Posted on March 18, 2008
Why Resumes Aren't Always Relevant
BY JENNIFER EUBANKS
Yesterday Seth Godin wrote a post about how resumes no longer seem relevant. Speaking from experience, I think he makes a good point.
For most of us, updating resumes is not something we do unless we're actively looking for a new job. At that point it always seems to be a struggle to remember how long you worked at a company, and to try to come up with fancy ways to make regular tasks seem exciting. Once completed and sent to a prospective company, your resume is just one in a sea of keyword-filled pieces of paper.
Seth goes on to say that "A resume is an excuse to reject you. Once you send me your resume, I can say, "oh, they're missing this or they're missing that," and boom, you're out." Like it or not, this is probably true--once you start listing your qualifications, if a skill is not on there, it is assumed that you do not possess it.
This is exactly a problem I had when I wanted to get into web work. My hobby was finding ways to write table-less, CSS-only code and configure blogs. This wasn't something I learned in school, and it most certainly wasn't anything I was doing for my day job. I wanted to be able to take my love of the internet and of blogs and somehow turn that into a viable occupation. I applied for jobs that I knew I was qualified for, but got little response because my resume's work history simply did not and could not show that I possessed the desired skillset, and putting "blogging" under hobbies hardly makes it sound like you are anything more than a dabbler.
As a way to rectify this problem I enrolled in a certificate program--even though I had already taught myself most of the things listed in the curriculum. I figured that a certificate was something concrete to put on a resume, and that it could provide good networking opportunities, as the classes were taught by local professionals in the field.
While the certificate MIGHT be useful, I didn't get my current job because of my resume--I got it because of networking and a demonstration of my skills. When this wonderful company I have the pleasure of working for needed someone with my skills, my name was passed along as someone who could provide exactly what was required. I was not hired because of what was listed on my resume--I was hired because I was known to have the desired skills and because I demonstrated my knowledge.
I consider this to be a great job, and as Seth concludes, "Great jobs, world class jobs, jobs people kill for... those jobs don't get filled by people emailing in resumes. Ever."
I couldn't agree more.
