05 Feb “Hey Ty, you must see some crazy resumes!”
One of the perks of being in recruitment is being able to peek through windows into the stories of a lot of people via their resume. Quite often it tells us more than just a chronology of their employment. We learn about what gets them up in the morning, their motivations, passions, and interests (outside the redundant “Interests & Hobbies” title on some resumes… boating FFS, who cares?!). I get asked all the time about “crazy” things we see on resumes. And that’s a tougher one to answer than you may think.
Sometimes we recruiters feel like voyeurs. We get it, if you have worked in “Promotions & Events” for a company called something like “Platinum Entertainment”… we know you are most-probably comfortable in just your birthday suit. I remember seeing a resume where the candidate had managed a couple major adult establishments over the years, and listed competencies not that different from running any successful small business. And if it ain’t illegal, who are we to judge?!
Crazy = Good
What comes to mind when I think “crazy resume” are the cool jobs, the interesting ones that may have involved international chapters within a career. In the last couple months I have been lucky enough to receive these resumes and had very interesting conversations; one with a woman who ran Marketing for a successful chain of high-end restaurants in Iran whilst her husband was on secondment with a large financial firm over there for three years. The other, with a woman who worked for NATO in Afghanistan. That’s what I call a “crazy” resume… crazy cool, crazy awesome, crazy successful, and crazy interesting. Someone who worked administration in a prison. A couple of former Miss Universe country and international finalists. An EA to a very public and high-profile federal Government position. A video producer who has worked for Sesame Street. A Project Manager who worked on one-of-the-too-many Trump Towers (where according to media, all investors lost money, but the Orange Man himself made a packet). Hell, even aspects of mine would be considered “crazy”.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
We like seeing these interesting stories. What they all are, are achievements. One gets to a point in their career where listed duties are less important, but responsibilities, achievements and successes are what’s important. I assume that if you have been a Marketing Manager for 10 years that you know how to develop a multi-channel marketing plan. But by how much you have increased engagement or conversations or audience… tell me all about that!
I like a resume with smart, sharp, clear formatting. No spelling mistakes. Adzuna recently surveyed 50,000 resumes and more than 61% had spelling mistakes… despite of the red squiggly line. A resume needs to look clean and consistent. A modern font like Calibri makes sense, but here’s a few good tips (Best Fonts for Your Resume). The market is broader in terms of file formats and word processors these days, but my hot tip is stick to Word or PDF… changing a Pages document to a Word document is a pain in the arse. And being a pain in the arse ain’t a great start. You can find attractive preforma examples with a simple search-a-rooni!
Does size matter? That depends. A resume needs to be relevant. So if you were a Trades Assistant at BHP from 1979-1984… no one cares. Nor do I care if you are certified to serve alcohol and responsibly oversee someone’s gambling conduct. Nor do I care what subjects you studied in high school, let alone which primary school you attended (yep, more often than you imagine). But if you have four pages of relevance, then that’s OK.
Leave your photos on Facebook… we’ll see them there anyways. Unless you are applying for a role at General Pants, you don’t need to stick your mug on the front page. If we like the look of your resume, we know how to use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram to put a face to the name. And believe me, we do. So keep that in-check. If we see you doing something interesting and loose (which I’m guilty of doing, but keep my privacy settings tight), our whole office will see you keg-stand/vomit/pole-dance. Promise. I also once saw a young aspiring professional declare her hometown as Slutsville on Facebook. Funny, the resume suggested Merewether?!
Graphic Designers and fellow creative professionals… you are allowed to show us what you can do with a resume. But you are pretty much the only exception. And include snapshots of a portfolio or a link to one.
The goal of a resume isn’t to get you a job; it’s to get you an interview. A first impression. An introduction. Make it easy for us to want to call you. Tell me the first chapter of your story. And I certainly don’t mind if it’s a little “crazy”.