Resume Wisdom

Resumes are an odd beast. That standard first look a company gets at someone seeking employment seems to attract many a person giving advice.

But it doesn't make sense to me.

For example, let's go through a few standard pieces of advice. Spell everything correctly. Keep the resume to one page. Don't be too fancy with the presentation. Sometimes you get a piece of advice out of the mainstream, such as, don't put an objective, as most people put it incorrectly and it doesn't help.

People use heuristics to determine the worth of a resume such as spelling, etc., rather than based on anything actually meaningful. Why? Because resumes often don't distinguish themselves readily. This is especially true for students right out of college. Recent grads take the same courses, do the same projects. It's hard to stand out.

Indeed, the biggest problem is giving a resume its just due when you have hundreds of them. You begin to get rid of resumes on superficial things because you simply lack the time. Does this even make sense? Yet, look at how smug resume advice givers are. "If you can't be bothered to spell correctly, I can't be bothered to read your resume". The appropriate response is "If you can't be bothered to read beyond misspellings, then you deserve the quality of employees you get".

The fact of the matter is resumes don't do a good enough job of making someone stand out. What HR folks would like to do is find someway to determine how good you are. If they could make you take an exam, maybe they would!

Yet, everyone expects the standard resume and cover letter. In the software industry, a good essay based on questions provided by the employer might give a better sense of the person's ability. Of course, outside the constraints of a proctored setting, you would be able to receive assistance from anyone. But maybe that's not so bad, if it can get you past the general blandness of most resumes.

All I'm saying is there has to be a better way.