Online Resume Advice: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

When it comes to doling out resume advice every professional resume writer, and almost every career blogger and job seeker has an opinion on what’s right, wrong, applicable, current, or outdated information. This in turn makes it hard on the reader to know who to believe. Point in case is a post I written this week on Brazen Careerist by Gavin Page.

Gavin: “My resume is almost everything Jane Doe’s list says is bad (bloggers name is changed to protect the innocent). Just to confuse me more, my resume is everything my professional job network agency (**** Employment) says is important. Are they trying to keep me unemployed, or is Jane Doe’s list of rules, equally as circumstantial to the point of irrelevance – Or are both good or are both bad? Hmmm…”

So what are some of the pointers on Jane’s List, which by the way was actually written by a friend of hers who wrote this strictly from her own perspective as a hired gun agency recruiter.

1. “Placing References upon request at the bottom of a resume is completely unnecessary!”

Duh, this is such a no brainer, but what the blogger left unsaid are two important points. Placing personal endorsements at the bottom or even in the body of a resume can be a big asset in validating your ability, qualifications and accomplishments; and adding a hyperlink on your resume to your Linked-In page where these recommendations can be viewed is also a wise alternative move.

2. “Hobbies or Community Activities: Please, for the love of all people, quit putting things on your resume that could discredit you before you get the chance to interview. If you like to fish, don’t put it on your resume! You have no way of knowing if the hiring authority you are sending this to is the state PETA president. Putting hobbies or community activities on your resume could get you thrown to the “No” pile, before you get your foot in the door.”

Again, leaving your hobbies off your resume is a no brainer. But making a blanket statement about not including your community activities is imprudent. In many cases community activities show an employer what you’ve been doing while unemployed, and many people get involved in community activities where they actually use the same professional skills they use on the job to accomplish something noteworthy.

3. The dreaded “Summary” or “Objective”: It’s like Nancy Reagan said…JUST SAY NO! I understand you want to give a “summary” or “objective” of what you’re looking for, but unless it is imperative or extremely well written, it is unlikely an overwhelmed HR person or an executive recruiter, like myself will actually read it.

I agree with not using an Objective. But unless I am missing something an Objective statement and a Summary statement are two different things. Most objective statements I have read focus on what a company can do for you, whereas most Summary statements summarize who you are and the value you will bring to the job. I am not a fan of summary statements, but again I would not summarily negate their value.

4. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: All resume headings should be in capital letters and be underlined. When listing your work history it should say “Professional Experience,” not recent experience or work history. This creates a more tactful way of listing your months and years you were employed for each company.

I think this is spoken like a true one-dimensional recruiter who is looking at you as a piece of meat with a $ sign on your head, and not by a professional resume writer or career coach. Headings are usually a matter of style over substance. Whereas most often this caption is capitalized, this rule is not written in stone. As for only using the words PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE this is foolhardy, as is making underlining the caption statement mandatory. This again is dependant on the writer’s stylization.  As for the wording itself, many resume writers, myself included, often substitute Career Progression which is a stronger more creative metaphor.

5. Be wise with Education: Unless you have a bachelor’s degree or higher, move your education to the bottom. If you have NO education, DO NOT put education or some education. Leave the entire section out. If you have certifications put that as your header, not education, and keep it on the bottom of the resume, AFTER your professional experience.

6. Your College: Employers don’t want to know the college, before the degree. Quit putting the college on top! The most common mistake I see on a resume is bolding the College, instead of the degree. For example if you have an MBA – bold that, on a separate line (preferably beneath the bolded degree) list your college.

7. Education from 1978: Why on earth are you going to put the degree you obtained 20 years ago before the degree you obtained 2 years ago?  Always put your most recent degree on top. Employers want to see that you have continued education, if applicable….

Again points 5-6-7 are no brainers and space occupiers. A resume advice post should concentrate on offering readers valuable information on relevant topics rather than focusing on fluff and filler.

8. The 1 Page Resume Restriction:

Oh dear…why? Unless you have worked at only one place throughout your career, the old adage that your resume should fit on one page is NOT accurate. And please for the love of all things, anything under 11 font is ridiculous! I don’t want to have to use a magnifying glass to read what you have written. Think easy to scan, quick to obtain the information, and easy enough to read to GET YOU AN INTERVIEW.

The writer has made a valid point about the one page rule, but again forgot to tell you that even three pages are acceptable for very senior level executives. In addition, you can conserve space by placing semi-important information on Linked-In, such as extra certifications, patents, publications, and early career experience, and then direct people who want to see this information to view it on the social media site.

“And please for the love of all things anything under 11 font is ridiculous” this statement to me what is actually ridiculous; and “I don’t want to have to use a magnifying glass to read what you have written” is an asinine statement as well.

Anyone who is computer literate knows the following 1: You can enlarge any document on your computer by increasing the view magnification to 120% regardless of the font size. 2: The appearance on a PDF – which most people attach – looks larger than it does on a word document, as is also the case of 10pt when you print it out. 3: Scanners don’t care if it is 5pt, 10pt or 20 pt fonts.

4: In addition this should not be a blanket statement since you have a choice of fonts and each font has a different scale. 5: Most of you should be writing a resume for human eyes and not scanners. Scanners are a fee based recruiter’s best friend, not so for job seekers.

9. Spelling or Grammatical Erros:

The goal of sending the resume to a hiring authority is to get an interview. Make sure it is easy to read, there are no spelling errors, or grammatical errors. This is the door that needs to be open to get the job of your dream. Make sure it is the best representation of what you can bring to a new company!

Again this is a no brainer, but I agree that it needs constant repeating. What should have been added is, “don’t depend on spell check!” My most common typo transposing from to form when I type and other misspelling will never be caught. I recommend that, like I do, you always have a 3^rd party review your work because when you are so close to it you often see things that are not there. I guess that is what this author saw when she left the third r out of Errors in the caption to #9. So a final lesson to all bloggers, practice what you preach.

Now for those of you who think I am bashing another writer this is not my intention. I did this semi tongue in cheek to make an important point that there are way too many Dick and Jane bloggers writing on resume writing and career coaching today trying to make a name at your expense.

So when you read these posts, mine included, you need to know what perspective the writer is coming from, and look at how in depth their information is. When you start to see too much no brainer fluff in a post, it pays to question the rest of what is written.

Perry Newman, CPC CSMS is a nationally recognized executive resume writer, career coach, AIPC certified recruiter and SMMU certified social media strategist known for his ability to help his clients get results. You can view his sample resumes at http://www.perrynewman.com, and email him your resume at perry@perrynewman.com for FREE resume critique.

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Perry Newman

Perry Newman is a nationally-renowned job transition specialist who develops branded resumes and is a career coach for executives, professionals and MBA’s seeking six- figure positions in multiple industries within the USA. As a Certified Placement Consultant, Certified Social Media Strategist and founder and former Managing Director of a NYC-based executive search firm, Perry has a rare combination of talent and experience that is essential for your success in today’s job market. Acknowledged as a subject matter expert in his field Perry is a sought-after public speaker for radio, TV shows and career services seminars and his articles and blog posts are published in national newspapers, magazines and blogs throughout the nation and the world.