In the opinion of some of my friends, the jury is still out on whether Iyanla fixes anyone’s life but for the purposes of this post I needed the comedy, energy, and facial expressions of Iyanla Vanzant to get my points across. The .gif above is exactly how myself and many of my colleagues feel about the atrocities, known as resumes, that come across our desks everyday. I guarantee you this will not be the only post about resumes, but in the words of Iyanla Vanzant today we are going to “Call a thing, a thing BELOVED!” I’m compelled to go over a few (not all) parts of frequent resume infractions so that the foolery will stop, if only for a small group.
- OBJECTIVE: Just stop (period)
- EDUCATION: After about 2-3 years this goes to the bottom of the resume. I don’t need to know you graduated with a 3.0 in 1986.
- Let’s add to that. If you are going to list your GPA please note if it’s below 3.0 leave it off…(we’re giving you the serious side-eye)
- SKILLS (TYPING/WPM): Unless you’re an administrative assistant or a data entry operator we don’t need to know how many words you type per minute. Include skills that are relevant to the role.
- EXPERIENCE: I find it hard to believe that the job description bullets you copied and pasted were all of your day- to-day responsibilities. Be detailed and show how you were an asset to the company, list accomplishments/results, and provide depth.
- HOBBIES: Stop again.
- Instead of hobbies include organizations and/or civic activities you are involved in
- PERSONAL INFORMATION: Can’t say it enough, STOP. A social security number and number of kids is not necessary on a resume.
- THE BOOK OF ELI: Literally I should not have to put extra paper in the printer to print a resume. Enough of the resume booklets.
- FUNCTIONAL RESUMES: I’m going to speak for my colleagues when I say this is an offense that has no coming back. I literally just want to see your resume in chronological order with the things you’ve done for the position I’m recruiting for.
- EMAIL ADDRESS: Shouldn’t have to explain this but if your email address is strawberry69@xxx.com or fuzzynavel@xxx.com it’s probably not appropriate. Trust me, this happens all the time.
- RESUME GHOSTWRITER: If you’re going to get someone to write your resume, get someone good. I can tell within seconds of reviewing a resume if it was written by a resume writer. The best person to communicate your experience is YOU. If a resume writer is not going to get to know you and write your resume with intention you don’t need them.
This post really stresses me out because there are so many resume writing self-help books and career coaches out there and yet for over 11 years I’ve seen madness more often than not. I could write a book on resume writing but until that time I’ll just leave you with continuous reminders of things to STOP, BELOVED (In my Iyanla Vanzant voice).
What steps are you taking to make sure your resume is solid? Let’s talk about it in the comments below.
Great tips!! For my current role, I have a resume that is more creative (I made a simple design to showcase my design skills). It specifically calls out instructional design skills and the roles I’ve had in this field. The feedback on that resume has been great thus far. I still have a simple resume that I give as well but definitely need to look to see if I’ve adhered to the tips you listed!
Thanks for the feedback Christine! Design resumes have a little bit more flexibility in presentation. It’s great that you have multiple resumes and use each for different audiences. That may be necessary at times so it’s awesome that you aware of that.