The previous week, I received a telephone call from a friend that’s a financial advisor. He wants to be considered a real mover and shaker in the local world of business, so I can be expecting a lunch invitation once or twice every twelve months. (I’m low on the totem pole of the local business scene.) More often than not, the lunch will feature a couple people from linked industries that my friend is intending to cross network. I always go. In my small business, I don’t frequently do a lot locally, nevertheless it’s free food.
This occasion, I arrive at a fantastic, sunlit seafood restaurant by the beach to discover my friend sitting with some guy in a suit who he then introduces as a resume writer. The guy in the suit quickly attempts to rebrand himself as being a career coach, although after a few questions, it turns out that the majority of his business is just selling people on the concept that they need a professionally fashioned resume.
Ostensibly, the thought is that there could very well be some working synergy between a recruiter and a resume writer. I can’t blame my pal for the logic, it looks reasonable. All things considered, both take care of people during career transition. However, the reality is that it couldn’t be further from reality.
The resume writer perpetuates the fable that the resume gets an interview. Further more, they offer the concept that a fancy (high-priced) resume does a much better job. As a recruiter, we detest that brand of belief.
As soon as we begin working with a candidate, we work with a method of focus. The most marketable feats from their work history as it pertains to the job being sought and isolated. These tend to be specific illustrations with numbers. The rest is then minimized, and these success stories are shoved to the front and sold.
Amongst other things, this means that at our direction, the resumes will often be rewritten. Ornate language and terminology is cut. Padding and embellishment is taken off. The resume is turned into a straight forward chronological map which leads from one success to another. It is not difficult to follow confident that it will lead an interviewer into bringing up the best things the job seeker has to offer.
The moral of the story would be that recruiters don’t trust convoluted resumes. The resume should be easy and straightforward highlighting achievements that happen to be very specific. Resumes are tools to be utilized during an interview, not to get an interview. Don’t subscribe to the myth of a $500 resume. It provides no real value.
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