resumes – Be Gallant Coaching

I talk to job seekers just about every day.

By the time they come talk to me (click here if you’re ready), they’ve usually been searching for a while. They’re also usually pretty frustrated, confused, and at least a little disappointed because they’re struggling to land interviews. And it’s pretty hard to get jobs if you’re not getting interviews.

Here’s the thing: It’s not that they’re not applying for enough job openings–they’re usually applying for plenty (in some cases 100s). It’s not that they’re not qualified for the jobs they’re applying for–they have great qualifications. It’s also not that they don’t have the right skills–they’re skills are valuable and aligned with the job description.

So what’s the deal?! Why so few interviews???

Walk with me…

YOU’VE HEARD IT BEFORE…

You gotta tailor your resume to the job description. Scan the job description to identify the keywords and make sure you include them and speak to those skills. This is very important.

But you’ve heard this before, right?

You’ve already done this. Over and over. Every time, in fact. And you’re still bamboozled because…crickets.

Still little to no interviews to show for it. Damn.

I hear this story from job seekers ALL THE TIME, and here’s what I’ve noticed.

In the vast majority of cases (very nearly all of them), their resume is almost entirely tasky. Take a look at your work experience in your resume. Is it essentially no more than a list of tasks you’ve carried out? That is not a good thing. If it’s basically just a list of tasks you’ve carried out, then there’s no difference between you and anyone else who’s carried out those same tasks (at least on paper). And in that case, there’s no real reason for a hiring manager to interview you over anyone else with the same or similar job history.

If your resume is task-driven, you probably won’t land very many interviews. In order to differentiate yourself from other candidates, you need your resume to be results-driven.

TASK-DRIVEN VS. RESULTS-DRIVEN

A task-driven resume is essentially the job descriptions of the jobs you’ve held. It may demonstrate skills, but no matter how aligned those skills are, there’s nothing really special about that resume because it tells me nothing about your proficiency with the skills. Having the skills is great, but what a hiring manager ultimately cares about is whether or not you can actually produce desirable results.

All of your bullet points should clearly demonstrate that you have a track record of driving a positive impact in your work. This is how you show them you were actually successful and are a top-notch employee.

And that’s the candidate that gets interviews.

Show me those numbers, those increases, those tangible changes!

THE USUAL FOLLOW-UP QUESTION

“But Brandon, I feel like I don’t really have many outcomes to speak to, so what do I do?”

I usually get some version of that when I give this feedback to someone. Here’s my response:

How did you and/or your supervisor know you were successful at this *chooses random bullet point* task?

Light bulb moment! The answer to that question is a positive outcome, and you should speak to it! And I bet you can answer that question for each of your bullet points.

I bet the reason why you’re having such a hard time identifying results you’ve produced is because you’re thinking strictly in terms of the numbers. And numbers are good! Great, in fact. If you can attach a % increase or number to it, please definitely do so. But if you can’t–depending on your role or your field it might be hard to have the numbers on hand–that doesn’t mean you don’t still have positive results to speak to.

You can–and absolutely should–still produce a results-driven resume. Every time.

WRAPPING UP

If your resume is task-driven, you’re facing an uphill battle. Candidates with task-driven resumes are really hard to distinguish between, especially if they have a similar background or work history. It’s also really hard to tell your proficiency if you’re just describing the tasks you’ve executed.

So let’s see those outcomes!

WANT MORE SUPPORT?

The people in my coaching program get this kind of stuff from me all the time. And if you’ve been job searching for a while now, you probably recognize that a successful job search goes way beyond a good resume.

Job searching is hard. Where do you even start? How do you make a good resume (and cover letter)? How do you communicate the unique value you bring via your professional brand? How do you network in a way that’s strategic and gets your foot in the door?

Come talk to me! We cover all this and more in my coaching programs (click here for details!). If you want to bring your search to a close and land a job that you really feel good in, then give yourself permission to look into some good support.

Get a head start on the new year and step out of your comfort zone so you can land that new job. I’ll help you!

Fill out this short interest form today and I’ll contact you!

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THE GRAVY, ISSUE 1

Resumes.

Or should I say…résumés. It’s French, ya know.

They’ve become the go-to tool hiring managers use to initially assess candidates nowadays. They also strike fear in the hearts of applicants (and hiring managers, but that’s another story) all over the world. Still, if you wanna get that next job and move on in your career journey, you gotta write a good resume. There’s a lot to discuss, so let’s dive in.

THE GOOD NEWS

Writing a good resume is not as hard as you might think.

You just have to learn how to do it the right way. And guess what! You can learn that! Include the right sections. Keep your writing concise. Communicate value. Don’t distract your reader. Before you know it you’ll have a strong resume.

