by Anne Sanders

Created on: March 09, 2010

The state of your resume tells a lot about how long you have been job hunting. In the beginning you probably only have one resume because you know what kind of job you want and feel qualified for it. After a couple months of searching, you might do some hybrids, just in case, since funds are running low at this point.  By the six month point, you find yourself surrounded by

resumes, for everything from wait staff to Chief Executive Officer highlighting your interpersonal skills and budget saving techniques.

The number of resumes also multiplies because you find out there isn’t a tried and true way to present yourself any more, chronological is too boring, right?  You have to rise above the mass of resumes clogging that manager’s desk, but how?  You can go functional, chronological, combination or targeted. They say functional resumes are best if you don’t have much experience, or if conversely, you want to hide how old you really are but highlight all of the skills you’ve learned in the eleven jobs you’ve had in the last four years.  Of course, all of your resumes are supposed to be targeted to a particular company and job, but on application 267 you might be using some of the same wording here and there. By then you have at least nine different cover letters to go with your resumes and you can cut and paste so quickly you only need 4.7 minutes to pump out a new one.

At that point, you might even be using the objective: To get a job, any job, as soon as possible.  The “objective” is that dreamy part of the resume where you get to say what you really want, you know—job security, four weeks of vacation the first year, four day work weeks, casual Mondays and quadruple overtime pay on holidays if you have to work them. But I digress, nowadays you are supposed to use your objective to drop hints about how productive and successful you can be, by saying things like: “To find a challenging administrative position that utilizes my stellar organizational skills, fabulous smile and social networking skills.” Or, if you’re still in the first stages of the job search, “To become part of a stable corporation which recognizes my technological expertise and rewards it commensurately.”

What about the education portion of the resume? How much is too much or too little? You didn’t quite finish the master’s degree but you got into one of the top colleges in the country.  Life happens and you moved to another city because your husband got a fabulous job there but you couldn’t complete the degree.  Will mentioning the degree you didn’t finish help or make you look like a loser? It doesn’t really matter because you know people who have the degree that can’t find a job either, so you lower your expectations and wonder if you should put that you graduated Phi Beta Kappa as an undergraduate or not.  You can’t put that on the receptionist applications, after all, it wouldn’t fit anyway.

Finally, you realize the only way you’re going to get a job is to shake some hands at multiple job fairs (after researching and contacting each company in which you have a chance to get hired), get a head hunter (if you have enough skills and certifications that someone will take you), volunteer for the company of your dreams (or at least a company that you can work for and you offer them your second born as a bribe) or begin retraining in a totally different field.  Believe it or not, each of these techniques has worked for someone out there, so don’t give up.  Go work on your resume.   

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