By Thomas J. Noyes, CCM, CCE
I want to share a unique perspective from someone who has written and updated my own resume plenty of times…and who now “reads” them for a living. Really, “reads” could more accurately be replaced with “glances.” Yep—you read that right. Not what you were hoping to hear? When I first heard that someone decides your fate in under thirty seconds based on your resume, I was skeptical. Surely they read every carefully chosen word, right? Turns out… not so much. At least not on the first pass. Today, it might be as fast as 10 seconds. Here, rub some dirt on that.
So that you don’t stop reading this, let’s get to it. I want to review what I am looking for in a resume and what makes my eyes cloud over.
Keep in mind that these are all relative to each other. What I mean is, don’t tell me you were the Director of Operations at Best in the Land CC for six months and in that time, you increased revenue year over year by 157 percent while you oversaw the construction of the new clubhouse. Those things don’t jive.
Don’t get me wrong. While your “what you dids” are very important, I don’t really want to know what you did on a day-to-day basis. In fact, too much of that and I am turning the page. Most people who are reading your resume have a working knowledge of your position’s tasks. I once saw a resume where an F&B manager highlighted responsibilities like locking and unlocking doors, writing the service staff schedule, ordering bar supplies and handling member complaints. If you’re wondering what not to include, start there.
Unless your where or who are outside of the field in which you are applying, you can probably leave the obvious details out of your resume.
For your what you dids, I actually want to know what you accomplished, not what you physically did on a daily basis. As an added benefit, it is very helpful if you quantify what you did and use percentages or relevance. People don’t know many specifics about your operation. You say you raised member satisfaction and member engagement? Great. Prove it. Give me a metric. I don’t know if increasing something by 10, 100 or 1000 is impressive or completely underwhelming. Try using percentages.
The other thing about dids is this—just because you were there when it happened, doesn’t mean you did it. Be truthful and realistic about this. That manager who was there for six months? Maybe the renovation started, maybe it was in progress, maybe it ended…but if you were not there for concept development, funding mechanism, member vote, final drawings, color selection, construction, temporary facilities, installation of FF&E and opening, you really didn’t oversee the renovation of the clubhouse. People reading resumes know this.
In terms of listing your previous jobs, you want to reduce the amount of information included about each job as you go backwards in chronological order. That helps you to avoid saying you put the forks on the left and the knives on the right when you were a bus person (no dig to my first real job). The jobs on your list that go back three jobs, or more than 15 years, you are safe to just say the where, who and how long. Don’t waste words or space.
The old saying that it should be kept to one page doesn’t apply anymore, in my opinion.
Most of this stuff is flying around in the ether, so what does it matter if it is one page or a few? That said, there is such a thing as too much. As an example of what not to do, I once received an eight-page resume. That’s not thorough—that’s TMI.
And what about attachments, you wonder. Wait until you are asked. If you say you are an Eagle Scout, I believe you—don’t send me a copy of the certificate. I don’t need your food service manager or your pesticide license card. If we want it later, we will ask for it.
Do I like a little personal detail? Yes—but not how many dogs you have or how long you’ve been dating your girlfriend or boyfriend. Volunteering at the humane society or children’s museum, running the Boston Marathon—that matters. Club involvement, fraternities or sororities and professional associations? Also yes, in small measure. Just don’t let it take over. Bullet points are your friend.
It boils down to relevance. Focus on what matters.
Not too much, not too little. Give a bit of color about yourself but just like Goldilocks, you want it just right.
Your resume isn’t meant to tell your life story. Your cover letter gets me to read your resume because you (hopefully) told me how you can help my company. Your resume helps interest the interviewer or search consultant into talking to you. Your first conversation gets you to the next interview.
Last, but absolutely not least, BE CAREFUL with the artificial intelligence. It is great stuff but do NOT ask ChatGPT to tell your whole story. It will be lifeless and without dimension. Use the tool to your advantage but do not turn the entire task over to an algorithm.
If you got to the end—thank you for your time. I hope it was worth it. If you need a set of eyeballs to glance at read your resume, please let me know.
