Breaking the Resume Rules!

The job market was quaked by a tsunami-like force, first in 2001 and then again in late 2008. Although the latter hit was not as powerful, it affected the job market in a significant way. Yet, despite this shift in how jobs are created, filled, and managed, little has changed in how people write their résumés. An Inductive résumé is a new approach to résumé writing: It creates a forward-looking (“Tomorrow”) message that “induces” the reader to take notice of your message.

Traditionally, résumés (in French it means Summary) are seen as a historical chronology of one’s past with little room to show how you can take that history to move you in a different direction, such as in your re-invention. Also, a résumé is usually seen as a job-seeking tool, nothing more. Actually, a résumé can be an even more effective as a career management tool.

How?

If you learn how to pre-ordain your résumé by claiming a bullet that captures your accomplishments the way you want them to appear for a hiring manager, who wants to hire a candidate to a fill a position you are after, you can shape the work and outcome on that assignment even before you begin your task. This strategy, together with how an Inductive résumé is written, creates a forward-looking value proposition based on your past and based on creating a bridge between the past and the future. An Inductive résumé compels the reader to think beyond the obvious; it induces them to be intrigued by your message.

Here are the résumé game changers that have worked for my clients and for me in my own practice:

1. Shift the value message from yesterday to tomorrow: You do this with a one- or two-line Career Objective at the top (not a Summary, which is always backward-looking). This statement must be focused on the employer and NOT on you! Find a way to grab the reader about “tomorrow” for them in this statement and throughout your résumé. Don’t listen to the recruiters who say, “Who cares what you want? Just state what you have done (Summary).”

2. Verbalize your genius at the top of your résumé (“above the fold”) that showcases uniqueness about you. I call them your Unique Skills. They come from the leadership stories that you narrate in the Experience section below in your résumé (“Yesterday”). This part is your chronology with bullets.

3. In the Experience section tell only your Aha! stories of leadership in 3-4 lines, and not just list your assigned tasks in a transactional way with dry numbers that typically do not have context. These bullets are now your leadership narrative.

4. Use only those bullets that showcase your uniqueness, without listing all your tasks from each job. A well-written résumé is NOT a kitchen sink! This (the Aha! stories) makes the résumé concise and compelling.

5. Learn how to transform a bullet of a routinely assigned task into a Hollywood version of your hero story! Always tell the truth; you’ll be surprised how compelling a really well- told true story reads like!

6. Keep your résumé to two pages, no matter how many jobs you have had. Even for a fresh graduate this can create a more compelling message. Most have only one page; so you are immediately differentiated!

7. Keep your résumé laser focused on your Career Objective and remove all clutter, no matter how important it is for you! Remember your résumé is NOT about you, but it is about the job you are after!

8. Keep your LinkedIn Profile synched up to your résumé message. This way you have ONE message!

9. Keep looking for opportunities to bolster your evolving résumé by seeking challenging assignments. Don’t just be an order-taker.

10. If you have posted your résumé on a job board (because you are out and looking), refresh your résumé every week and re-post it. When a search by a recruiter provides a list of candidates they are ranked by posted dates.

Good luck!