Respectful resume writing - reverse the process
We give resumes far too much power in the employment counselling business.
They are essential, but not important.
As well as giving them too much power we usually fail to take advantage of their creation or renovation to truly connect with their owner.
Here's the summary of the conventional approach to creating or renovating a resume:
Start at the top, name, address, form filling personal information
Begin changing formatting at the same time as modifying content - like painting walls that are still being built
First creative writing task is 'Highlights'
Highlights come from activities involved in past work, but we haven't got there yet, so we throw in the generic crap about 'multi-tasking team player with great communication skills'
Or we add generic job description language from the NOC or somewhere, so a baker 'uses machinery and equipment to mix flour, yeast and water' - wow, shocker
We then run through past jobs from most recent backwards, our lives are lived forwards but we run through them backwards, encouraging even more of a focus on the past
The most recent job often has the most baggage, pain or sensitivity associated with it, so we sensitively start with that
When we get close to the foot of the page we stop adding information on previous work purely for reasons of space
We then say something weak such as 'put a couple of hobbies in here' showing little interest in these as the ghastly task is almost done
Then we add 'References available on request'
Often we'll have a final mess with the format to show we are skilled with computers
The Respectful Journey
Here's how this event can be handled, and it is an event, not an activity or a process, as events happen and then are done.
Start at the end, the foot, with 'Hobbies and Interests' and be interested in them, and what they say about the person.
Then help make a decision about the 'oldest' job to start with toward the foot of the page - conventional 'wisdom' says don't go back further than 10 years but this can often mean leaving out relevant and satisfying past work
Then move forwards, job by job, asking what was entailed what was enjoyable, what was learnt and discovered during that work. What talents were revealed, what skills employed, what self-knowledge was gained?
Or more practically and less 'employment-counsellery' what did the money earned allow you to do during that time?
It's fine to note what someone didn't like about their past work too - we don't need to be afraid of identifying both the best parts and the worst parts in each previous job
Then the most recent job is reached, and we need to be especially gentle. Since it was the most previous work, its loss, for whatever reason, led to the unemployed state of the person in front of us. This was the cause of the present state, and as such is a powerful pivotal point in the journey.
'I thought is was a good fit but...' 'It seemed secure and then 80 of us were laid off', 'The new boss just didn't like me...' 'It was time to move on and I thought I'd get something right away...'
These phrases offer an opportunity to open a dialogue about the loss.
Then the list of previous work is complete and the focus turns to the future, which is where the 'Highlights' come into play and are best stimulated by a seemingly simple question
'What parts of you and your talents and your personality would you like to use in your next job.'
This question gets to the core of ambition, desire and, essentially, expression of one's self. Contrary to the usual list of qualities we believe an unknown, imagined employer might find attractive in us, this group of qualities begin to separate us from others.
If the resume's owner likes to work by themselves, prefers to be quietly left alone to do their work, and is a solid introvert, for goodness sake don't add 'multi-tasking team player with great communication skills' because guess what, they will be hired with the assumption that they are a 'multi-tasking team player with great communication skills' but they are not, and they will suffer hugely if expected to behave like one..
It is extremely disrespectful, and morally dubious, to throw in talents, aptitudes and preferences purely to satisfy an imagined employers imagined 'wishlist'. As we identified earlier, at worst in can result in being hired for attributes you don't have, don't like or don't want to make use of.
As always it's a little like dating; we may say we like reading, long nature walks meditating and yoga to seem attractive, but if the truth is bars, beer and barbiturates, it's really not going to work is it?
Break the buzzword tyranny, select fresh adjectives; you are telling someone what you want them to know about you, not what you guess they might wish to hear.
Still stuck at that awful bulleted list of highlights? Pick a favourite musician or actor - what would you like them to know about you? Keep it sort of clean...!
Stephen
