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Lifehacker: "How Can I Build a Resume..."

Improvements on Lifehacker's only average advice

Lifehacker: “How Can I Build a Resume…”

By In Blog, News On April 6, 2014


Lifehacker’s “Dear Lifehacker” resume and reference advice from Alan Henry is not bad but falls short in a few key areas.

Alan is right on target when he suggests making lists of your greatest professional, educational and personal accomplishments and, importantly, not worrying about the length, order or even the content of the lists – at least not yet. Creating really is a lot harder than cutting, so as he says, “don’t be shy.”

He and I part ways a bit when he starts talking about “leveraging” all of your experiences and accomplishments. I agree that if you are trying to find more material for your resume it is important to consider not only professional accomplishments but also educational accomplishments and volunteer activities. However, it’s more important to remember that what’s valuable to you may be of no interest to a potential employer.

It all depends on the needs of the job. In fact, that’s where this post kind of breaks down. There is no mention of analyzing jobs to identify the most critical needs then determining if your experience addresses them. All the accomplishments in the world won’t mean a thing if they don’t speak to a hiring manager’s most immediate needs no matter how long, detailed or rich with content your resume is. In contrast, a resume that only contains a single paragraph or just a handful of bullets might be perfect if it demonstrates that you can solve the problems that created the job.

The difference is perspective. Most resume writing advice tells candidates how to extract accomplishments and describe experience in a vacuum – without consideration for specific jobs and without doing research. This is a mistake, especially today when information is so easy to come by. Want to know the needs of a specific job? Ask the hiring manager or one of his or her peers. They are easy to find. Don’t know how? I’ll show you.

About references, well, if you ask me, nobody should include reference names or that references are available on request on their resume. It’s a waste of space and could even be a vulnerability. References should be chosen and vetted per job. Reference names and contact information should only every be given to a potential employer after they’ve been briefed about the job, ensured their availability and guaranteed that they will provide “good” references.

And last, “brevity.” Again, this is a great opportunity to think of the hiring manager, the job and the potential employer first. The golden rule is: If it adds value and addresses the needs of the job, add it. If it doesn’t, cut it. Imagine that you have to pay for your resume by the word and be brutal about your cuts.

Bottom line: A good resume answers enough questions to encourage continued contact, nothing more.

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