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A week ago, I received a call coming from a friend that is a financial planner. He likes to be a real mover and shaker in the local business community, so I can expect to see a lunch invitation once or twice a year. (I'm low on the totem pole on the local business scene.) More often than not, the lunch will normally include three or four people from similar market sectors that my friend is intending to cross network. I always go. In my business, I don't normally do a lot locally, but it's free food.
This time around, I arrive at a pleasant, sunlit sea food restaurant along the beach to find my friend sitting with some guy in a suit who he then introduces as a resume writer. The guy in the suit quickly attempts to rebrand himself as a career coach, although after a number of questions, it turns out that a lot of his business is just selling people on the concept that they require a professionally constructed resume.
Ostensibly, the concept would be that there may well be some working synergy between a recruiter and a resume writer. I can't fault my buddy for that logic, seems reasonable. Since of course, both manage people during profession change. However, reality is that this couldn't be more distant from reality.
The resume writer perpetuates the fable that your particular resume gets a job. In addition, they offer the notion that an extravagant (more costly) resume does an even better job. As a headhunter, we detest that brand of thought.
If we begin working with a candidate, we take on a method of focus. The most valuable achievements from their work history in regards to the position being sought and isolated. These tend to be specific illustrations with numbers. Everything else is then minimized, and those testimonials are pushed to the front and advertised.
Amongst other things, this means that at our direction, the resumes will often be rewritten. Ornate language and terminology is cut. Padding and embellishment is taken off. The resume is turned into a straight forward chronological map which leads from one success to another. It is not difficult to follow confident that it will lead an interviewer into bringing up the best things the job seeker has to offer.
Our moral for this story would be that recruiters don't believe in complex resumes. The resume ought to be simple, easy and straightforward highlighting achievements which are very specific. Resumes are tools for use inside of an interview, not to get an interview. Don't buy into the myth of a $500 resume. It provides no real advantage.
This time around, I arrive at a pleasant, sunlit sea food restaurant along the beach to find my friend sitting with some guy in a suit who he then introduces as a resume writer. The guy in the suit quickly attempts to rebrand himself as a career coach, although after a number of questions, it turns out that a lot of his business is just selling people on the concept that they require a professionally constructed resume.
Ostensibly, the concept would be that there may well be some working synergy between a recruiter and a resume writer. I can't fault my buddy for that logic, seems reasonable. Since of course, both manage people during profession change. However, reality is that this couldn't be more distant from reality.
The resume writer perpetuates the fable that your particular resume gets a job. In addition, they offer the notion that an extravagant (more costly) resume does an even better job. As a headhunter, we detest that brand of thought.
If we begin working with a candidate, we take on a method of focus. The most valuable achievements from their work history in regards to the position being sought and isolated. These tend to be specific illustrations with numbers. Everything else is then minimized, and those testimonials are pushed to the front and advertised.
Amongst other things, this means that at our direction, the resumes will often be rewritten. Ornate language and terminology is cut. Padding and embellishment is taken off. The resume is turned into a straight forward chronological map which leads from one success to another. It is not difficult to follow confident that it will lead an interviewer into bringing up the best things the job seeker has to offer.
Our moral for this story would be that recruiters don't believe in complex resumes. The resume ought to be simple, easy and straightforward highlighting achievements which are very specific. Resumes are tools for use inside of an interview, not to get an interview. Don't buy into the myth of a $500 resume. It provides no real advantage.
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