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Resume Horror Stories

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Welcome back to our yearly expose of resume horror stories.

Resume Horror #1: Inappropriate Portfolio

A young man applied for a job interview as a graphic designer for a consulting firm in the gas and oil industry. His resume included a link to his portfolio—which consisted of lovely pictures of nudes and landscapes. If you are providing a portfolio, make sure it is aligned with the goals and customers of the company.

Resume Horror #2: Nonexistent Links

A woman with lots of experience was applying for a job as a copyeditor. Her resume included links to previous online projects, but some of them were so old that they no longer worked. If you provide links, limit them to the most relevant and recent, and make absolutely sure they are working.

Resume Horror #3: Ego First

Enthusiasm is a great quality, but one job applicant for a leadership role took it a little too far by spending most of his resume boasting about his success as a marathoner. While companies want to know you are well rounded and determined, they also appreciate restraint. Plus resume space is limited; you should use most of it to show that you have the skills, education, and experience the company specified in their job posting.

Resume Horror #4. Detail Overload

Yes, the old rule demanding a one-page resume is out the door. But one executive assistant decided that allowed her to detail every task she performed over the past 10 years—creating a highly repetitive resume of four pages. If you are going to send someone a four-page resume, make sure you have the interesting content to justify it and that you are as concise as you possibly can be.

Resume Horror #5. Where and When did you Work?

The applicant updated his old resume but forgot to change the verb tense (from present to past) for his older job in Florida. Even worse, he failed to change the employment dates of the Florida job. The resume seemed to say he was holding down two full-time jobs at once—the old one in Florida (“2005 to Present”) that he actually left in 2010 and the current one in Illinois (“2010 to Present”).

Want to avoid becoming a resume horror story? Contact Robin’s Resumes® today.

Resumes for Consultants

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Are you a consultant (contractor or freelancer) to companies, taking on limited term projects without being a full-time employee?

In the view of the Internal Revenue Service, consultants, in general, must meet a few criteria such as the following: they are not economically dependent on one company, control the manner of doing their own work, do not receive benefits from the company, and pay their own social security tax.

Resumes for a consultant are the essentially the same as for any other job. The biggest difference is in the length of time that a consultant is associated with any given company. A consultant’s resume must avoid the appearance of job hopping, and you can accomplish that in two ways.

  • Identify yourself throughout your resume as a Consultant (or Contractor or Freelancer), including in the heading of your resume.
  • Give yourself a “company” name (your name and a keyword are fine: Smith Engineering or Jane Doe Financial Consulting). That way, when you write your resume, you can group many projects under your company name without appearing to change employment every few months. This approach is particularly helpful if consultancy is a stage between full-time employment.

If you worked on hundreds of short-term projects as a consultant, your resume does not need to list every company and every project. But it should definitely list any well-known companies you have worked for; any major achievements (“brought in project 15% under budget”); and any of your skills that may not be available to a company in-house. After all, one of the main reasons that companies hire consultants is to fill a gap in their in-house capabilities.

Consultants perform a valuable service and companies are aware of this. Your resume should celebrate your ability to quickly come up to speed on a project, work with a wide variety of peers and managers, assume control of your work, and produce results that motivate other companies to hire you.

Having served as a consultant myself during my long career as an engineer, I know the value of a strong consultant resume. Please contact me today.

Resumes That Are Kind to Recruiters and Hiring Managers

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Hiring managers and recruiters are like everyone else. They want to understand what they are reading. Therefore, your resume has two jobs: to present you in the best possible light and to help recruiters and hiring managers appreciate you. To accomplish that:

  1. Make it easy for the recruiter or hiring manager to find your contact information, the position you are interested in, and your qualifications. It is your responsibility to match your background to their job requirements; it is never their responsibility to hunt through your resume to find out where you would fit in their organization. Make sure your contact information is easy to read; start with a strong statement of your outstanding skills and accomplishments; and honestly match your details to the requirements listed in the job posting or advertisement.
  2. Help recruiters and hiring managers understand what you do. Avoid jargon and acronyms. Place your skills in context: how did they help productivity, customer relations, communications, team building, idea generation, the bottom line? Placing skills in context also avoids over-simplification (see #3 below): everyone understands what filing is but how did your filing help the people you worked with?
  3. Be generous when talking about your former company or coworkers. It is fine to say that your actions increased profits for the first time in years or reduced turnover or bridged silos. But do not use your resume or your social media accounts to accuse your company or coworkers of illegal, toxic, or simply extremely irritating behavior. If asked, you are moving on for new opportunities—not because you hated your boss and coworkers.
  4. Never lie. Lies easy to detect with verification, background, and employment checking programs and services. They are also hard to remember and support during an interview. Discrepancies in dates, false information about degrees and training, inflated or false titles, and nonexistent employers are easy to check out and will ruin any chance of a job offer.

