Resume Without Work Experience: 6+ Sections to Demonstrate Impact
Whether you’re entering the workforce for the very first time or you have a large gap in your work history, coming up with content to add to your resume might feel like you’re grasping at straws. The good news is that there are a number of other elements of your resume that you can focus on to impress the job recruiters and land a job interview! Even a resume without work experience can get you through the door. You just need to do it the right way! In this article, you will learn: How to create a world-class education section of your resume 6 Sections to Replace Work Experience Real examples of candidates who already get their dream job Let’s get started! Emphasize your education Featuring your education is essential, especially if you are creating a resume without work experience. Why? It serves as proof of competence, increases job relevance, and can significantly enhance your chances of getting the job. There are 3 main points you would like to cover in your education section: Coursework Activities and projects GPA (if relevant) Adding relevant coursework is valuable since its purpose is to emphasize your knowledge pertinent to the desired job. Don’t simply list the relevant coursework you’ve done. Instead, explain each one in detail. By that, hiring managers will understand what you are capable of. Continue with adding activities and projects that are relevant to your education and the job you are applying for. Last but not least, include your GPA in the resume but only if it is 3.5 or higher. The proper education section should look like: 6 Sections to Replace Work Experience [With Examples] A well-written education section can compensate for the lack of work experience. It can be your main weapon to help you start your career journey. But what should you do if you feel that your education does not pack enough punch? Don’t worry! There are more sections to make your resume stand out! Internships Similar to the coursework section, a relevant internship can set you apart from the majority of job applicants. The goal here is to emphasize on duties and achievements accomplished during your internship. Check the example below: Check Full Resume Which one is more appealing? The right one, of course! Always provide the recruiters with as much valuable information as possible. They need to understand your strengths and skills and start believing you are the right person for the vacant position. Extracurricular activities Many students choose to make room in their schedules for extracurricular activities. Most schools offer a variety of clubs, sports, and organizations that students can participate in. Adding those activities to your resume can help you promote yourself as a competent and well-rounded individual. But how to do it right? Student government associations are some of the most beneficial organizations to join while in school. Typically, students who are involved in the SGA can be considered mature, reliable, capable, and skilled communicators. Including your experience as a member will show that you are a team player, interested in pursuing leadership roles, and a person who can handle a significant amount of responsibility. Don’t forget to highlight not only your participation in a club, sport, or organization but also your responsibilities and experience achieved. That will take your resume to the next level! Volunteering experience According to Deloitte, 82% of hiring managers prefer applicants with volunteer experience. Why? They believe unpaid work builds leadership and communication skills, shaping a strong character. But when does it make sense to add a volunteer section to your resume? In the best-case scenario, you should include your volunteer work when it is relevant to your professional development. It can provide valuable context for the employers and set you apart from other applicants. How to create a volunteer section that stands out? List all the soft and hard skills you believe you have in one place. Check which skills the employer requires for the volunteer position you want and write them down. See which skills correlate, and those are the ones your volunteer resume needs to feature. Check the great example from Avery Leclerq: What to do if my volunteering experience is unrelated to the industry? Just add a brief volunteer work section at the bottom of your summary and don’t emphasize it. Projects Another way to enrich your resume without work experience is by adding activities and projects that correlate with the position you are applying for. For example, if you are a marketer, you can add side projects like: Study on Consumer Buying Behavior and Satisfaction Level Load Testing of Loan Search Gap Analysis of Services offered in Retail Banking Recruiters will see that you’re a person who is dedicated to your career and like to do side projects that help you develop as an expert! Check 530+ great examples of resumes now! Hobbies and interests Before diving into it, let’s explain the definition of hobbies and interests. Hobbies are passions in the form of regular activities that you enjoy doing, while interests are something you’re curious about, want to learn more about. Interests are what lead to hobbies. When should you include your hobbies and interests on your resume? If you want to show relevant and transferable skills to your future job, as well as highlight your personality and unique qualities. See this example from the Substitute Teacher Resume: As it’s clear, the candidate is an outgoing, extroverted person who enjoys tech and education. Rather than having a description of it, we can come to the same conclusion just by seeing the pie chart and the distribution of time. Using design elements is a creative way to showcase your hobbies and interests! Passions Passions can be used to enhance the effect of the hobbies and interests section. Adding them is not mandatory, but might be valuable when: Your life passions are relevant to the job. Your life passions have