Putting Interests on My Resume

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A common question.

Q: Google wants to know my interests. I assume it’s okay to make them a part of my “core” resume?

Generally speaking, I recommend not including personal interests or hobbies on a resume. Most potential employers are looking for resumes that solely speak to your qualifications for a position, which usually excludes interests and hobbies. However, there are some expectations to that best practice, and Google is a great example.

There are some progressive employers who request that you include interests and hobbies on your resume so that they can gain a clearer picture of you – not just the professional you – as they go about the selection process. In cases like this, or when your interests and hobbies directly relate to your professional experience (software developers who code on the side, for example), then by all means include them.

Pesky Resume Screening Software

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Q: I have a really modern/cool resume that uses a 3-column format. My friend said that automated screeners won’t be able to read it. Please explain.

A: Give your friend a hug because he or she may have just kept your resume out of the automated-resume-screener-black-hole.

As advanced as technology is, automated resume screeners still have difficulty parsing out information contained within complex formatting, columns included. This could result in:

• Your resume not making it through the screening process because the system couldn’t effectively “read” your resume.

• Your resume making it through the screening process but delivering a jumbled mess of information to human readers after the system removes the formatting (as they are often set to do).

All of that aside, a multi-columned approach is not likely to make it easy for human readers to quickly scan your document. With just seconds to establish your qualifications and engage a reader, formatting complexity can mean the difference between an interview and an archived resume.

Is a 2-page Cover Letter Okay?

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Short answer, no.

The cover letter is almost exclusively meant to very quickly set the tone and prepare readers to “see” specific details about your experience when they move on to the resume. In almost all cases, this is most effectively accomplished with a one-page cover letter (essentially half a page when you account for addresses, etc.).

In all of my years developing job search documents for clients, I can count on one hand the number of cover letters I’ve written that extended beyond one-page. Those rare instances were for very specific positions that expressly requested a more comprehensive cover letter.

When creating your cover letter, respect readers’ time and the intent of the letter by keeping it concise and powerful.

You Cant Sell What You Don’t Know

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Imagine you are in sales (maybe you are) and you are tasked with selling the company’s brand new product. In order to learn more about this new product, you have the following dialogue:

You: “What does the new product do?”

The Product Team: “It does a lot of things! It is so versatile.”

You: “Okay, how is it going to help customers? What is the value proposition?”

The Product Team: “We believe it will have a huge impact on customers, but we don’t have specific examples.”

You: “Well, did you market test it? What did people say when they tried it out.”

The Product Team: “We did market test it and performed really well. We didn’t keep notes of what people said or of anything specific though.”

Selling a product when you have no idea of what it does, what kind of impact it will make, or how it has performed in the past sounds like a losing proposition. However, this is exactly the situation most people are in when trying to market themselves in job search documents and interviews.

Plain and simple: To sell yourself, you have to know yourself. That means being aware of how you might specifically fit into an organization, the kind of impact you plan to make, and examples of how you have made a positive impact in the past.

Knowing You

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The best investment you can make in life is in yourself. The more you know you, the more your career will thrive, and the more fulfilled you'll be in general.

Earlier this year, I tweaked my Tandem's Toolkit package to include YouFinder – a fantastic tool for knowing yourself better. It's been a great success so far; clients love the direction it provides.

Resume on LinkedIn

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Q: Do you recommend uploading my new resume to LinkedIn as an attachment?

A. Usually, no (despite LinkedIn making it very easy for you to do so). There are two key reasons why.

As I remind my clients, LinkedIn is public facing, which means that the information you provide in your resume – which is hopefully clearly quantifying your impact – could be perceived as over-disclosure on such a public forum.

Equally as important, LinkedIn is most powerful when it is piquing readers’ interests and making them want to learn more. If you post your resume, you remove the potential opportunity to engage with that person early in the discovery process. 

Unique Resumes

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I often get asked about whether or not creating a unique resume is a good idea. I wrote this about a year ago:

“I want my resume to be a creative expression of my unique gifts!”

This (not uncommon) request prompts me to delicately remind potential clients that the resume is “about you but for them” and that many readers will be turned off by an overly creative approach. Most people instantly get the differentiation and appreciate the frank advice. But sometimes a potential client balks. “I don’t want to sell out to get a job. I want my resume to represent my unique personality” is usually the subtext, if not the out-and-out response.

If you feel like following resume writing best practices is selling out, let me allay your fears. Considering your audience is not selling out. And your audience – your potential employer – is what is most important when creating a resume.

