Comments on: The resume debate: Nailing the coffin shut

By: Your Resume is About the Future, Not the Past « The Search Firm Insider

Your Resume is About the Future, Not the Past « The Search Firm Insider — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:52:23 +0000

[...] Does your resume need some sprucing up? Well not to worry, because Rob Sullivan has some advice for how to make your resume shine. He suggests that the traditional idea of making your resume into “a chronological summary of [...]

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:01:24 +0000

Sarah, you’re clearly no dope.

And for the record, that could be the first time I’ve ever been associated with a “ruling class…” and also for the record, I hope it’s the last!

I do understand the real world… and I have even been known to use a bullet point or two. There is a gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be. I accept that, and ultimately I encourage people to live in the real world… and never stop reaching for a better one.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:16:05 +0000

MOST average people think 2 pages and bullets are fine.
MOST hiring managers are average people.
The expert might well be right… but the ruling class is small, and us dopes down here have better odds!

By: Hellen CLARK

Hellen CLARK — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:00:09 +0000

Hey, I justed wanted to give you a compliment on your blog, keep up the great work. I will be back to check it out in the near future.

By: Tony Penny

Tony Penny — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:55:41 +0000

I read resumes, and help people BUILD resumes, everyday. I couldn’t disagree more with the assertion that bullets don’t work. HR professionals and hiring managers don’t have the time to wade through paragraphs of text looking for “the meat” of a resume. I tell my clients that most people spend less than 2 minutes looking at a resume, usually less than one. So it must first be visually appealing if you want me to go further. THEN, it must tell me what I want to know about whether or not you can do the job. However, I wholeheartedly agree with the idea that a resume, bullets or not, should not be a rehash of a job description, but a summary of accomplishments above and beyond what you were hired to do.

Just my 2 cents.

By: Laura Neidert

Laura Neidert — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:03:40 +0000

I appreciate your definition of what a resume should be, but I think bullet points can be phrased to answer that question of “so what?” At least I know I’m not giving my students bad advice!

By: Karen Demerly

Karen Demerly — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:33:55 +0000

I’ve had a recruiter at a university, and also a former resume writer look at my resume (which contains bullets), and say they REALLY liked it, especially the bullet points. The recruiter at the university I want to get hired at, said the bullets made my resume clean and easy to read. I think you obviously have to make the ideas/message on each bullet worthwhile, but it’s not the bullets, nor the list, that’s necessarily evil, imo. I’ve gotten worthwhile interviews with my bulleted resume, so I’m guessing it’s not a deal breaker. And I’ve seen some serious bullshit numbers/claims on a resume that seemed way more suspect than my “action words” bulleted list of experience. I’ve also seen what a mess a page full of text looks like – it’s not always easy reading, and when 500 resumes come in for 1 position, I’m pretty sure they don’t want to have to hunt for the meat on your resume. (shrug)

I agree that a laundry list of action items that you wrote 5 years ago isn’t worthwhile. But I disagree that it’s the bullets, or the list itself that turns hiring managers off.

.02
Karen