prepared you for the skills needed in your new position. You have completed a passion project that would be of interest to the recruiters and would showcase your skills and strengths. Here’s a useful hint: Whatever you choose to include, always make sure you present it in a way that sounds and looks professional. Perhaps it makes more sense to include it in an individual section. Let’s get back to the Substitute Teacher example, but with the Passions section included. Looks even better, right? Now the hiring managers have a complete picture of what type of person you are in your work and free time. That will significantly improve your chances of landing an interview, especially if you have a resume without job experience. Stand out with your skills But what if: You lack volunteering experience Have not participated in any clubs or organizations Your hobbies and interest are slightly different from your dream job Don’t worry! You still have a hidden trump card to make your resume stand out. Include a skill section! The skills section of your resume can serve as proof of your competence and abilities to succeed in the new role. Usually, recruiters are paying close attention to the skills section of your resume to determine if you should move on to the next step of the hiring process or not. Note that there are two types of skills to present – soft and hard. Soft skills are personal traits and habits that shape how you work on your own and with others. For example: Integrity Dependability Open-mindedness Empathy Organization Teamwork And many more… On the other side, hard skills are specific to the job you are applying for and represent any technical knowledge and pieces of training that you have gained through your life experience. As a job seeker, it’s valuable for you to highlight your soft and hard skills to present yourself as a well-rounded candidate. Back up skills with certifications Possessing soft and hard skills that correspond to your desired job is great, but having evidence to back up those skills is even greater. Always include certifications of any courses and training that you have held in the past to reassure the hiring managers in your credibility. Languages Language skills are another awesome way to add content to your summary. They show your ability to learn quickly and apply knowledge to real-world situations. When to include language skills to your resume? If speaking a foreign language is valuable for the company If you have little experience If the open position is competitive If you’re applying for a job in a different country If you have to demonstrate quick-learning skills Our resume builder allows you to highlight every language that you are speaking along with your level of proficiency. Example of resume language section built with Enhancv Learn more about the specifics of the language section in our detailed guide! Resume with no-work experience in the field If you are at the point of your life where you want to change the course of your career, your resume will probably lack relevant work experience in the new field. Some of the greatest anxieties surrounding career change center on the process. You are probably asking yourself questions like: How to land a job interview? What does my resume need to look like? What skills do I need? You can use the information learned so far in this article. Moreover, check our real career-change examples here! Career change resume examples & tips What if you do have a lot of work experience, but it’s not 100% related to the job you’re applying for as you’re switching careers? What every career change resume needs to include is a strong list of professionally presented experience. How to create a World-class Career Change resume? Start by identifying your soft and hard transferable skills. Review your current resume and highlight all of them as well as your work experience, and achievements that are also relevant to your new target role. Then, use a hybrid resume format to point out your skills first followed by relevant work experience. Recruiters need to see who you are to determine if you fit the company and corporate culture. Don’t be afraid to show yourself by describing your passions, hobbies, interests, and time destitution. Take advantage of your relevant education and certifications and include them in your summary. Find the full list of tips on how to build a Career Change resume from the dust in our detailed guide! A resume without work experience We gave you all the information and knowledge needed to create a complete, valuable, eye-catching resume without having work experience. But what better way to show you that everything we’ve shared works than another real example of it. Meet David from Sofia! He studies at Sofia High School of Mathematics and recently graduated from Telerik Academy (one of the leading educational institutes for software engineers in Bulgaria). David learned about Enhancv from the “Career Jumpstart” course at Telerik, where our resume was used as an example. He created a summary on his own. And guess what. Despite still being a student, David received plenty of work offers and can proudly boast about his first job! It’s so simple! See his message to other job seekers around the world and learn from his experience. Conclusion OK, now let’s summarize: Featuring your education is essential, especially if you lack job experience. Always include Coursework, Activities and projects, and GPA (if relevant) to your resume. There are a variety of resume sections where you can stand out from your competitors – Internship, Extracurricular activities, Volunteering Experience, Projects, Hobbies and Interests, Passions, and Skills Including a Skills section is valuable, especially if you back it up with Certifications and Achievements. Creating a Career Change resume doesn’t have to be overwhelming. You can benefit from our professional tips and real examples. *** What did you think of this article? Is there anything you would like to add? Share your thoughts in the comments!
