www.thegrindstone.com: Guess what? Some “resume rules” are simply outdated (like including your birthday or social security number or hobbies–not necessary) and (gasp! I know it sounds scary) you could probably do without them. Here are 5 ways to take your resume from boring and dull to interesting and fresh.
7 comments:
I've always wondered what kind of dates are important for resumes, so it is nice to hear that only years should be included. I can understand why if you only have a few general skills to list at the bottom that it may not be necessary to include Microsoft Office, etc. but it seems the section could still be important if you have substantial and unique skills to include. Social media is rapidly expanding but I agree you have to know the terminology and functions you're discussing or you will come off as ignorant. I also understand why it is important to cut down on fluffy language and every single position you've ever had so that you produce a concise and clear resume.
I may or may not have fallen into a few of these traps. First off, I cannot remember the correct forms of Twitter lingo. But seriously, these tips echo a lot of problems I saw in my own resume a couple of years ago (have since been cleaned up, I promise), and when I helped review resumes for Harvest last year, I saw a ton of resumes which were dates after dates after dates. It got to the point where I would pass one to my boss and make a comment on how the person obviously had nothing to fill his resume with, other than proving he knew the date of everything he ever did. My boss agreed. I also saw much of the older generation listing Word and Powerpoint. I agree that someone coming out of college probably doesn't need that on your resume (trust me, Python and Java programming are much more important), although it's probably useful to know for the over 50 crowd.
What I appreciate this article is the fact that it isn't the same 5 resume tips being regurgitated. I feel like this article actually allows me to consider my resume and build upon with these tips in mind; along with the other tips I've heard. Knowing what to do with special skills in the way this article stated or what to do when numbers become excessive is actually very useful.
This an okay article for someone looking for information on general resumes. However, I think that theatre resumes differ a great amount from general business resumes. While the same information and tips in this article may apply to theatre resumes, I did not find the article very useful because it did not provide information that I did not know beforehand. Also, I am not sure how I feel about the section that suggests including skills in social media. The article points out how Microsoft Office, particularly Word and Powerpoint, does not constitute as a special skill, since almost everyone is proficient with Word and Powerpoint. In the same light, I think that most people today are proficient with many forms of social media, and I do not think they belong on a resume at all.
I agree with Jason on how this article did not point out the same tips that previous articles did. However, I was somewhat curious why listing social media is important. I understand that showing off how many friends the person might be helpful, but considering positive and negative effects, I think there are more things to lose. Recently, I heard several incidents in which an employer found pictures that created negative impression on the person, so the person was not hired. Looking at those incidents, I don't think it is necessarily important to put in the resume. Other than this point, I really like the other points, especially "don't list every single job you've ever had" because I strongly agree that rather than putting immense lists of every single job, putting major, relevant job is what will attract the employer the most. I hope I remember these tips in the future, so that I don't make any silly mistakes.
It sounds like the article wants you to do the same thing with your resume that we do in the theater: tell a story. Its important to keep your resume clean, concise, and relevant. Don't write the obvious or unimportant, something everyone else has said, or something stupid! I'm not sure why everyone might want to list social media skills though. I don't quite understand how this would be relevant to some jobs, although I do get that social media is rapidly growing in importance.
What most of these tips are saying is to just get to clearly make your point about each job on your resume and just make yourself look fresh and up to date. Paint a picture of yourself but in a clean and tidy way. You want to be the Mondrian of resumes. As we talked about in class people only look at the top of your resume right below your name and the bottom where your references are. This means these to areas better say something good or you may just be tossed aside.
Also I think it's dumb that social media experience is a good thing to be emphasized anyone under 30 could probably very easily be a social media coordinater.
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