Your Resume Is Ready for the Attic

Your Resume Is Ready for the AtticYour Resume Is Ready for the AtticDoes your resume include an objective statement, faxgert number, a typewriter font or references are available upon request? If so, your job search is full of outdated furniture.I recently posted a picture on Facebook of myself as a kid sitting in my living room. I love this picture because it reminds me what my house looked like as a child, and its a window into home-dcor trends of the era. My mother had a penchant for plastic slipcovers, and she put them on everything in the living room, including the lampshades. Plastic slipcovers made their debut in the mid-50s and managed to haunt my family through the next two decades. My friends and I have been chuckling over the picture and trying to figure out why anyone would subject their loved ones to the feel of sticky plastic, especially in the summertime.But when my mom had plastic slipcovers it welches all the rage, and many of my friends tell stories of growing up pl astic as well. Of course now when we think about plastic slipcovers we immediately conjure up a dated image.Its easy to figure out that your furniture is out of style because you have to look at it every day youre constantly comparing it to other peoples furniture and the trends you see in the media.But what about your resume? Many people dont look at their resume or update it for years and years because they dont see the need. And when they do need their resume for something, what do they do? They pull out the old one and just add the new job. No redecorating here.So what people end up with is basically the same resume they wrote 20 years ago - kind of like outdated plastic slipcovers.Here are some telltale signs that your resume needs to be redecoratedYour resume leads with an objective statement. No one wants to see an objective statement on a resume anymore. They communicate what you are looking for, which isnt of much interest to a hiring manager. Hiring authorities want to kn ow whats in it for them. Do you have the competencies and the proof of performance to help solve their business problems?Solution Create a profile or executive summary that outlines your big-picture accomplishments and the value you can bring to an employer. Leave the objective off the resume and in the past where it belongs.Your contact information includes a fax number. Nothing screams 1980s like a fax number. Chances are no employer will need to contact you by fax.Solution Omit the fax number better yet, use that space to include the URL for your Web site or LinkedIn profile.Your dates of employment are all left justified. Having dates of employment to the left made sense in the days of the typewriter when tabs were the only way to indent content. Thanks to Microsoft Word, text is much more malleable, and space can be better utilized.Solution Place employment dates after the company name or to the right to optimize space and save room for other important content.The font on your resume is Courier 10. Courier 10 was all there was when all documents were created on typewriters. Now we have scores of choices.Solution Choose a new font.Your resume contains several personal attributes to describe you. If you are using adjectives on your resume such as loyal, detail-oriented, good communicator or hard-working to describe your value to an employer, stop. Descriptions of personal attributes are meaningless unless there is tangible proof of these traits within the body of the resume. Their use is very old-school, and my guess is you copied those words from someone elses outdated resume or from a book of resume samples that was published during President Clintons first administration.Solution Omit adjectives describing your personal attributes and focus on evidence of your accomplishments and key business value.References are available upon request. Well, they used to be. Now many hiring managers Google candidates before they call them in for an interview. That means your references are often available angeschlossen whether you want them to be or not.Solution Ditch the statement about references and save the space for something more important.There are furniture trends, fashion trends, and even resume-writing trends. Stay current and informed about the latest resume-writing styles and tips to increase the likelihood of getting noticed by hiring managers.