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Automatic Resume Builders: Advantages and Disadvantages

Many online automatic resume builders are available from websites that specialize in them or from social sites that offer them as a service to members. All automatic resume builders share the same advantages and disadvantages.

The main advantages are low cost, a professional-looking format and an incentive to actually work on your resume. Many people are overwhelmed by the idea of writing and formatting a resume; the automatic resume builders help simplify the process.

The disadvantages are, first, a tendency for the technology to choke. Especially if you start from a previously written resume, you may need several tries before the “automatic” resume builder accepts your file.

Second, good-looking resumes are important but they don’t land interviews. Employers want content. If your resume failed to generate interviews before you used the resume builder, it will continue to fail. If you don’t know how to improve the content, call me.

Third, the automatic resume builder accepts your information exactly as is, with gaps, mistakes and inconsistencies. Like an automatic spell checker that accepts “manger” when you mean “manager,” the automatic resume builder will never question what you supply. At Robin’s Resumes®, I make sure that your resume is grammatically correct and consistent, includes every piece of information that would light up a recruiter’s eyes and gives a prominent place to your most important achievements.

By all means, try an automatic resume builder if you are completely stalled in your attempts to write a resume. But don’t let a computer program fool you into thinking that your first draft is your best draft. Recognize the limitations of these programs, and contact me when you are ready for the next step. I look forward to working with you.

Details Make Resumes Stronger

Details in your resume give recruiters confidence in your ability and make you stand out from the crowd.

Wherever possible, refer to exact numbers (“supervised a staff of four”), dollar amounts (“brought in $200,000 in new business”), titles (“selected by the VP of Operations”), company names (“acted as liaison to XY Co. and WZ Inc.”), locations (“traveled to vendors in China, Japan and Sri Lanka”) and quantifiable achievements (“ranked 3rd out of 14 sales people”). If you haven’t left your old job yet, now is the time to research and compile those details.

Suppose you are interviewing two plumbers. One plumber says, “I am a plumber.” The other plumber says, “I’ve been a licensed plumber since 1998. On my last job, I came in 10% below the estimate, and I always guarantee my work for six months.”

The plumber who gives you specific information certainly sounds like the stronger candidate. Resumes work the same way: the more specific the resume, the stronger it appears and the more likely it will land you an interview.

If you have trouble identifying places where details would help, contact Robin’s Resumes®. I have proven techniques for sharpening your resume and making it more attractive to recruiters.

Focus Your Resume

After 20 or more years in the job market, you’ve picked up a lot of skills. One recent contact told me that she had worked in sales, management, website development, marketing, bookkeeping and purchasing at various companies over 30 years. How, she wondered, would she ever fit all that experience into one resume?

She was asking the wrong question. She should be asking, “What job do I want?”

If you have a multitude of skills and experiences, narrow them down to the ones that excite you most, that you’ve achieved the most in, that you can see yourself performing for the next 10, 15 or 20 years—and that employers and recruiters are looking for. Your resume should focus on those areas of expertise.

You may decide that you have two passions and need two resumes. For example, one resume might focus on your sales and management experience; the other might focus on marketing experience, including website development.

But a single resume that qualifies you for every position in every department in every company only serves to convince future employers that you’re a Jack of all trades and master of none. And nobody hires Jack.

A Great Resume Shows You at Your Best: Putting on Your Top Hat

A good resume is like your best set of clothes. It should make you look good (and feel good). Never lie on your resume. Never. But make sure you come across dressed in your best.

For example, let’s say you’re just starting out in your career and have no experience in your chosen field. You may want to reverse the usual order in resumes and put your education first. Your education tells more about your abilities than your last part-time job at a summer camp. After your education, list your jobs and volunteer work, even if they aren’t in your field. Work experience is always valuable.

Now let’s say you’ve worked for many years but hopped around a bit. Begin detailing your employment history with a section called “relevant experience,” where you list only the experience that directly relates to the job you want. After that section, list all your jobs so that it’s clear you’ve worked continuously.

Perhaps you have 30 years of experience and are afraid of age discrimination. By law you are not obliged to volunteer information about your age. So don’t include the date you graduated from college and only give your most recent 15-20 years of experience. In any case, those early jobs are probably without value in today’s marketplace.

If you’re returning to the job market after a long gap, make sure you stress your volunteer work. Did you run a capital campaign, keep the books for a charity, head up a nonprofit’s board or train other volunteers? Your experience as a leader or on a team will appeal to potential employers.

Using these techniques can be tricky. If you have a special situation and aren’t sure how to handle it in a resume, contact me by phone or email. I’ll apply my resume writing expertise to bringing out your best.

Then with your resume spruced up, you’re ready to interview with future employers—top hat and all!

Where Buzzwords Fit in Your Resume

Compare these two statements:

  • “Proactive leader of manufacturing teams.”
  • “Achieved a 20% increase in productivity by reorganizing manufacturing teams.”

The first statement uses the buzz word “proactive” but is unsupported by facts. The second statement would light up the eyes of any manufacturing executive or recruiter.

Every time buzz words take over from substantial fact, your resume becomes weaker, until it could apply to any job applicant anywhere. But your goal is to stand out, to become the one candidate everyone wants to meet. To achieve, that, you have to throw out the buzz words and become specific.

Compare these two statements:

  • “Expert in the use of state-of-the-art technology to design fully functional websites.”
  • “Designed corporate website using Joomla for $4 million company.”

The second sentence is three words shorter but a whole lot more impressive. When you avoid buzz words in your resume, you create room for the facts that will win you your next job.

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