Recently, I received a call coming from a friend that is a financial planner. He likes to be described as a real mover and shaker in the local world of business, so I can be expecting a lunch invitation a few times every twelve months. (I’m low on the totem pole for the local business scene.) More often than not, the lunch will feature a couple people from related market sectors that my friend is hoping to cross network. I always go. In my business, I don’t commonly do a lot locally, nevertheless it’s free food.
This occasion, I arrive at a pleasant, sun-drenched seafood restaurant on the beach to discover my friend sitting with some guy in a suit who he then introduces as a resume writer. The guy in the suit quickly tries to rebrand himself as a career coach, although after a few questions, it turns out that the majority of his business is just selling people on the concept that they need a professionally developed resume.
Ostensibly, the concept would be that there may well be some working synergy between a recruiter and a resume writer. I can’t fault my buddy for that logic, seems reasonable. Since of course, both manage people during profession change. However, reality is that this couldn’t be more distant from reality.
The resume writer endorses the misconception that a resume gets an interview. Further more, they offer the thought that an extravagant (higher priced) resume does a much better job. As a headhunter, we detest that style of reasoning.
If we start working with a candidate, we work with a tactic of focus. The most marketable achievements of their work history as it pertains to the job being sought and isolated. These are typically specific cases with numbers. Whatever else is then minimized, and these success stories are moved to the front and advertised.
Amongst other things, this means that at our direction, the resumes will often be rewritten. Ornate language and terminology is cut. Padding and embellishment is taken off. The resume is turned into a straight forward chronological map which leads from one success to another. It is not difficult to follow confident that it will lead an interviewer into bringing up the best things the job seeker has to offer.
The moral of the story is that headhunters don’t believe in elaborate resumes. The resume should be basic and straightforward highlighting achievements that happen to be specific. Resumes are tools to be utilized at an interview, not to get an interview. Don’t subscribe to the myth of a $500 resume. It serves up no real advantage.
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