We haven’t had a heart to heart about resumes in a while and it’s high time that we did. What you’re sending out isn’t getting the response you deserve. Here are just a few of the reasons why that’s happening:

• You may not know the difference between a resume and a promotional piece.
• You’re using the dump and stir method (dump it all in, stir it around, and let the reader figure it out).
• You’re providing information that only a mother could love.

What can you do? Let’s start with the basics.

What is the difference between a resume and a promotional piece?

A resume is a synopsis of your work history. It begins with right now and goes back in time; fifteen years is far enough. You don’t need to introduce it with a summary, it’s already a summary. You don’t need to include an objective unless you are changing career directions. If you include one, make it clear, concise, and to the point. If it sounds self promoting, leave it out.

Each work entry should be accompanied by a brief series of accomplishments that are described in measurable, quantifiable terms. Resumes are built on facts. That’s what separates them from puff pieces.

Grammatically speaking, write in the active voice, go heavy on action verbs, light on adjectives, and leave out articles and personal pronouns.

You probably know to keep your resumes brief and on point. You aren’t an exception to that rule, so please, comply.

Only you know which jobs most closely match what you do best. If you put every skill imaginable into your resume, you send a message that you don’t know.  Prospective employers, search firms, and employment agencies have neither the time nor desire to figure that out for you.

If you’re not sure where you’re taking your career, get help. Get it before you write a resume. Get it before you network. Get it before you interview for a job.

We’ve reviewed several thousand resumes over the years. Many are attention getting for all the right reasons: they’re easily read,  clear, succinct, forthright presentations of experience and accomplishments.

Others are attention getting for the wrong reasons: they’re overwritten, overloaded, and over the top. Put these under the category of “resumes only a mother could love”.  Here are a few examples of please don’t:

• Please don’t include the names of your children, partners, spouses, or pets, in any order.
• Please don’t include more hobbies than the time it takes to do them, particularly if you intend to hold a job at the same time.
• Please don’t list arcane activities, organizations, or societies. They don’t mean anything to the majority of those who read these things.
• Please don’t include your social, political, or religious affiliations. Omit your age, the date of your high school graduation, and that glamour shot you love so much. You are providing more information than is appropriate to the workplace.

Here are a few please do’s.

• Please (always) send  a cover letter along with your resume. (Your cover letter gets to brag and your resume doesn’t dare).
• Please have a human spell check your resume after technology has finished the job. (Humans understand syntax better than machines do).
• Please stop procrastinating!

Many folks delay the inevitable when the assignment seems ambiguous, the outcome can’t be measured, and the product will be judged by strangers. It’s a wonder that anyone writes a resume.

Nevertheless, the time is now, the subject is you, and no one can say it better than you can. If you need more help than books or computer software can provide, call a career counselor.

* * * *

Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.joycerichman.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.