Career counselor: Vague résumés get no respect
Career counselor: Vague résumés get no respect
Thanks for your calls and e-mails recently, which have helped me to guide you as you figure your way through this crazy job market. Today’s column is based on a composite of your questions and concerns.
Question: Please review my résumé. My family and friends assure me that it looks great and is well-written. I have applied to numerous positions where I believe I’d be a good fit, yet the only responses I get are from companies wanting administrative support. After years of working days as an administrative assistant and attending school at night, I’ve just completed a hard-earned degree in business systems technology. I want to use what I’ve learned to advance my career but I can’t find any takers. What am I doing wrong?
Answer: Your résumé describes your work experience before you got your degree instead of the work you want to do going forward. For example, your current objective reads: “Seeking a position where I can use my administrative skills in an office setting.” Your work experience is a recitation of responsibilities that were either low-tech or no-tech. You state that you have a bachelor’s degree but make no reference to your business systems technology major, nor what that major equips you to do for an employer.
Employers aren’t mind-readers, so you need to focus on the overarching message you’re sending. The best way to be sure you’re getting that message across is to hand your résumé to someone you trust and ask, “What does my résumé tell you I’m looking for?”
If their estimation falls short of your expectation, you have work to do. Clarify in your objective and in your accomplishments how you have added value and made a difference to your past employers.
Employers in all organizations — large and small, public and private, for-profit and nonprofit — have missions to achieve, goals to reach, strategies to set, objectives to meet, challenges to overcome and problems to solve. It’s up to you to show them what you do that meets their needs, improves their top-line performance or protects their bottom-line results. By providing evidence of having done that in the past, you predicate your ability to do it for them in the future.
If you leave it to employers to interpret your value, based upon generic responsibilities, without benefit of a specific objective or key accomplishments, the responses you’ll get are apt to be disappointing. You’ve worked so hard and deserve better than that.
Joyce Richman is a career coach and the author of “Roads, Routes & Ruts: A Guidebook for Career Success.” You can reach her at 288-1799 or JERichman@aol.com. Watch Richman’s latest career advice Wednesdays at 6:35 a.m. during “The Good Morning Show” on WFMY News 2. Read her blog at www.richmanresources.com.
