I’ve seen it plenty of times on resumes. People write all about what they have done, the roles they had and even the things they accomplished. Well, it’s a resume right? You should tell everyone what you did in the past. How else would you do it?
Well, that may or may not do the trick, and it depends on what kind of work you are looking for compared to what you have already done. But keep this in mind: employers will look at what you’ve done and make the mental calculation, either consciously or unconsciously, about how that can translate into what they need for the future. Ultimately, they want to know what you can do for them, not what you did for someone else. Sure, it might be that what you did in the past lines up exactly with what an employer needs but it normally doesn’t match perfectly. That’s why you need to show that your past experience is directly transferable to the specific job you are applying for.
People who read resumes for a living are normally pretty busy people. Whether it’s a recruiter, hiring manager, HR director or even an intern or temp, they all have other things they would rather do. I’m sure you’ve heard before that people only spend a few seconds looking at a resume, and from there they are making a snap judgment on your future. Even worse, maybe your job app is being run through an electronic Applicant Tracking System (ATS), which uses keywords to see if you are a good fit. Is it fair? Nah, but it’s how it goes when most positions get well over one hundred applications.
So, how do you stand out in this mass of applications and resumes? You do that by carefully tailoring your resume to match what the job is looking for. That’s what I mean by letting go of the past. Of course you shouldn’t just junk what you did before but you should revisit the old job titles, responsibilities and accomplishments and see how they fit the future, not how they served you in the past. I call it “branding yourself forward”.
Say you’ve worked most of your career as a civil engineer and you want to get into a project management position. You can list all of your accomplishments as an engineer but if you’ve been in that career for a while you’ve probably been in charge of a few projects or maybe were a lead engineer. If that’s the case, then make sure you mention your management experience in as many places as possible, and list examples of that experience as well. If you don’t, the person who is reading your resume/application/social media profile will have to infer your potential as a manager, and that might not go well. Focus your tasks, accomplishments and even job title (if you can) on the job of interest so the hiring manager doesn’t have to think twice about your potential. Do the thinking for them so they can “feel” that you are right for the job.
People often hire from the emotional part of their brain but you have to show that you check all the boxes that they are looking for. We’ve all done a variety of tasks over the years. Take a hard look at what you’ve done and pull out the pieces that best fit into the puzzle of the new job. This is especially true for career changers. Take stock of what you have done in terms of not just duties but accomplishments and you’ll find that you have what it takes to convince someone that you are right for the job!