How to present your informal education to employers
Job hunting is a tricky business. In many cases, you are judged as an applicant from one or two pieces of A4 (i.e. your resume and cover letter). Talk about high stakes! This trickiness is compounded when you have informal experiences and informal education that could give you a leg up, but don’t necessarily fit into a typical resume or cover letter template. Knowing how to present your unconventionally-acquired skills and experiences can make all the difference when job hunting. Most companies want employees who are passionate and take initiative, traits that are exemplified by those who do things like spend their weekends organizing events for charity, take online courses, or attend industry conferences. This is particularly handy for those who have recently graduated, are changing careers, or are returning to the workforce. In the first two cases above, it can showcase the informal steps you have taken to ready yourself for the workplace or a different career path. For the later, it highlights that you have kept your skills sharp and will not miss a beat upon returning. Here are some guidelines to make your informal education and experiences shine. Include it on your resume When listing online courses, ensure that the ones you list are taught by a well-known instructor or institution. Include any tangible qualifications, certificates, or metrics (for example, your final exam score or time spent learning) where possible. If this is a tailored resume for a specific position, ensure your courses are relevant for that exact job. Below you can see two ways a program manager and data scientist showed their non-university courses. You can also mention instances where you’ve applied the skills and knowledge learned in a course. Perhaps you do freelance number crunching after completing a course in Excel or have competed in Kaggle competitions after completing a course in Python. A short sentence or a quick metric can lend weight to your skillset. Kevin demonstrated this by applying his finance education towards paying off his student loans. Volunteer or charity work can be added to the ‘experience’ section of your resume if it’s relevant to the job you’re applying for. Ensure that you flesh out the transferable skills you learned, include any metrics, and perhaps get a recommendation letter too. If the volunteer or charity work you undertook does not relate to the job you’re applying for, you can include your experience in a separate ‘volunteer’ section on your resume. Steffany demonstrates a variety of skills and passions in her volunteering: If you have attended industry-related conferences you can also include that in a separate section on your resume entitled ‘Conferences Attended’. Connect the dots on your cover letter Your cover letter is like a conversation you want to have with the hiring manager. Use this opportunity to highlight the skills you gained through your informal education or experience, as long as they are relevant to the job description. For example, Simon is a fresh grad applying for a job in programming but he doesn’t have any formal work experience he can share just yet. In his cover letter, he can write about his experience participating at hackathons and the chrome add-in he programmed. Leveraging your cover letter is particularly important if the connection between your informal education or experience and the job you’re applying for isn’t immediately apparent. For example, Paula wants to apply to a role in marketing and she is a formally trained graphic designer who has spent the last two years creating commissioned work on her online store. In the past two years, she has taught herself how to SEO optimize her listing, reach out to influencers, and use online analytics tools. Sharing this in her cover letter will show that she is not only a qualified candidate, but she is one who takes initiative. Tailor your LinkedIn profile According to MarketWatch, 93% of recruiters scour LinkedIn for potential recruits. Which is why it’s vital to optimize your profile page to showcase both your formal and informal education and experiences. There are four sections on your LinkedIn profile you can utilize to do that – the summary, accomplishments, and volunteer experience. The summary is where your personal brand should shine. There are many ways you can go about this, but for the most part, it should convey what you’re passionate about and any experience you have relating to that passion. The accomplishment and volunteer experience section is fairly straightforward. The accomplishment portion breaks down into multiple sections, including certifications, courses, projects, test scores, and languages. You can also leverage LinkedIn to post announcements that highlight your projects and achievements. Show rather than tell For most, seeing is believing. If you completed an online web development course, use your newfound skills to build a website. If you illustrate in your free time, compile your work into a portfolio – either offline or online. Having your accomplishments at the ready is not only motivating but allows you to easily share your skills and knowledge with hiring managers easily. Some candidates have received job offers by going the extra mile to showcase their skills. Should you decide to do something like this, ensure it stays relevant to the job and in line with your personal brand. This article was brought to you by Krystal Tolani: Krystal does all things Marketing at GoSkills. She’s a recent Boston University graduate with a B.A. in international relations and a minor in communications. When she’s not at work, you can find her listening to podcasts or watching comedy specials on Netflix.
