Here I am, once again beating my drum about the “storytelling resume” that I am convinced must someday emerge — and that I believe many signs point to.
I’ve written here about a number of concepts, mostly suggested by recruiters, that signal a desire for the resume to evolve into a new form.
The latest comes from Duane Roberts on RecruitingBlogs.com. Roberts foresees the dawn of the “job-wanted description.”
Now, this is not entirely a new idea. Newspapers have long carried a “Positions Wanted” section in their classified sections. Today, people advertise their cleaning, babysitting, and handyperson services in such ads.
Roberts, who doesn’t suggest that the job-wanted description replace the resume but rather supplement it, provides this description:
Anyone who reads your job wanted description should know immediately what your perfect job looks like. When they read this they should know what you do (and have done) well and how you will succeed in this job. There should be no ambiguity. In this case, you are going to be very specific about your expertise.
He suggests that the job-wanted description would include:
- ideal job title — a role that you’ve done and done well.
- a good summary of what you would like to do.
- background information as to why you are in the market and looking.
- A job-responsibilities section in which you get into specific details.
Roberts didn’t say what this description would look like. Although several comments had been posted, they seem to have disappeared. One comment asked how the job-wanted description would differ from a resume objective statement. I asked what the job-wanted description would look like.
A job-wanted description is counter to commonly dispensed job-search advice not to be self-serving — in other words, don’t tell what the employer (or position) can do for you, tell what you can do for the employer. But perhaps it’s part of the new perspective that social media has brought to recruiting and the job search.
In storytelling terms, a job-wanted description could be a “future story” that would enable an employer to picture you performing in exactly the kind of job in which you would most excel.
So let’s review some of the other story-related suggestions for resume replacements or components thereof that recruiters have hinted at and I’ve reported on:
- Personalization through talent communities
- Social-media resumes
- The VisualCV brand of resume
- Blogs
- Profiles, whether profiles on already existing social-media venues such as LinkedIn or Facebook, or specialized profiles on job and career sites.
Perhaps the elusive Storytelling Resume will incorporate elements from some or all of these concepts.
And one more sign on the horizon, a new site called BriteTab, which will have a beta release this month, claims to be “changing the face of resumes.” Its tagline is “Resumes with Personality.” Virtually no information is available on its Web site, but you can sign up to be informed of the beta release. I don’t know if this concept is related to storytelling, but it will be interesting to find out.