At Robin’s Resumes®, we produce top quality resumes with clear information that distinguishes you from the competition and shows off your strengths, without disparaging anyone or stretching the truth. If you would like help in reaching those goals, contact us today.

Q&A: Guidelines for College Graduates

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Q. I am graduating from college and very nervous about the whole process of finding a job. I am an organized person but I know that there are pitfalls and opportunities out there that I might overlook simply because I am so new at this. Do you have any recommendations?

A. Congratulations on graduating and on reaching out for information and guidance. You will find plenty of advice about resumes, interviews, and job searches on my website at Robin’s Resumes®, but here are my top 10 suggestions for recent graduates:

  1. Be careful about the resume recommendations of your career services organization. The resumes they promote are excellent for on-campus career fairs but are less suitable for job hunting in the wide world.
  2. Before you send out your resume, know what type of position you are looking for and research the companies you are applying to. Companies are not in the business of figuring out where you fit into their structure; you have to tell them.
  3. Think in terms of context-challenge-action-result when writing your resume and preparing for interviews. That framework will help you see your accomplishments and communicate why they are important.
  4. Keep a detailed record of your search, including the names and addresses of companies you sent resumes to, the job title and position, and when you sent out your resume. That way, when someone calls, you can immediately refresh your memory about the opportunity.
  5. Consider nonprofit as well as for-profit organizations. Nonprofits also pay salaries.
  6. Practice interviewing. Everyone gets nervous at interviews and you may never have been in an interview situation before. Your resume’s primary goal is to get you to the interview—so be prepared when your resume works.
  7. Be hesitant to give away your work. Have a portfolio on line if that is customary in your field (for example, fashion design or writing) but be leery of any company that wants you to work for free for hours before they decide to hire you.
  8. Ask questions, especially about the job hours and expectations. You do not want to assume you are on the day shift or that the job starts at 9 a.m. or that you will report to the person who is interviewing you.
  9. If you are having trouble finding a job, get a certification, take an internship, or volunteer at a nonprofit. You should keep your skills sharp and open your network to a wider group of people. Take a position outside your field if necessary. Then continue your job search while you work.
  10. Never take a rejection personally. Companies may reject candidates because the job parameters have changed, they can no longer afford a new hire, they found someone in house—the reasons are legion.

My final piece of advice is to sign with a professional resume writer and coach if you have the time. You will never regret it!

Resumes for Political Advisors, Consultants, and Advocates

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With the political scene heating up in preparation for November’s midterm elections, now is a good time to consider the possibility of becoming an employee for a political consultancy, Political Action Committee (PAC), or advocacy group.

For positions that are directly related to campaigning or to the mission of a specific party, you must clearly indicate your political alignment. In this case, even though we generally advise against including political alignment, your political views and experience are important to highlight on a political resume.

For positions that are more local and issue-oriented (for example, school board member in a small town), you must have a clear stance on the issues. Mentioning your political party affiliations may be irrelevant or an actual drawback.

Most political positions move forward from local volunteering or college politics into real-world campaign experience and then into a paid political position. If you are aiming to join a PAC or advocacy group, then it would be helpful to demonstrate prior interest or work experience in that group’s mission. For example, work in a pharmaceutical company might be good preparation for a position with a pharmaceutical or healthcare PAC. Volunteer work at a homeless shelter might be good preparation for applying to an advocacy group for the homeless.

Your relationship with known political figures or your contribution to previous political actions should be spelled out in your political resume. This is not a time to be shy about your connections or experience. Make sure you provide numbers wherever possible to quantify your accomplishments: “increased turnout 3%” or “increased funds raised by $200,000.”

In any political position, a demonstration of soft skills such as leadership, communication, organization, or negotiation is valuable. Experience in IT, administration, legal, and finance is also a boon. You should consider volunteer positions or certifications—for example, in mediation—that are related to the political position you are seeking.

For help in creating your political resume, please contact Robin’s Resumes® today.

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