Today one must be nimble enough to turn on a dime
➔ If you’re in the middle of a job search no doubt you’ve re-worked your resume, you’ve tweaked your resume, and you may even thrown whole darned thing out and started over completely from scratch. We’re also certain that you’ve heard people compare your resume and your LinkedIn profile as if they’re one and the same.
In this topsy-turvy, everything-has-changed job search environment that we find ourselves, you probably didn’t even notice one interesting thing about the previous paragraph. If you want to go back and read it again, that’s OK. We’ll wait.
Let’s get down to it
The interesting item to which we’ve alluded is this: we used the word “resume” in the singular. But is that the case anymore? The first paragraph also compares your resume to your LinkedIn profile. There is some validity to that. A LinkedIn profile can be a form of a resume – especially when one considers that your profile may be one of the first (if not the first) exposure that an employer may have of you.
But when considering the more conventional resume, why limit yourself to just one?
One recruiter we know recommends having two versions of your resume. One he calls “your six-second resume” which is short enough that a recruiter or interviewer can scan it in six seconds and have a general idea of who you are and what you’ve done. The second he calls “your interview resume” which may be two or even three pages which details your background, your experience, your successes, your talents and more.
Then again, all your resumes – regardless of intent – must be ready to be tweaked at a moment’s notice to conform to a specific job opening. That tweaking will help you really stand out for a particular job.
Different situations call for different resumes. No longer can one resume fit all.
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