Follow-up emails that will get you hired
When I first started working, I was never a big fan of sending follow-up emails. Instead, I used to spend hours polishing my resume and practicing for the interview. I never really knew how to write a follow-up email; so I just didn’t do it. What I didn’t realise was, I was letting opportunities pass me by by not closing the deal. After years of struggling with what content I should include and how long I should wait before sending the email, I’ve got it figured out. Below, I’ll share what I’ve learned along with examples to illustrate the points. Why are follow-up emails important? A follow-up email is your way of showing that you care about what you and the person in question had previously spoken about and proves you weren’t just making small talk. A good example is when people contact us because they’d like to write for our blog. 90% of them don’t send a follow-up email – they never do it. This makes me question whether they really want to work with us, or they’re just trying their luck. The ones that keep “bothering” us with follow-up emails get our attention. A follow-up email is the difference between someone throwing resumes at the wall to see what sticks and the person who is genuinely interested in working with you. When do I send a follow-up email?The amount of time that should pass before sending the email depends on why you’re sending it. For example, after an interview, a job fair or a networking event, it’s good to send it within 24 hours. This way, you’ll be able to remind the person about who you are or what you talked about. When sending your resume to the CEO of your dream company, you could give it at least 48 hours. As they are one of the busiest in the company, it might take them longer to read your initial message.What to write in a follow-up email?Again, it depends on the context of your situation. You’d write a slightly different one after an interview or a networking event. Let’s look at these 4 different scenarios.1. Job interviewsI know, the only thing you want to do after an exhausting interview is to drink a bottle of wine. Get rid of that annoying voice in your head reminding you of what you could have said better.Before you do that, though, sit down for just 15 more minutes and write up a good follow-up email. Don’t let them forget about you. Reiterate your interest in the job position and the company. To remind the recruiter why you are the ONE for the job, highlight your skills and experience that are relevant to the job you applied for. Use the same keywords they did in the job spec. After an interview, there’s always something you forgot to mention. The follow-up email is your way of adding something important you wanted to mention but forgot because you don’t deal well with stress.Example:Hi [Name],Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk to me about the [Position] with [Company].After speaking with you, I believe that I would be a perfect candidate for this position. I’d offer the [Your top skill] and [Another top skill] that you need for such a diversified position.In addition to my enthusiasm for performing well, I would bring the [Your experience in the required field] necessary to get the job done.I look forward to hearing from you once the final decisions are made regarding this position.Please feel free to contact me at any time if further information is needed.Thank you again for your time and consideration.Sincerely,[Your Name]Hand-picked related content2. Networking eventsIf you just attended a networking event, it was because you wanted to meet new people and get new contacts, right? Remember to collect emails or business cards of anyone who you’d like to stay in touch with. Why? So you can send them a short message afterwards, to help them remember you. This can also help them remember who you are in a time when you have a project to work on with them. All you need to do is write your future e-mail as a reply to the old one. They will see you had a conversation before.Your message to such people should be short and straight to the point. Also, try to tie it to what you two talked about. Preferably something more meaningful than the weather.Like that, you will show your appreciation, willingness to stay in touch and develop a further relationship.Example:Hey [Name],It’s [Your name] and we met on today’s [Name of the event]. It was great meeting you and I must say I totally agree with you on [The thing you talked about].I’d love to chat with you in the near future about [The thing that connects you two and is of interest to both of you].I enjoyed connecting with you and I look forward to engaging with you in the future!All the best,[Your name]3. Job fairsA job fair is an exciting opportunity to meet your dream company or a potential employer to have a casual chat. It’s a chance to leave a good first impression together with your recently enhanced resume. 😉 The role of a follow-up email is quite important here. It could be your way of getting an interview, especially if it was a one where everyone’s trying to make a lasting impression.In the email, explain how excited you’d be to work for them. Mention the main reasons why you would be the right person for the job, emphasize your strengths and capabilities while demonstrating that you would be a good company fit. of your qualities as a candidate and why you think you’d be the right fit for them. Still, keep it short and straight to the point.This way you’ll reinforce their interest and show your recognition of their company.Example:Hi [Name],It’s [Your name] and we met on today’s [Name of the job fair]. I know your inbox is probably a busy place, but I just wanted to say Thank You for talking to me today.As I mentioned, I would be excited to get a chance for an interview for the position of [The position] you’re currently offering. I believe that both my soft and hard skills are strongly in