Your resume is what will set the tone for you with most employers. It is meant to highlight the good and minimize the bad. Regardless, there are just a few times when it can be really challenging to create the perfect resume to help you land that new job.
There are always a few ways to smooth out a few rough edges on a resume. Here are 3 resume obstacles and our tips to overcoming them.
Quick Tip: Focus in on your skills, traits, achievements; don’t dwell on positions.
When you spend time writing your resume and facing this obstacle, it can be a challenge of re-framing your resume messaging. Rewrite your resume to focus on skills the new industry might be looking for. This can take some work, but identify what you think the hiring manager might be looking for. Highlight those attributes you overlap with. Spend time talking about how those skills & traits helped you achieve good results and lead to quality performance.
Quick Tip: If this is the boat you’re sitting in…you are in good company. Don’t let this be headtrash to keep you from applying.
Companies are searching for individuals who are coachable. Rarely do they require an exact degree. Hiring managers like to see candidates applying for their job who have the right work either, some relative experience where they feel confident you can get the tasks completed, but most of the time they look for who is moldable. Here at LocalWork.com we hire the smile. It is something very important to our company culture. Tony Hsieh, found of Zappos says in his book Delivering Happiness, “We’ve rejected many talented people who we know would have made an immediate impact on our top or bottom line. Because culture is our number one priority, we’re willing to give up short-term profits or revenue growth to make sure we have the best culture. ”
This should resinate with all of you. When you focus on your ability to be taught, contribute to company culture, you can help overcome the college degree mismatch.
Quick Tip: Always include a “Reason For Leaving” next to each position with a concise but sufficient explanation of why you left.
Unfortunately this is a problem that makes many hiring managers hesitant when recruiting. Companies are always trying to lower their attrition level of employees which helps minimize expenses on training, staffing and recruiting. If they see a pattern of leaving quickly, they might jump to conclusions about your ability to work through tough times. Every job has them, they need to hire people who can deal with it.
Some resume coaches may even encourage you to leave off your resume a job or two which you worked at for less than 3 months. This does not mean lie about it, this means not highlighting it on your resume, but if asked during your interview, be honest about it.