What's Next in Resumes?

Food for thought...

Liz Harvey, Consumer Products Director for CareerBulider.com spoke at the Career Masters Institute national conference last week. Consider carefully something Liz mentioned in her presentation--she is so busy that she reads resumes on her Blackberry. Can your resume's message stand out in a few inches of space? If not, you'd better think about how to make that happen, because I'm guessing Liz isn't the only busy exec reading resumes on hand-helds.

Posted by Deb Dib

Comments

[Rowan Manahan]

Gad! What's next? "I'll only read your CV if it's carved on limestone tablets in Sanskrit. On a Tuesday. On a month that has no 'Y' in it. In a Leap Year."

What this says to me is that in the cold, hard, cruel world of jobseeking, it is ever more imperative that you get yourself away from the pile of 100 CVs that the time-starved executive is dreading reading and into a completely different mode.

If you are managing your career effectively, you are much more likely to encounter the magic phrase, "Sounds interesting. Get your CV in to me today." Because most people simply job-hunt, rather than career-manage; they never see the benefit of a concerted, expanding circles, networked approach to finding employment. It's way harder than the typical scattergun approach to job-hunting and it will only work as part of an ongoing networking and relationship-building effort; but it is WAAAAAY more effective.

Sure, you should have a version of your CV that is legible on a Blackberry; plus the Sanskrit version on the limestone tablets just in case. But my overall feeling is, let the other schleppers compete this way. Focus your efforts on competing on YOUR terms. (With apologies to my mother) You simply have to talk to strangers ...

[Deb Dib]

Rowan, thanks for your comment. I absolutely agree with your assessment of what's effective in job search a.k.a. career management (for those savvy enough to know that's what they need to do!). What I took away from Liz's comments about her BlackBerry rez reading is not really about resumes -- it is that a clear and distinctive value proposition and brand are now even more important to job seekers and career managers. I always tell my clients that before they network or create any career docs they absolutely must do the deep internal digging needed to create a compelling statement of value that -- even if it is the ONLY content on their resume -- can get them an interview. That branded value prop is the foundation for every career management activity. If it tops a resume that is read on a BlackBerry, then it makes the resume that much more effective. If it is used in a networking situation that results in a meeting and request for a resume, even better. My point is that the "BlackBerry resume" graphically supports the need for a brief, compelling message of value that is assimilated in seconds and acted upon almost as quickly.