line with your requirements.I think my experience in [Your special skill/experience] would come in handy when developing a new strategy for [the name of the company/project you discussed]we discussed. Let me know if you’d like any additional information.I also attached my resume, just in case.Thanks again and I hope to hearing from you soon.Best,[Your name]4. Follow-up email after sending your resume to a potential employerOne of the advice I give to students and other job-hunters on events is this. Instead of uploading your resume through the job-boards and general websites, contact the CEO or a manager of a department you’d like to work in. The question they ask me after that is: ”But what if they don’t reply? What do we do then?” The answer is – send them a follow-up email.Again, it’s your way of reminding them of how motivated you are why you’d be the right choice for them. Before drafting the email, check the person’s social media profiles. Have they recently posted anything that you find interesting? Consider mentioning that in the email to catch their attention. It’s good to wait at least 48 hours before you follow-up with them. (Use a similar example as the one in the first point.)Back to you!Yes, looking for a job is a difficult task. You need to research the company you’d like to work for and craft an amazing job-specific resume. Then, if you’re lucky enough, they give you a chance for an interview. After that, you even have to write a follow-up email! But once you do all that, the reward is sweeter than Swiss chocolate. Don’t give up and follow our advice. The finish line is close.*note, the original version of this article was published May 10th, 2017
A recruiter explains how to make your resume unique
“Recruiting big thinkers with small egos in product, customer support, marketing, engineering & admin at Intercom.” I stumbled upon this job description while doing research on Linkedin, looking for recruiters I could interview and talk about resumes. I read it out loud and thought, “Wow, I’d love to talk to this person.” Luckily, Ewa Zajac from Intercom was eager to chat about what a truly impactful resume should include and even what an “ATS friendly” resume is. She’s been a part of Intercom’s recruitment team for over 3 years and has a long list of achievements. Aside from optimizing job descriptions, creating a full hiring cycle, and sourcing world-class engineers, she is actively reviewing applications, interviewing candidates and managing the hiring process for them right up to offer stage. It’s no surprise she has some strong opinions about what a great resume should be. How Guns N’ Roses could get you hired I kicked our chat off by admitting that I stalked her on Linkedin and Twitter, but as a recruiter who does that sometimes, Ewa didn’t mind. I discovered she has a background in psychology, which helps her with many tasks as a recruiter. The one thing that I loved about her profile was that she shared her passions. It appeared she plays guitar and sings in a band in her free time. They’re doing covers of classic and modern rock and as the biggest fan of Guns N’ Roses, I instantly knew we’d get on well. Seeing her passions helped me relate to her and transform a typical interview into a friendly conversation. Her face lit up the moment she began talking about her band, much the way it later did when she discussed her work. If she was applying for a job at Enhancv, I’d definitely hire her. The fact that we shared the same passions wasn’t as important as the ways in which they manifested themselves. “It demonstrates that this person has a learning attitude, they have a growth mindset, they want to experience new things and generally improve in some way,” she pointed out. But the main focus of a top resume is the job and the company one’s applying for. How to make your resume stand out: “Focus on the paths you took and the decisions you made along the way” In Ewa’s eyes, a good resume means the other person is able to “see a career progression, get a general sense of what this person’s comfortable with, and what would be stepping outside of their comfort zone in terms of their experience.” In her opinion, job seekers don’t focus on that enough. In case you’re about to craft a resume, Ewa’s advice is to think about the following: What you can do or what you have done in the past that demonstrates that this is the right move for you? Add some embellishments to show your personality. Don’t put your entire life on your resume. Then ask yourself: Why do I want to work there? Do I know anything about what they do? Do I know anything about their product? As a recruiter, she wants to see: Why did you go and work in a particular job? What was the most interesting thing about it? What was your biggest achievement in that particular job.? When you decided to go and change it to a particular job, what did you bring with you? What were the new things that you learned? “Show what makes you awesome, why are you a kick-ass candidate?” To answer this I asked Ewa for an opinion of one of Enhancv’s signature sections, Most Proud Of. It was great to hear from such a successful recruiter like herself that it’s a good idea to spice a resume up with this non-traditional section. She thinks that depending on the level of experience, people should focus on different things within their Most Proud Of. “I definitely think that once you have a few years of experience behind you, your Most Proud Of should be related to that career path. For example, if I was looking at a resume of someone who’s been a product manager for six years, I would expect their top three Most Proud Of to be related to that area. If they were unrelated, I’d be a bit dubious.” “A resume should be a positive thing.” To the more junior candidates with no or little experience, she’d recommend sharing more personal things. It’s a way of advertising yourself to someone else. “Show