to eliminate unqualified candidates among scores of GIs looking for new jobs. Not much has changed. Nowadays, nearly every individual, starting a job search, begins by developing a resume, but decision makers only spend and average of ten seconds scanning them. A resume cannot do the heavy lifting in a job search. Its purpose is strictly to function, in conjunction with a follow-up call, as a marketing tool to initiate a conversation with the decision maker. Your goal should be to present your background and accomplishments in a visually appealing, reverse chronological order, with dates, succinctly and honestly. Stay away from functional resumes, extensive formatting and leaving dates off to hide age.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:17:11 +0000

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This post was mentioned on Twitter by TheJobQuest: From The Executive Brand blog: You said WHAT on your resume? http://www.topmargin.com/blog/?p=417...

By: Gayle

Gayle — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:11:21 +0000

Most of it does seem so obvious and yet despite that, a lot of people don’t seem to get “too much information”. The resume is a handshake, not a full-on discussion. Throwing information at a decision maker on the first glance is like some of those horrendous people one meets from time-to-time who sidle up to you at the bus-stop or at parties and tell you their entire life stories as you stand there awkwardly looking for a quick exit! As for your birthday issue I would not include it. If you see it as a potentially self-sabotaging issue, then err of the side of “if in doubt don’t”. If they want to admire how much you have done at such a young age, then they can do that personally at interview!

By: Jen

Jen — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:42:36 +0000

I would have thought all this was obvious but I still manage to be surprised at the number of people who include their hobbies and relationship status on their CV.

Recently a friend asked me to look over her resume. She was aghast when I told her to remove a section about a recent four month international holiday and plans for her next one. She ended up ignoring me and was not granted an interview despite perfectly meeting the criteria. Do people really think employers want to know you’re planning to rush off on holiday as soon as they hire you?

I always struggle with the birthday one. At the moment I’m not including it but everytime I apply for something new I ask myself if I should. I have, in my humble opinion, a fairly well-rounded CV with extensive achievements and education. I wonder if pointing out my (relatively) young age proves that I’m committed to my work, or if it tells the potential employer I’m not experienced enough.