Question regarding resumes/CVs

I used to wrestle with this because my still-relevant military experience fell farther and farther into my past employment history. Eventually, it (and several subsequent stints of employment) became a single line.

Before I left employment for the weirdness of self-employment, I had both a traditional 2-page resume and a 1-page "brochure." Neither ever seemed to make a ripple with whomever I sent it to. I guess I didn't have the right stuff.

 

I am not a huge fan of resumes. I keep mine up-to-date but my current position did not come from applying to it. A former colleague of mine knew I’d be a good fit and got me in contact with the President who I sent my resume directly to. Within 1 week, I had an offer.

Relationships > Resumes. The business world values networking and relationship building far more than some elaborate, detailed resume.

 

Agreed on the chronology. I list a 9 month stint at a call center because it seems like I got more call backs with it than with a gap in there. I do list hobbies as a line on my resume, because I think it helps humanize me to the employer and shows some other skills (physical fitness from distance running in my case.)

RE: cover letters, I find most I've read are a restatement of the resume or gushing about the employer (which nosborne correctly notes is not helpful.) My most impactful cover letters are a variation of the following theme.

"My name is Dustin. Here is a two line summary of my employment and education that shows I clearly meet the requirements of the job description. As a new [Director of Widget Operations] here are the three things that I would bring to the table:

• I wrote a book/blog/design on better widget making
  
• I can apply widgetometry to the production process to reduce waste
• I can improve widget sales through targeted data analysis of widget retailers

Here is my contact info if you'd like to discuss more."

Short, sweet, and shows the hiring manager I'm there to solve their problems and have the skills to back it up. (Obviously the 3 bullets are different depending on the industry but now that I'm in consulting I focus on reducing time to task, eliminating manual data entry, better forecasting and predicting, etc.)

I've seen military experience as its own category on a resume enough to think it does belong no matter how old. Once it falls off the 10 years experience or starts to become less relevant to the work you're doing, I still think it implies certain virtues and values that are useful to the jobseeker.

 

No, you don't have to explain anything unless you get an interview. At that point your resume no longer matters.

Look, obviously opinions will vary. My experience in hiring is different from yours. I do think that resumes, like shotgun job searches, are largely a waste of time and that colors my view.

 

Right. But all it needs to show is that you're available and qualified.

 

Government employment unfortunately is altogether different. There, you have to submit their application form which includes pages of unnecessary stuff. HR really is a branch of Hell, Inc.

 

Military, Dr. Douglas? I thought you were in the Air Force...

 

For decades, Richard Bolles (and now his daughter, actually) has published What Color is Your Parachute? In it, he discusses this very issue. Showing what amounts to "confidence ladder," it illustrates the various levels of confidence an employer can have in an applicant. The more confidence the better the strategy works. Highest: internal promotions. Lowest: those shotgun searches you don't like. (Neither do I.) He estimates that the odds of getting a job that way about about 1,000 to 1. I believe it.

 

The thing is, WE think that's funny, too. Like Texas A&M grads telling Aggie jokes, Air Force members make fun of this all the time.

 

Well, the USAF does have custody of most of the big boomy toys. That counts for something!

 

The best jobs I have had have come from networking...which I agree is the golden standard for job acquisition.

Regardless if one feels a resume is a colossal waste of time--every job posting I see requires it.

I appreciate the interaction regarding this question...all input has been appreciated.

 

I do not think a resume requirement is an issue. The real issue is the company requiring a resume and then have the audacity to require me to input the same exact information in their application. That always drove me insane. Either use my resume or let me fill in the information but do not require the same information in two different forms….

 

But that's exactly what I'm saying. Don't put all that stuff in your resume. If the employer decides they want it, they will ask for it.

 

I always thought running two-thirds of the nuclear triad mattered.

 

And when they pre-populate their form using your resume, it comes out like a Picasso. And not in a good way.

 

And then Workday requires a separate account for every employer!

 

This was annoying too! Let my one profile be used for the various employers that utilize Workday instead of inputting the same information over and over and over.

 

I disagree! When I look at someone's resume, I am looking at work experiences regardless of what they have done. My biggest pet peeve is unemployment gaps without a reasonable explanation. Even though have been flipping burgers after being laying off from a software engineering job.