what makes you awesome, why are you a kick-ass candidate,” she added enthusiastically. Demonstrating your motivation for the job is often key if you’re lacking in experience. An “ATS friendly” resume An Automated Tracking System (ATS) is a tool that helps many recruiters to organize their work and divide resumes into groups, depending on company’s needs. Chances are, every company uses their own specific way of grouping resumes through an ATS. But Ewa has strong feelings about ATS: “it’s not a tool to review resumes. I review all incoming resumes, taking into account many other elements of the candidate’s profile, other than just the keywords.” However, all ATSs are searchable and your resume can be retrieved by a recruiter at a later time when a suitable role comes up, even if your application was rejected initially. Ewa recommended the following to ensure you come up in searches: “Instead of trying to guess specific keywords for each company, look at keywords that are specific to the profession or the role that you’re applying for.” She thinks Linkedin is a great tool for that. With a simple search, you can find people who have the same profession that you’re applying for. What skills and competencies appear time and time again? Write them down and try to incorporate them into your resume. “It’s good to keep in mind that one profile is never enough, look at several people.” She also made a great point about job titles. Often, I see that people use creative job titles, especially in companies that promote equality. (Our COO calls himself a “Chief Harmonizer”, for example.) If you use an unusual job title for your previous positions, things become even more ATS un-friendly. “When you then search for other jobs, you get rejections. Nobody knows that you worked in a relevant position because you’re not calling it what it really is.” That’s why it’s a good idea to keep your job title the “old and boring” one, at least when applying to big companies which are more likely to use an ATS. “You can keep a creative and funky description of your responsibilities and achievements though,” Ewa pointed out. Selling yourself to employers Seth Godin says: “You are not your resume, you are your work.” As much as I’d like to believe he’s right, a resume is still one of the top tools that help you sell yourself to employers. And in Ewa’s eyes, a good resume has the perfect balance between the amount and depth of information you share. This allows her to make a good judgement of who you are as both professional and individual. It also helps her do what she loves: “help candidates to find the jobs that are really great for them and help the business and our hiring managers to find the right people. And that’s very satisfying.” *note, this article was originally published in November of 2017
Why we love (and hate) personal resumes
A year working in the resume business has taught me that there is no single perfect resume format. Sure, I’ve come to believe that a personal resume is best, with personality and passions right up there with your work experience, but plenty of people disagree. To learn more about just who thinks resumes should stick to the way they’ve always been and why, I created an experiment. The response was far more polarizing than I expected. People loved it and people hated it, not a single response was indifferent. But what was truly revealing was just who those lovers and haters were. I found love and hate in a safe space I’ve always derived inspiration from women in tech, especially after joining the field myself. Because of my admiration of her, I created a resume for Sheryl Sandberg. One which represented her not just as COO of Facebook, but as a loving mother, and women’s rights advocate. I tried to make it personal and professional, with a powerful message about who Sandberg is as a human being. Note: It’s best to create your own resume. I only did this to get feedback that could improve our format as well as this article. Here’s Sandberg’s resume for you to judge for yourself. Now for the experiment: I posted the resume in 6 closed Facebook groups for women in tech which I’m a member of. These are the kind of groups where women share honest advice and inspiration with each other without worrying about outside trolls. Within minutes, I had set off a firestorm. The comments varied from the harshly critical: “A resume should be a professional document. It is not a place for sharing your life philosophy or what you do in your free time. It should be filled with active verbs and keywords. And it should definitely not have any cutesy icons, background or a profile picture!” (Professional Career Coach & Resume Writer) To the strikingly positive: “I love this. I commend the person that decides to keep it real and be themselves on a resume. I’d rather have that person on my team than the boring old resume with the same buzzwords.” (CEO and Co-founder) What was happening here? Some professionals adored this more personal resume style while others detested it. Again, not a single comment seemed in the middle. On personal resumes: “I wish this was accepted” Two arguments caught my eye. First, that “[my] resume writer wouldn’t approve this type of resume,” or similarly that “I wish this was accepted amongst recruiters.” I was reminded of previous jobs and situations where I felt it wasn’t my place to point out things that could be done better, things I believed in. To be more specific, women were unsure about putting things like “proud mother” on a resume, while I’ve seen men writing “proud father” without any hesitation. I wondered if this was connected to the confidence gap between men and women. On the other side, there were women who were very excited that resumes are shifting from the traditional format to something that “reflects who you are as a person.” These women found it “visually appealing! I love how it incorporates more than just work