THE NEWS THAT KINDA SUCKS

You have to tailor your resume for each job.

Yup. That means you have to retouch your resume every time you apply for a job. Dang. It’s tedious work, but it’s well worth it. The reason is because hiring managers want to see information that’s relevant to their posting. They don’t care about everything you’ve done, just the relevant stuff. So ya see, tailoring your resume will yield you better results on your apps.

Let’s examine the how-to of good resume writing:

TAILORING YOUR RESUME

Why this is important:

Along with hiring managers wanting to see what’s relevant to them, there’s potentially another reason why you need to tailor your resume: the Applicant Tracking System (ATS). An ATS is basically a piece of software that stores application materials. Some of them can be used to help hiring managers scan for relevant qualifications. Make it easy for whoever–or whatever–is scanning your resume to see that you have relevant skills and experiences!

How to tailor correctly:

Dap up your best friend and thank them for the good times, because the job description is your new best friend. Read it thoroughly and identify the key words in it (i.e. what words or phrases are repeated? What essential skills and experiences can you pull out? What are the first few “asks” in each section?). Once you’ve identified the key words, USE THEM. Use the job description’s language in your resume. This is part of what the ATS is looking for.
Reorder your bullet points so that the more relevant ones come first within each job experience.
Scan that thang like a consultant, not a job seeker. That means read it to identify the problem(s) that needs solving. Address the company’s needs through your bullet points in your experience section(s).

Really though…how long does it take?

A RESUME SHOULD BE SIMPLE

When you look at your resume, is it distracting? Got a lot of extras like colors and photos and shapes and stuff? Take those things out (unless you’re a designer or artist). They’re distracting.

Use a basic format, but avoid downloaded templates. ATS’s don’t always read those well.

Generally speaking, your resume should be pretty short. Unless you’re an executive-level candidate with loads of experience, try to keep it to 1 full page. No one likes reading long resumes. Or resumes at all.

SECTIONS

There’s a lot of sections you could have on your resume. Some of the common ones include:

Header
Education
Experience
Volunteer Experience
Skills
Research
Language

In general, the most important ones are Experience, Education, and your header, which includes your name and contact information. I’d throw Skills in there too, especially if you work in a more technical field or have a lot of technical skills to highlight.

*Pro-tip*: A Skills section is for hard/technical skills, not soft skills. Things like communication, leadership, patience, teamwork, etc. should show up in your Experience section via your bullet points, NOT the Skills section.

Got a question yet? Submit it and I’ll answer selected ones in the next issue! Otherwise, read on…

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BULLET POINTS

Here’s a helpful acronym: CPR

C = Challenge. What was the challenge you took on or needed to overcome?
P = Process. How did you overcome the challenge? What skills did you use?
R = Result. What was the outcome of your actions? If you got a number or percentage to include, please do!

I should be able to pull out each of these elements from your bullet points! Here’s an example of a bullet point that I can’t pull those things out of:

Helped student organization raise funds

I can see the challenge: raising funds for a student organization. I don’t know how you did that or what the result was, though. Here’s one that’s much better:

Outreached via email to 12 potential sponsors for student networking event, resulting in $2,000 raised to cover costs

See what I’m sayin’? I can see the challenge, the process (email outreach), and the result ($2000). The result helps me understand your proficiency with the skills you communicated in the bullet point, so definitely include the result.

Again, it’s not particularly hard once you get the hang of it. Just takes practice.

Community Bin

I went ahead and sourced some questions from the community regarding resumes. Let’s take a look and do some Q & A:

Q: I regularly update my resume (like every few months) so I can stay ready to apply, but I don’t always tailor my resume for each specific job I apply for. Should I change my approach?

A: It’s good that you regularly update your resume because it allows you to update it while your experiences are still fresh. Still, you definitely should be tailoring your resume for each job. I recommend keeping a master copy (one that houses all your experiences) that you update sorta regularly, and then making tailored/shortened versions specifically for each job you apply for.

Q: Do I need a professional summary on my resume?

A: In many-to-most cases, I’d say no, you don’t need one. If you’re a particularly seasoned professional with a really dope specialty or loads of experience you want to tie together, then go for it. But it’s gotta add value. Generally, I’d say save the space.

Next Issue on January 19th: Identifying Your Skills

The next issue of The Gravy will be released on January 19th! We’ll take a look at something I’ve seen a lot of people struggle with: Identifying Your Skills. It’s good gravy.

If y’all have any questions related to identifying your skills, submit them below and I’ll address selected ones next time.

Until then. Stay Brave.

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