Question regarding resumes/CVs

While I realize the correct answer is: tailor a resume for your anticipated job, I'm curious...how do most of you with advanced credentials present yourselves via resume or CV in the job market?

I have been "gently" informed recently that some of my recent submissions could result in hiring managers deeming I am overqualified for certain jobs.

 

I structure my resume with a highlight of qualifications, technical skills/certifications and employment history on page 1. I make sure I've targeted things to the job description and cut out anything from the skills section that doesn't apply at all in this new role. Then I leave education, contract/volunteer roles, publications, and other info (hobbies, foreign languages, etc.) for page 2. Currently I have only my BPA, MS, MBA and in-progress PhD on my resume. I leave off my Durham College diploma and certificate.

Looking at your signature, I might do similar and include my BSN, HIM Post-Bacc, MBA, and MEd on the education part of my resume if I were applying for a job as a healthcare risk manager. The ADN is superseded by the BSN, while (I'm taking a guess here) the BA and MDiv are theological and so not as useful to an employer as your nursing credentials.

I'd like to think that between my cover letter and first page the hiring manager has determined me qualified and made a positive impression. If and when they review page 2, where things like education might make me seem overqualified, the manager's now fighting against their own perception that I'm a good candidate.

I'd be interested to hear how others are doing this.

 

Thank you, Dustin. Your conclusions regarding my educational credentials are sound.

I should point out that I am not currently looking for a new role, since my current post affords quite a bit of flexibility (which will help as I pursue certification as a Family Nurse Practioner in a Doctorate of Nursing Practice (FNP/DNP) program). Nursing is fairly volatile and opportunities arise all the time.

 

Yeah, you are right. The problem I have found in healthcare administration is that many upper tier posts rotate after 2-5 years. My wife (an MD by training) has encouraged me to apply for such positions. Most of the executives I have worked for, or around, have had to move on to other pastures wherever the job might be. I know that she's not interested in moving since our kids (and grandkids) have migrated to be near us. That limits the opportunities and is possibly the chief reason I am going for the FNP/DNP...

 

The first challenge is for your CV make it to the Manager.
Screening apps may misrout or block resumes, send them to lower priority queue.
I also recommend to apply on LinkedIn in or other job site only if you can't apply at hiring company site. My last job I actually called the employer and asked to speak with HR rep about the job, and the manager of speciffic department.
Linked in was helpful in pointing to former coworkers and alumni that v work at the prospective company.
I was hired and going on second decade at the job. Maybe my terminal job before retiring.

 

"Overqualified" is lingo for age and reverse dscrimination. Go woke or go broke.

 

Should one list on CV all the jobs they held or last 3?

 

I have never gotten a job based on my resume nor have I ever hired anyone based on a resume. Resume worship is the second biggest piece of nonsense in the job search world right after on line searches.

Your resume should show that you meet each and every criterion in the job description or announcement, give your date of availability, and feature your contact information.

One page. White space. No photos. No references unless required.

THAT'S ALL.

 

The purpose of a resume is to express your interest in the job. You want an interview. That's all.

 

The last time I got a job from a cold submission to an ad was in 2000. Everything since--including going to work for the federal government--was through relationships. That's 5 jobs plus the consulting practice I now run.

I hate resumes. And I hate anything to do with relying on them. And I hate job postings. That's the worst. Some HR flunky going through dozens (if not hundreds) of resumes and BS cover letters to find a handful of strangers to invite in to tell a bunch of lies and half-truths. (Oops, I mean "to interview.") Ugh.

The last "interview" I was on happened about a decade ago. I had just wrapped up with Leicester when a recruiter checked in with me (a rare event for me). Would I be interested in interviewing for a defense contractor in Tucson? (I was in DC at the time.) I agreed. Two phone interviewed ensued, then a flight out to meet them in person. I interviewed all day long, after which we had an informal agreement that I'd leave the government and go to work for them. Well, months of emails back and forth was all I really got until it ended. They had reorganized and the hiring manager was moving. They weren't filling the position after all. (And this was the second time it happened to me just like that.)

So, a couple of years later a certain online retail giant came calling. Foolishly, I agreed to a series of phone interviews. But when the invitation came to fly to Seattle for onsite interviews, I knew I was done. I politely declined, despite some serious urging from the hiring manager.

Never again, I pledged. And I kept it. That's why I designed and executed my own practice. Now, every piece of work I do is a result of a working relationship. No one ever screens my qualifications or asks for a resume. Ever.

 

"Relationships". Exactly.

 

That's why I work for myself. Applying for jobs is a waste of time unless I am involved with the person who actually decides on hiring and pay. Most folks here probably bring some unique skills to the table that companies need, if the salary is right (for them and you), and if you click with the team. It's all about having the right connections and landing at the right place at the right time.

 

Every time.

 

Sometimes I think people confuse a resume with an obituary. Don't do that.

 

One shouldn't list any employment history on a resume AT ALL unless the posting requires it. If, for example, KHELL FM wants a host for a nightly half hour Late Baroque Viola d'Gamba program and limits applications to individuals with a Bachelors in Music Performance and two years hosting a music program, your B.M. and the five years you wasted hosting a piano jazz program should be the ONLY education and experience you put in your resume. Leave off your stint as a night manager at McDonalds and your MBA from Wassamatta U.

 

And please...no hobbies or dreams for the future or gushing about why KHELL-FM is the place you've always wanted to work. No one CARES and it doesn't help your cause to waste anyone's time by making them wade through unnecessary verbiage.

 

An academic CV (and possibly some other fields) really is a list of everything you've done. For private employment, which I think you are asking about, it should be the most relevant jobs - usually keeping it to the last 10 years of experience. Further back then 10 years it gets harder to justify the relevance in most cases.

 

If you absolutely MUST tell the HR people at KHELL-FM how you dream every night of being allowed to clean their very toilets and will gladly die in their service, put it in a brief cover letter. ONE sentence and remember that the HR person knows what KHELL is really like so she will probably conclude that you are a fool.