experience and education.” They were eager to try this type of resume for themselves. The main difference in opinion revolved around the personality revealing sections like “A day in my life” and “Life philosophy”. One group found them inspirational, they mentioned that this type of resume would help them choose the right candidate for their team. The other felt they were “childish and not professional,” arguing that employers don’t care about what you do in a day, they want to see your hard skills and achievements. The difference between CEOs and recruiters As I investigated, I found the greatest predictor of whether someone would love or hate this type of resume: their position. On one side, there were career coaches, professional resume writers, and recruiters. On the other side, there were CEOs, business owners, and more junior women. The negative comments came from the first group, positive from the second. I wanted to understand the root cause. Then it hit me: the first group is responsible for helping candidates land interviews and get hired. To allow them experimenting with an unusual resume format can seem scary because one mistake can put their reputation at risk. Their customers’ success rate is the one thing that helps them build a prosperous career. The second group, CEOs and business owners, have nothing to lose. All they want is to hire the perfect fit for the company, someone who has similar values to theirs. If they interview the wrong person, the result doesn’t have such a huge impact on their reputation. That’s why they were excited to see a different type of resume, something that stands out and presents who you are as a person. They found it “short, sweet, and straight to the point.” In the end, using a personal resume is all about the audience As an aspiring writer, I always think of my audience before jumping into a new project. It feels so natural that I can’t imagine doing otherwise. The experiment I performed with Sandberg’s resume revealed that writing a resume is like writing anything else. It’s all about the audience. Everything you do should be for your audience. For a resume, that means tailoring it for the person who will read it and the job you want. If you want to hire a professional resume writer or career consultant, no doubt they have plenty of expertise, but ultimately they aren’t your audience. So if a CEO said they loved it and a career coach said they hated it, I’d listen to the CEO because they’re my audience when I want to get hired. In the end, I learned a lot about who loves and who hates personalized resumes. But I came back to my belief in the power of a resume with personality. Especially when you’re as cool as Sheryl Sandberg. How do you feel about this kind of resume (and more importantly, why)? *note, this article was originally published in November 2017
Sick of dating apps? See how the dating resume might change the game
The cures for modern singlehood are many and familiar: Tinder, Okcupid, Bumble, The League, Grindr, Match.com, speed dating, and underwater dating. Okay, we made the last one up. Point is, the serious dater is always on the lookout for the next best thing. But what if the next best thing was actually there all along? Job and date searching have something in common… When job searching, a resume is a tool that we rely on. The best resumes represent who we are as both a professional and an individual. When done right, they can make us feel proud and boost our confidence. It’s no surprise that most people looking for a date could use some of that same confidence. That’s why crafting a dating resume could be your secret weapon this year. The idea came from just one innovator, a college kid named Joey, who showed the world a new way to kill it in the dating game with a dating resume created with our platform that went viral. Being resume experts and having dabbled in dating ourselves, we thought about crafting the perfect dating resume template, for anyone to use. Our perfect dating resume sections: 1. About me: Are you a stable, healthy human being who happens to know how to listen, make life-changing blueberry pancakes, and make people laugh? Toot your horn – but keep in mind that you should also consider why your qualifications might matter to a perfect mate. 2. Ideal qualities in a partner or what you’re looking for: Here, describe what exactly you’re looking for. Do you need a partner that can travel on short notice? That wants kids ASAP? Someone you can bring home to your parents? Ask and, hopefully, ye shall receive. 3. Deal-breakers or red flags: Best to get these out of the way early. But they should be serious issues that would prevent you from moving forward with someone who might otherwise be great. Bites their fingernails? Eh, they can probably unlearn that habit. Doesn’t share your opinion about having children? Probably better to be straightforward about that. 4. Ingredients for a perfect relationship: Using the Enhancv platform, you can add a section called “MyTime”, which can be renamed and adjusted to suit any topic. Use it to identify your top 5-8 characteristics for a perfect relationship and adjust the chart to show how much importance each has. Add things like spending time at home, being active, cooking, visiting relatives, or anything else that matters to you. 5. Activities you’d love to do together: What kind of experiences and adventures do you want to share with a partner? This can often be a great insight into shared interests and common ground. Next steps… If you’re on a lookout for “the one” at the moment, give a dating resume a go. Answering the right questions about yourself and the perfect partner can not only give you clarity on what you want, but it can also boost your confidence. Create an account on Enhancv and be your own Cupid this year. Happy Valentine’s Day and may Cupid be with you!
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