Please follow and like us:

Have you ever wondered why it takes several days to get around to revising your resume or why you spend hours agonizing over each bullet?   I do, too.   After many years of working in the recruitment field with countless candidates, I still ponder, perseverate, and, frankly, procrastinate when I get stumped. And, that happens quite often.  Why do resumes generate this level of angst and nervous energy?  What’s really going on?

Your resume represents your ultimate professional brand.  It summarizes what you have been and encapsulates what you hope to be.

This is deep stuff with very profound emotions attached.  Every time you visit your entry-level job on your resume, you relive the moments of triumph – like when you did your first Power Point presentation, and your boss publicly complimented you.  You also relive your moments of self-doubt, uncertainty and failure.  And, even though they are intensely personal, to compose a great resume requires stepping out of yourself to view yourself as others will see you. That takes work, and it usually requires more than one attempt.

In many ways, revising your resume is about revising your world view.  It is about taking sometimes not-so positive experiences, learning from them and presenting them to others in a palatable format.  It is also about taking clear successes and being gracious about giving others credit for successful outcomes.  When someone (like me) asks you to revise the language of your resume, what I am really asking you to do is to re-create a wonderful/problematic/unsettling experience.  The shift takes a lot of work.  The work is not just physical.  It is also mental and psychic.

This revision also takes courage and a generous spirit.  This may not come easily. Keep in mind that in the same way no one wants to hear a perpetual whiner, they also shun one who hogs the praise.  For instance, you remember the many, late nights you put into that banner project, the times you brought it up on the agenda when others chose to overlook it, and the last-minute run to catch FedEx so a key sponsor could receive a major document ahead of time.  You know you proof-read the final draft even when the entire computer system was down for servicing, and you manually input changes after your assistant left for the day.  A part of you screams, “This was mine and mine only!”  Yes, but was it really just about you? Your resume becomes a delicate balance between promoting your strengths, tenacity and vision and the ability to include others in the accolades.  None of this comes easily.

The good news is that if you accept that your resume is NOT just a resume, you will be more patient with yourself as you go through the joys and rigors of bringing it up to date.  Take the time to really grapple with all of the issues it brings up for you.  The truth is that these same issues will surface during the interview process and when you accept the role – if offered.  These are your issues.  This is your professional template.  It covers the good, the bad and the ugly.  A skilled resume reviewer can pick up much of the underlying content of a resume just by assessing the space you allocate to certain items, your word choices and your focus.

When you add to your resume the cover letter, know that those experienced at assessing talent are reading not just what is stated but what is unstated.    They will move quickly beyond the concrete bullets to assess your psychological health, leadership perspective and areas of strength.  They will also perceive areas of ambivalence and even weakness.  They know how telling your resume is.

So, when tempted to gloss over issues that seem difficult, time-consuming or even petty, pause. Take a deep breath.  Really focus on what is going on behind the resume, and deal with it.  By dealing with “it” — whatever “it” may be — you are setting yourself up to succeed. You have much to offer as demonstrated by the successes you have shared with others.   You can and will transcend the difficulties of the past whatever they may have been.  You have what it takes.  Just walk carefully, sometimes slowly, through the challenging process of confronting it all frontally via your resume.

Contact Karen Alphonse at Karena@execSearches.com or visit ExecSearches.com for more information about our career coaching services.

ExecSearches.com is a job board for nonprofit job seekers interested in fundraising, management and executive nonprofit jobs.

(image source)

#

Last updated on September 19th, 2012 at 11:08 am

Please follow and like us: