A colleague is putting his resume together for the first time in several years. “I’ve been at the same desk, working for the same boss, on the same projects for the last three years. But my company has changed names at least four times in that time. What do I say?”
Here’s the way I like to see the company names on a resume:
month/year, CurrentCompanyName, city, state. (Previously known as CurrentCompany-1, CurrentCompany-2, CurrentCompany-3) YourJobTitle.
Unless your responsibilities have changed, you’ve had one job.
Hiring managers: don’t ding candidates on what looks like job changes. It isn’t the candidate’s fault the company management sold/bought the company.
A colleague suggested I chat with a more junior person about his job search. I’m trying, but I’m having trouble understanding what this guy does. His resume is too long and doesn’t have what I need in it. I don’t think he’s alone, so here’s what hiring managers look for on a resume.
Your address. Yes, the hiring manager wants to know if you’re local. An email address is not enough. You need a street address and phone number also.
Where have you worked? I want to see the companies, and under the companies, the projects that you’ve worked on. Don’t overwhelm me with the number of projects you’ve worked on.
What value have you added to the project? What did you accomplish? Don’t tell me you reviewed documents or code so that you could understand the requirements. Everyone does that. What unique value did you add?
Do not list every single language you ever studied in school, every operating system, every database, every variant of every operating system unless that is somehow material to the job. Honestly, do you really want me to test you on the C++ or the Smalltalk or the Lisp or Forth or the Algol (does anyone learn that anymore?) or PL/1 or Fortran you once learned. Don’t tempt me. I will.
You have two pages to catch my attention. If you have a resume longer than 2 pages, I might not throw it out, but a bunch of my colleagues will. Especially if you have less than 20 years of experience. That means that #3, describing the value you’ve added to a project is critical.
Ask someone to review your English (or whatever language you are writing in) if you are not a native speaker of the language.
When I see a resume of more than 2 pages from a person with fewer than 15 years of experience, I generally put it in the No pile. That’s because the candidate is not attempting to show me good judgement about their accomplishments.
You have maybe 30 seconds to catch a hiring manager’s attention. Don’t waste the hiring manager’s time. That means you need to spend the time writing a great resume. You spend the time so the hiring manager will spend theirs.
If you think you need more guidance, read Louise Fletcher’s blog. She helps people write resumes for a living.
Remember, a hiring manager is going to spend maybe a minute (or less) on the initial scan of your resume. What do you want her to see in that minute — a list of college courses you took, or work experience directly relevant to what she’s hiring for?
That means that no matter who you are, focus on your experience in your resume. If you can attach any value to the work you did, say that too: “developed microcode for blah-blah project, saving the company $50,000 in NRE.” (NRE is non-recurring engineering costs.)
Whether you’re a new grad or an experienced knowledge worker, use your resume to highlight your experience and the value it provided to your organization.
In his comment, Gregbo asks what I mean by “bad” judgment.
Here’s an incomplete list:
Frequent job changes, at least one job a year for several years
Months of no discernible work or lag times between jobs.
Titles that appear to move up and down the ladder.
There are more, but those are the common ones. Sometimes, people take jobs because they need a paycheck or health insurance (or both). Those people tend to feel as if their jobs are sucking the souls out of them. If you see a resume like that, don’t discard it. That candidate wants a good job–and may almost be desperate for a good job.
I once had a job for two weeks. The same week I was hired, I got a call to report to headquarters in another state, where they laid me off. I made a bad decision to take that job. Luckily, the hiring manager at my next job thought it was funny, and didn’t consider that small interlude a problem job.
So that’s what I mean by a “bad” decision. Candidates can’t tell if a company is on the skids, or will cancel the project they got hired for. If you’re a hiring manager or a recruiter, you have the opportunity to offer the candidate a great start in your organization. Don’t let your prejudices about length of service persuade you to avoid this candidate.
