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Wading through all the resume advice to arrive at YOU.
Pearsonified: Smart resume advice.
There’s no shortage of resume advice out there. 54 million-plus hits on Google. Paying attention to what people in your field are recommending is a good idea. The only pitfall comes when you get conflicting advice, or advice that’s really based on the judgment of only one expert/recruiter/HR director.
Interviewing for jobs is like dating. There’s awkwardness, fidgeting, everyone is trying to be super-courteous, overly nice, well-dressed, impressive; Do I chew gum? No — gum is unprofessional. Bad breath is worse. Mint? It’ll clatter around in my mouth. Is my tie on straight? I wonder if they like me. Should I crack a joke? Etc., etc.
The thing is — just like people and dating — everyone has different taste! Swap a potential hire for a potential date. We all look for different things. If only it were as simple for us as Birds of Paradise:
Be unique.
Great — what does that mean? That doesn’t help someone in college or just entering the job market. Unique can be a lot of things.
You want to be superficially “attractive”? Then load up your resume with great design, details of every Boy/Girl Scout award you ever received and go for it.
Want to be intellectually engaging? Focus on framing what motivates you, the problem you want to solve, how you’ll save the world and how this job will help you do it in your cover letter.
You have to know your audience. Applying for a graphic design gig, you’re probably going to want to make everything you show the employer as sexy and visually arresting as possible. Want a gig with a web startup? You’re going to want to inject some personality — how your awesome self is capable of awesome programming, conquering mountains, saving orphans, etc.
Andrew Hyde — a notable startup enthusiast in Boulder, CO with TechStars — has a great post with advice for startup applicants. Andrew’s main thrust: People are at sea when it comes to resumes, interviews and trying to get noticed in a bloated, saturated applicant market.
Web developer Chris Pearson talks about “The Only Thing on Your Resume That Matters to a Smart Person” on his blog…and guess what? That “thing” isn’t on your resume. Because it’s YOU. But what about people that aren’t especially eloquent or personable? Let me drag the dating metaphor back: Sometimes it’s about getting out of your shell.
Being yourself, being unique, showing how awesome you are — these are all impossible goals when you’re nervous, fidgeting, worrying about the superficial stuff like gum vs. mint, tie vs. no tie, joke vs. no joke. Forget about that stuff.
Come with ideas.
Advancing your ideas, your concerns, your solutions to problems you may notice related to your field is one of the best things you can do. No ideas = no passion. Employers want to hire passionate people, and if you can’t muster the enthusiasm to write a unique cover letter for a job, talk about issues in whatever industry you’re in — it’s a tip off. It’s like forcing a conversation with someone you’re just not compatible with.
And that’s the takeaway point. If you’re looking for jobs in an arena that you’re genuinely excited about, your interview isn’t an interview. It’s a conversation. It should be exciting. You should be buzzing. So let the sparks fly.