We have two letters today from readers/friends who are in the process of updating their resumes. Now, I am NOT an expert on resume writing and I will forever and always tell people to go through the archives at one of my favorite blogs, Ask a Manager, written by the incomparable Alison Green. I do have a knack for editing resumes and helping people translate bullet points into more accessible sentences.
Letter Writer #1: My resume is, well, spotty. I've jumped around industries and even owned a small business for a while which was a huge success until I had a mental health issue and then it failed spectacularly (including media coverage). How do I talk about all of this?
Letter Writer #1: My resume is, well, spotty. I've jumped around industries and even owned a small business for a while which was a huge success until I had a mental health issue and then it failed spectacularly (including media coverage). How do I talk about all of this?
Letter Writer #2: I've been the head of a nonprofit for more than a decade and it's time for me to move on to something else. Problem is that my jobs before this were, well, hippie dippy or related to my college degree which I kind of don't really use anymore. How do I spin this?
People make thousands of dollars rewriting resumes and putting the same information into different formats. When I was running a regional nonprofit, we had a huge intern program (think 12 - 15 interns each semester with a staff of 2.0 including me). I've seen resumes for 19 year olds that run to 3 pages and I've seen the CEO of a Fortune 500's resume that was half a page. Me? I've been in the nonprofit sector for 22+ years and my resume is a well-edited two pages. I don't bother with 101 different iterations because I know my industry and who is reading my resume (people who are on nonprofit boards and/or other CEOs and/or headhunters). So that's your first thing ...
- Figure out who is going to read your resume and write to/for them. If you are submitting it through some Borg-like HR machine designed by 'bots and engineers, just put in all of the buzzwords from the job description and roll the dice. If it's going to an HR human, I'd do much the same but make sure your resume is grammatically correct. If you're applying to C suite and/or boards of directors, like my friends above, well then... we have work to do.
- Make a list of 20 things that you know how to do, professionally. No, don't list your ability to unjam the copy machine (save that for the interview) but include things like:
- Designed first-ever annual report and companion solicitation letter which increased donations by X% (or some other metric).
- Successfully implemented financial policies and procedures resulting in balanced budget and clean audit by outside firm and FEDERAL AGENCY NAME.
- Led board through strategic planning process resulting in a move from a working to governance board model.
- Created NAME OF COALITION, an unprecedented alliance of organizations, business owners, elected officials and community stakeholders to work together on ISSUE resulting in GOOD THING THAT HAPPENED.
- Start writing.
I usually start with bullet points and then add in verbs later because that's how I write grant applications. Here are a few of my resume rules:
- For every 10 years of professional experience, you get one page of resume.
- Thou shalt not use stupid fonts, any ink color other than black and margins less than .5 inches.
- No, we do not need to know where you went to high school unless you were at Julliard or Interlochen (or something like that) and you're a freshman in college and it matters.
- No "objective". It's stupid, dated and did I mention that it's stupid? Do not use one. I have a short paragraph at the top of mine that says "EXECUTIVE SUMMARY" with one sentence and then some bullet points (see #2 above) about the 3 - 5 things that I'm not just good at but great at.
- Don't lie. Just don't. Someone will catch you. Plus, your resume and your LinkedIn profile should align (mostly) and so someone is going to fact check you.
- Please leave off your 200 publications, workshops and merit awards from Boy Scouts. You can put them in your CV (I guess) but they aren't relevant unless you took a seminar on "How to Be Presidential" from President Obama and you have a picture to prove it and you're applying for a leadership position. Then you can include it in your cover letter.
So as to the issues raised by our letter writers, here's my advice:
LW#1 Good for you for addressing your mental health needs and taking care of yourself. You've pulled your life back together and cleaned up your business mess that happened while you were not in a good place. You have the classic redemption story to tell and here's how you can spin it in your cover letter:
"Several years ago, during a time of significant business growth and personal transition, I experienced an unexpected and devastating health emergency that required me to seek treatment and take some time away from my work. Unfortunately, due to the severity of the situation, I was unable to communicate with my clients and as a small business owner, I didn't have a team of employees to help me. Like so many small business owners, I had to close my business and have spent a lot of time working to stabilize my life both personally and professionally. Thanks to my family and a few close friends, I was able to honor all of my outstanding business obligations and I have moved on to WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING NOW."
LW#2 You've been the CEO of a nonprofit for the last 14 years and you grew it from pretty much zero to hero. Shorten up all of your other jobs on your resume to a few lines highlighting the key skills that you have in current job and call it good. More than a decade at one job? No one even looks at your resume other than to check where your degree is from. Since you did have a relatively cool gig out of college, mention it in the cover letter. "As a former lion tamer, I can tell you how critical it is to always be aware of your surroundings and to have a strong team of colleagues with whom you have great communications. Your life may depend on it!"
And that, dear ones, is it for today. Send your missives to DearMurgatroyd@gmail.com!
"Several years ago, during a time of significant business growth and personal transition, I experienced an unexpected and devastating health emergency that required me to seek treatment and take some time away from my work. Unfortunately, due to the severity of the situation, I was unable to communicate with my clients and as a small business owner, I didn't have a team of employees to help me. Like so many small business owners, I had to close my business and have spent a lot of time working to stabilize my life both personally and professionally. Thanks to my family and a few close friends, I was able to honor all of my outstanding business obligations and I have moved on to WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING NOW."
LW#2 You've been the CEO of a nonprofit for the last 14 years and you grew it from pretty much zero to hero. Shorten up all of your other jobs on your resume to a few lines highlighting the key skills that you have in current job and call it good. More than a decade at one job? No one even looks at your resume other than to check where your degree is from. Since you did have a relatively cool gig out of college, mention it in the cover letter. "As a former lion tamer, I can tell you how critical it is to always be aware of your surroundings and to have a strong team of colleagues with whom you have great communications. Your life may depend on it!"
And that, dear ones, is it for today. Send your missives to DearMurgatroyd@gmail.com!
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