I get it now. I really do.

Recently I spoke at a local college. I was giving the students advice about resumes, interview skills and job searching. About half way through the talk, I noticed that there were some scrunched eyebrows and wrinkled foreheads. It dawned on me that they were more confused by my advice so I stopped and addressed it. I asked, “Okay, I am getting some confused looks, am I giving you contradicting information?” and that’s when the fun began!

They told me that they were advised to have an “objective” on their resume and they should use a template to construct their resume. They were told that their resume should look a certain way. They were told to have a resume for every job and a cover letter too.

I had told them they should never have an “objective” because they are bland, boring and tells the recruiter nothing of importance. I’ve talked about that before here on the ResumeCrusade.

I said they don’t need a resume for every job because their story does not change and if they have a resume that uses the keywords and jargon of their field then they don’t need to change the resume for every job that they apply for. Every resume and person has a story and that story doesn’t change with every job posting – it may change after a new job but not a job posting.

I have had clients with multiple resumes, they end up confusing themselves because they don’t know which resume to send out anymore.

One thing I am learning about resumes is that it’s a very confusing, frustrating and fragile process. Once you get your resume finished one critical word can cause you to question the entire document. So who should you listen to? Who should you ignore? Who is right and who is wrong?

Just compare the advice that you are given and ask yourself what makes sense to you. Also ask yourself what are you comfortable with? If you really want an objective on your resume – even though they don’t make you a strong candidate - then put an objective on your resume.

So many job seekers want to be everything to every recruiter but that’s impossible. Just be comfortable with your story, your education, your experiences, and your resume and know what you want to do.

I’ve spoken and worked with many clients who have degrees and certifications but they still don’t know what they want to do with their careers. No resume writer can help you figure out what you want to do; you need a career counselor and some soul searching for that. Once you’ve figured out what you want to do perform some researches on resume writers and career experts and hire someone to help you – your career is too important to wing it.

My process is simple, I create custom resumes and cover letters for my clients because everyone is different and your credentials should be different too. I don’t like objectives or templates. I don’t like using soft language on a resume, words like “Responsible for” or “Ensure”. I don’t like wordy resumes, why use 1000 words when you could tell me the same thing within 600 - 700 words. I don’t like verbose cover letters either. I know recruiters give you less than 10 seconds, can you read 1000 words in 10 seconds? I don’t like boring resumes - you need to stand out but in a professional way and not a gimmicky way.

contact me and let’s get you to the next level - join the Resume Crusade - [email protected]