What NOT... Part 2 Relevance

At the nail biting conclusion of What NOT... Part 1, I teased the essential components that define a great resume.  And without further ado they are:  relevance, depth & breadth, and continuity.  In this and subsequent posts, I'll elaborate on their individual importance, as well as dependence on one another to create a winning resume.

RELEVANCE
Most hiring managers spend no more than 6-10 seconds reviewing a resume.  If a job seeker doesn't immediately demonstrate how their skills and accomplishments are relevant to a position's requirements, they've not only lost a manager's attention, but their opportunity.  Like pegged pants in the early 90s, the one-size-fits-all resume approach is OVER.  In order to remain competitive in the application process, for every job posting a customized resume should be sent.

Safety Pins Optional.

 The best way to accomplish this isn't by rewriting a resume for every job, but simply to get rid of the outdated top of resume "Career Objective" and replace it with a versatile and adaptable "Professional Summary."  The professional summary should outline experience as its applicable to the requirements of a specific role.  This should be done in either a paragraph or bullet points.  Below is an example comparison of a project manager applicant's passe objective transformed into an interesting and relevant professional summary:

Old Career Objective:  Looking for a medical device project manager consulting opportunity in a highly matrixed global corporation.

New Professional Summary:  Jane is a versatile communications professional with broad experience in planning, managing, and executing global projects.  She is skilled in interpreting and organizing complex information in a highly regulated and compliance driven environment.  Jane's recent focus is project management consulting for highly matrixed medical and technical companies including:  Name of companies.

To this day, resistant professional still give me the are you sure you know what you're talking about look when I tell them ixnay ethan obectiveyay.  "How do I put this lightly?" I say.  "Manager's aren't interested in anyone's objective but their own - to find the most qualified candidate for their role.

Seriously, if I had ONE superpower (aside from the superpower to create more superpowers), it would be the ability to intensely stare someone into understanding the importance of replacing their outdated (think tube television) career objective with a professional summary.

Be the ACTION HERO in your own resume!

Big Analogy Moment:  Think of the professional summary as a movie trailer.  The purpose of a trailer is to pique someone's interest by highlighting that movie's best moments and invoke a, "Man, I've gotta see that!" response from its viewers.  In the same vein, a professional summary should capture a hiring manager's interest so they think, "Wow, this candidate sounds great!  I need to read the rest of their resume!"

One final comment on relevance, actually consider it more a professional plea:  PLEASE do not apply for jobs that truly are not a professional skills and abilities match.  There is no bigger waste of everyone's time then when a job seeker applies for a position they clearly are unqualified for.  I promise that nothing will make a hiring manager spit fire faster.  This means that an awesome dog walker shouldn't apply for a four star restaurant sous chef job, nor a world renown neuroscientist a children's party planner position.

Now mere mortals...  Go forth and create professional summaries that land dream jobs!  My RANT here is done!