Master Resume Writer/Career Strategist Jacqui D. Barrett notes that job-seekers who do not begin telling their stories in their resumes may not get the opportunity to do so in an interview because the employer will feel no enticement from the resume.
From Barrett’s article entitled “Career Branding – What Does This Mean to Me?: The Branded Resume as an Essential Tool,” published in the E-Bridge newsletter of The Career Management Alliance:
Most resumes possess the essential elements as touted by resume-builder tipsters to construct an intro (Summary/Profile), middle (Experience), and end (Education/Development), and some include the appropriate measurements (%, $, #), but in a majority of cases, these resumes do not compel the (right) reader to call. The reader initially is interested and hopeful to digest the rest of the story, but s/he often drifts off the page, uninspired or unclear as to how this person’s message resonates with his/her specific needs.
Avoiding Me-too Resumes/Creating the Emotional Hook
In other words, one resume mimics the content, results, and “buzz” language of the next resume and the next resume . . . and next resume . . . and so on. An objection I often hear from individuals whose resumes I review, when I urge them to try my resume writing ideas, is that they don’t want to say “too much” on their resume – that they want to wait to ‘save this information to tell’ during the interview.
Unfortunately, when they do not create a hook or emotional appeal with their resume, they will not secure the opportunity to tell more of their story later. I am confident, through observing my clients’ profound results with the resumes we develop, that they can successfully build muscular content into the resume and still leave more of their story for the telling at the interview. (Trust me: most people’s stories could fill a 300-page book, so a 2-3 page resume will not threaten to exhaust their career archives.)