I am all for individual expression. There is a time and place for communicating your unique gifts in a creative way. However, as hard as it may be to hear, an effective resume is rarely a creative resume.

While times are changing, change in the area is slow. Simply put, a majority of the employment community is not ready to accept overly creative resumes and LinkedIn profiles. 

Research shows – as does every hiring panel I've sat on – that while organizational/corporate leaders claim to like the idea of a creative resume (think, for example, one with lots of design or disruptive language), they do not respond favorably when it comes to decision time. A professional, appropriately modern, well written resume still wins out.

Speaking of disruptive language... More and more, candidates want to use statements that they feel are catchy and individualized, like "Project Management Ninja" or "I manage awesome projects. Find out how I can put my magic to work for you." You may have those skills, but that's also the language that blowhards use.

Again, though, things are changing (however slowly!). If a creative approach makes sense for your profession, I recommend leveraging the work we do to develop a complementary creative or designed version of your resume to provide as a leave behind during the interview process.

Fluent in Company Speak

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You may not recognize it, but your organization likely has its own language. Sometimes company speak aligns with broader corporate lingo and sometimes it is so specific to an organization that it is almost completely removed from common business vernacular (Microsoft employees, government contractors, and Service Members, I am talking directly to you).

When it comes to marketing yourself externally (via a resume or LinkedIn profile, for example), this can create some really big issues. To successfully market yourself, you need to be especially aware of how the language you use sounds to audiences outside of your company. Here are a few reasons why: 

• Too much organization-specific lingo will make it challenging for readers to grasp your role and impact. Remember that readers of your resume and LinkedIn profile are not about to take the time to translate complicated company speak; they will simply move on.

• Overuse of internal jargon can send the message that you’re so deep into your current company’s specific culture that you might have difficulty assimilating into a new culture.

• Some of the terms that are perfectly acceptable to use when speaking with co-workers sound very silly when you are “off campus.” For example, I recently read a resume that included the term “co-developed a magic new product…” Magic may work if you're in Apple’s marketing department, but it will sound a little off to most readers.

As I’ve shared before, a little jargon is not a bad thing. It let’s readers in your same industry know that you are an insider. However, a little goes a long way. Make sure that readers can 1) quickly grasp what you offer and 2) don’t need a corporate Rosetta Stone to figure out what you're saying.

A Resume That Gets Noticed

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It's a new year.

Want a resume that really stands out? Focus on curiosity gaps. Not quite sure what those are? Read on.

A truly effective resume strikes just the right balance between presenting a solid track record of success and communicating potential. If you read my blog, you know that your resume needs to include specific, quantifiable achievements. For most readers, that concept is disruptive enough.  So the idea that your resume needs to also create some strategic curiosity gaps can be too much. In fact, you may be thinking that those two ideas are mutually exclusive. However, a resume that achieves both is going to be incredibly compelling. Here’s why:

Discovery is exciting: When it comes to hiring, the thought that you may have found someone with untapped potential and someone who is going to be a rock star in her / his new role is a pretty exciting idea. By creating some strategic curiosity gaps on your resume – those questions in readers’ minds that make them want to learn more via an interview – you allow for that feeling of discovery.

Quantifiable accomplishments reduce risk: Potential is a powerful selling point, but without some track record of success, the risk can simply seem too high. A bad hire is a costly error. If you can show – by sharing clear achievements – that you have made a positive impact in the past, you reduce the perceived risk and allow the reader to take a more calculated gamble.

Your best is yet to come: No one wants to bring in someone whose best days are behind him or her. No matter how successful you’ve been, you need to leave space for something even greater in the future. Take the iPhone for example. The product was an initial hit because it united Apple’s track record of quality and design excellence with potential. That same powerful combination continues to make the iPhone an incredible success.

Have a look at your resume. Are you balancing clear accomplishments with some compelling curiosity gaps? Are you communicating that – despite your success – your best work is yet to come? I’ll be honest, that balance is not easy to achieve. On the plus side, those that do achieve it will stand out in an increasingly competitive job market.

Best of the Year

Again this year, I am sending out a big thanks to all of my clients and colleagues for allowing me to share my passion for Career Development and Human Resources during 2014. Thanks for contributing to a better world by caring about your career and the way your company operates.

Here is my (almost!) annual list of 5 of the blog posts that were most popular during the year.

On what NOT to do on a resume.

On marketing yourself.

On social media and your job search.

On profile pictures.

On just wanting a job.

Happy New Year!