3 Myths About Your Resume
1. People read your entire resume.
They don't. They're too long. They're too boring.
Look at your resume. Back to this post. Back to your resume. Now back to this post. How long is your resume? I'm guessing one to two pages, where each page looks something like this:
Maybe you're thinking, "It's only two pages! How long could it take to read through my resume?"
Indeed, it doesn't take a road trip to read your resume, but it sure does take a life time to read everyone's resume.
Let's do the math: at my school University of Waterloo's job listings, every somewhat decent position has at least 50 applications. That's counting my school alone. Now consider the entire city, the entire country, or the entire planet. I don't want to depress you too much, so let's work with an optimistic estimate:
2 pages x 150 applications = 300 pages
When was the last time you read 300 pages from a book not named "Twilight" or "Harry Potter?"
"Surely," you think, "Companies split up the work and/or read resumes very diligently! It's their job!" I wish. At best, there are no more than a few people reading the resumes together (usually people on the same team). Realize that employers are never obligated to "read resumes" or "find the best candidate." Their jobs are to "find a competent candidate." If not reading half the resumes still yields a decent crop, then half the resumes will not be read. Safe to say that we should be grateful if a potential employer spends more than ten seconds looking at each of our resumes.
What should we do if that is indeed the case? Well, for one thing, we want to make sure our resumes are clear and concise. This means using a resume template that is well formatted, contains bold headers, and has as much whitespace as text. More importantly, we should make sure our resumes deliver succinct messages to our readers (e.g "I'm experienced", "I'm well rounded.") and that the said messages aren't overloaded by distracting information. This brings us to the second myth...
2. You resume is too short; you need every piece of information on your resume.
My roommate once screamed, "Oh my god. I've tried to trim everything and I can barely contain my resume to two pages!" If you're in the same situation, then let me be blunt: your resume has more useless stuff then Windows Vista. Purge them, now.
Take contact information fox example: do you have your home address on your resume? If yes, why? I swear half the world has their home addresses on their resumes (and alternate addresses too if we all follow my school's advice) even though we're ten years into the 21st century. No company in their right mind will send applicants snail mails just to inform them of interviews. If they want to send paper work, they will most certainly ask for addresses via phone or e-mail.
Then there's all those common phrases every resume template put up top: "works well in team environment", "great communicator", "can type at 80wpm", "experienced with Microsoft Office" etc. What exactly do those phrases achieve? Does putting "great communicator" make us sound more sophisticated? Or does omitting "can type at 80wpm" suggest oneI can't type?
As for experiences, details like "communicated and collaborated with colleagues" or "demonstrated leadership skills" are mundane. Either a job position suggests leadership and collaboration (e.g "President of Club X" and/or "Event Coordinator") or a position doesn't imply leadership even if one says so (e.g "Summer camp volunteer"). Many experiences, especially the ones from high school, are irrelevant and should be kept off resumes.
Finally...
3. Your resume is remarkable and outstanding.
You have never told anybody this, but deep down, you think all those experiences on your resume have been wonderful and life changing. Every time you re-read the your volunteering experiences at "Heavenville Summercamp", you can't help but recall those sparkling moments that carved you into you. You wager that you're the only applicant who has volunteered at "Heavenville Summercamp" and that it will be the difference between you and the other applicants.
Perhaps you are really the only applicant who spent a summer at "Heavenville Summercamp." Still, your memorable experiences won't catch anybody's attention. After all, everybody has their own "Heavenville." Everybody has their own "Subway." Everybody has their own "American Apparel." What is remarkable and distinctive to you does not necessarily stand out among others. You can marvel at your own experiences all day long and still not find a job.
I, too, suffer from the this problem. Many people look at my past internships and fathom they must make me a superstar. I know full well, however, that hundreds of resumes are floating around with as many "big name" companies. Is "Microsoft" really that impressive when over one thousand interns gathered in Redmond this past summer?
The world today is extremely competitive. Globalization has forced all of us to compete with billions. To be truly distinct, we must accomplish what billions have not. This means being able to take extra, unique steps away from the crowd - steps like writing a research paper as oppose to assisting a professor; starting a club as oppose to helping a club, or organizing an event as oppose to volunteering for an event.
Many pending college undergrads are severely disillusioned: they believe that good jobs come bundled with their degrees. While that was true in our parents' days, today's world no longer offers such luxuries.
Take a hard look at your resume: what makes you any better than some other college grad? If the answer is "nothing," then maybe it's time you do something different.