A capable senior manager has been looking for a new job for a couple of months. He’s a capable guy, and although two months isn’t that long, I was surprised that he’s had no nibbles.Then I saw his resume. His resume was 5 pages long, and had too much detail to read quickly. It also seemed to repeat information from one page to another.Candidates, remember you don’t have much time to impress a hiring manager. Those of you looking for senior management positions–you probably have less time because once the more senior manager takes a look at your resume you may only have 10-15 seconds to impress that manager.It’s ok to have two versions of your resume: the short one that’s no more than 3 pages long (one overview page and two reverse chronological pages), and a longer one that you explain is available if people want more detail.Remember, a resume is a marketing piece. Your job is to whet the hiring manager’s appetite, not kill it. Think about how long you really need your resume to be.
I was speaking with a project manager the other day, who’s looking for a job but does not have a PMP certification. He was worried, so I asked him how he presented himself to potential hiring managers and HR people. He said, “I don’t have a PMP, but I’ve been really successful managing projects for the last 20 years.”I suggested he turn around the sentence: “I’ve successfully managed projects for 20 years,” and stop right there. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know how I feel about certifications and their relevance to the position. (Too often, certifications are the lazy manager’s way to avoid analyzing the job.)Candidates, when you’re looking for a job, focus on the skills you have. Consider your answer (or multiple answers to) Your Most Significant Accomplishment. Those are your strengths. BTW, I agree with the comment on that post that deciding what that accomplishment is and writing or speaking about it is a difficult thing to do.
Employers don’t hire candidates because the candidate deserves a job. Employers hire people because they like the way they feel about you when they interview you.
Employers are looking for something special, something non-commodity about candidates.
Employers hire people who can follow the directions about how to send in resumes, cover letters, whatever.
Thanks to Brian, I discovered this gem on resumes and first impressions.
I especially like the first point: “Concise – keep it short and to the point. Tell us about your accomplishments as well as your responsibilities. Don’t spend a lot of time talking about strategy, the product, or the company.” Someone with four years of experience sent me an 8-page resume. It’s not possible for someone with four years of experience to need 8 pages to discuss his or her experience.
Remember Strunk and White’s injunction to “omit needless words.” (Rule 17 in Elements of Style)
If you are (or work for) a fabulous manager, you have weekly one-on-ones with your staff and discuss their accomplishments, and file those accomplishments in a folder. At the end of a year, you know what people have done, you’ve given them feedback on their work, and writing their review is a piece of cake. And, your staff can take their accomplishments off their review and insert them onto their resumes.However, if you don’t want to wait for your manager, or you’ve just been laid off, or you’re between managers, or your manager isn’t diligent about one-on-ones, or your company doesn’t perform reviews, you may not have the easy update technique for your resume. In that case, do what I do: update your resume monthly. If you update your resume monthly, you’re much less likely to forget significant accomplishments.At the end of the month, review with yourself: what did I accomplish? What am I most proud of? What do I need to work on? You can use a form of Focused Conversation by using these questions:
What stood out for me over the past month? (This is raw data for your resume)
Where was I challenged or surprised? (This may modify the data)
What insights did I gain? (Insights may end up in your summary or objectives)
What will I choose to do the next time? (This will help you define where to go)
Take a look at your resume every month. Can you add a line about a project? About a problem you solved that provided significant value to the company? If you can point to any of these: time saved, money saved, improving the customer experience, you can capture a manager’s attention.You may not have to change your resume every month. Review it every month and see if you want to change it.
My teenage daughter is attempting to find a job this summer. She dutifully filled out an application for a camp counselor position at a not-so-close-to-our-house camp. The idea is that she and my nephew would both work at the camp, staying at my sister’s house.
We discovered last week that the person reviewing the applications threw hers out because she wasn’t “local.” No call, no email, no contact, no nothing. We only discovered this because we were concerned interviews would be during vacation week.
My daughter is upset, but resigned that “all camps are like this.” Oh my goodness. All camps are not like this. Neither are all companies.
If you are advertising for open positions and you throw out resumes without any response, you are making assumptions that are not necessarily true. People are willing to pay for their own relocation, they’re willing to take a job at a lower salary or position. You just don’t know unless you ask.
Respond to each resume. A postcard or form email is ok. But respond.
What will my daughter say about this camp to her friends in that area? I’m not sure, but I’m unimpressed with the management so far. Being rude early in the relationship sets up a dynamic that it’s ok to be rude later in the relationship. Urk. Not a great way to start.
