Why Your Resume Is Not Getting Results

Perhaps you are employed but not happy in your current job, or maybe you have recently been laid off, “downsized”, terminated, or for any other reason have become unemployed. So, you decided to create your resume or freshen up your old one, send it to a few places, and wait on them to invite you in for an interview. You are aware that the job market is tight, but certainly someone of your skills and experience would be a valuable asset to the right organization, and you are sure that you could convince a prospective employer of that fact if you could just get the interview.

Has your phone started ringing yet?

If I have heard those sentiments once, I know that I have heard them a thousand times from well qualified, experienced, educated candidates. What these candidates do not realize is that the same resume that would have served you well in the pre-economic downturn (prior to October 2008) days will not do much for you in today’s job market.

What is behind this new, much more selective candidate evaluation process?

In the current economic climate, having skills, experience, and the right education is not enough. As an independent recruiter for corporations seeking people in various disciplines, I know that finding people who can do the job is the easy part. What is not so easy is finding people who can do the job and who will be a good culture fit with the people and systems already in place within the organization. It is not enough anymore to be good at what you do. There are a lot of people who have the skills and experience to do the job well. Hiring managers today certainly do want people who can excel at the job, but just as important to them is whether you are the type of person that others who are already there can work with and who can adapt to the organization’s way of doing things.

Why are hiring managers becoming so selective in the hiring process today? They are doing this because they can. It is that simple. There are a lot more great candidates seeking jobs than great jobs to be had right now, and that is not going to change anytime soon.

What managers typically see is a stack of resumes that all look pretty much look the same, with this standard format:
• Name and contact information
• Education
• Chronological work experience
• References

All of them look alike and none of them say anything about the person behind the facts listed on the page. In the marketing profession, we call this type of resume “feature heavy and benefit light.” The problem is that people (hiring managers, in this case) buy on benefits, not on features. They want to know what kind of person you are and what skills and talents you have that are transferable to them. If they have a choice between a “just the facts” resume and one that has all the facts plus a good, revealing description of the person behind the facts, they will choose the more revealing resume every time. Keep in mind that the hiring process is an expensive, time-consuming endeavor. They want to get it done as quickly as possible, but they want the right person. The more you can tell them about you in addition to the facts about your skills and where you went to school, the more likely you are to get the call to come in for an interview. If they feel that they know something about you, they see you as a less risky interview prospect than someone who gives them no information about their attributes and personality.

When I was in school many years ago, we used to get report cards every six weeks that displayed how we were doing in the academic subjects such as reading, writing, science, history, and arithmetic on the left side of the page. On the right side of the page we were evaluated on “social skills.” One of those social skills was “works and plays well with others.” That skill is just as important in today’s workplace as it was in school.

If you can show prospective employers on your resume that you not only have the skills and experience they need, but also will fit well within their culture, you are much more likely to get that interview that can lead to the job you want.