Thanks to Cherry Woodburn for engaging me in a Twitter conversation about (yet) another article on why people should ‘forget the resume.’ You can read the article on Forbes.com, here: How To Stand Out In A Crowded Job Market: Forget The Traditional Resume.
People who want to hire you for a job (hiring decision makers!) will always at some point some time down the road in the process want to see a ‘snapshot’ of your career ‘story.’ Traditional resume, or, modern, contemporary resume profile, or whatever you want to call it, it’s still a resume. And, people are quick to jump from the concept of saying ‘you should be more creative with your resume’ to saying ‘forget your resume’ altogether. Dig deeper into the Forbes article, and you find a link that does just that. It’s confusing to job seekers, and quite frankly, does them a disservice.
While an online presence is critical in today’s job search, it’s still fed by the same resume process steps that offline (paper resumes) use – and that’s, ‘strategic storytelling.’ Trying to speed past the thinking and targeting necessary to articulate who you are to a disinterested other person to garner their attention can prove fatal to your job search.
A resume that feeds online portals still must provide some information on company names you worked for, some dates/chronology as well as some of your unique value proposition statements, such as:
- why they should care about you
- how you will fix things for them
- how you will make them more money
- how you will save them time
- how you will grow their company
- why they should PAY you to do this
- and MUCH more!
This snapshot I’m describing is a ‘Resume’ – it is NOT dying, you shouldn’t ‘forget about it’ in lieu of other techniques, it is NOT being replaced by LinkedIn or personal websites or other creative Internet techniques. In fact, those online portals are just that, portals to house and showcase your branded resume details – the focused career resume story you should be taking time and sensitive thought-work to develop.
There are no shortcuts or clever tactics to ditch the resume process.
So, stop with the close examination and dismissal of the resume as well as the binding rules of resume development, and start with taking a breath, slowing down and writing a distinguishing story. It’s really that simple. Job search, and the processes that fuel the search take time and strategy. Breathe. And do. You will get to your destination.
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