Procrastination and the Job Hunt: Shall I Fix the Toilet or Write my Résumé?

Just the other day I received this email from a friend:

“Kate, I have to get my résumé together, but after 8 years, it’s such a daunting task. I took this week off to get it done and I’ve all but re-built my back deck, re-hung light fixtures, and fixed a toilet. Why can’t I do something as simple as update my resume? Gawd… any tips to get over this writer’s block? Where to start? Imagine, I’d rather fix a toilet!!!“

I found the email very amusing and, I am sure, it’s something everyone can relate to.

This is classic procrastination; actively distracting ourselves when facing difficult tasks that we would rather avoid, such as writing a résumé.

The reasons for procrastination vary but it often just boils down to fear. However, it is also habit that, like any other habit, can be broken and replaced with the more rewarding habit of taking action.

Here are some suggestions to help with résumé procrastination:

• Make a list of all the benefits of completing the résumé. Think about your goal to get a job and list the pay-offs and rewards. This may be enough to motivate you and get the ball rolling.
• Set goals and reward yourself along the way.
• If the mere thought of summarizing your talents and experience in bullet points is enough to inspire you to rebuild a back deck or fix a toilet, I’d suggest breaking the résumé writing down into smaller tasks. Instead of trying to update it in one sitting, work on one section at a time: objectives, experience, skills, education, publications, awards etc.
• Set a specific time aside every day in order to tackle the résumé. Try to schedule it during a time of the day when your energy is highest.
• Try making yourself accountable to someone for getting that task done. Perhaps “partner up” with someone else: make a commitment to each other, agree on deadlines and check in with each other to make sure the task is done. Making a firm commitment to someone else can make a big difference to your motivation levels. If eligible (Ontario resident, unemployed and needing assistance with job search), consider accessing the services of an Employment Counsellor at one of our JVS Employment Source locations, who will work with you to write the résumé.
• Once completed, enlist the help if others to look over your résumé for feedback, suggestions and to catch any typos.  Staff at our Employment Source locations also offer résumé critiques, so take advantage of this service and have a professional take a good look at your résumé .

Bottom line, as Charles Baudelaire said: ”No task is a long one but the task on which one dare not start. It becomes a nightmare.” To end procrastination and avoid the nightmare of an incomplete résumé, motivate yourself by (a) remembering your ultimate goal (i.e. the job, rather than résumé), (b) developing a plan, and (c) getting support to implement your plan.

Objective or Summary on your Resume – What appeals to Employers?

© Ragsac19 | Dreamstime.com

ob•jec•tive – noun – something that one’s efforts or actions are intended to attain or accomplish; purpose; goal; target.

sum•ma•ry – noun – a comprehensive and usually brief abstract, recapitulation, or compendium of stated facts or statements.

Definitions from Dictionary.com

Resume styles change fairly frequently. There are “flavours of the month” type resumes that attract some attention in the beginning (usually for the wrong reasons) but then fade away. The problem with building a great resume is that it is very subjective. If you go to your local bookstore and look at 10 resume guides, I would bet that you would get 10 different opinions. So what is the best approach?

Having seen a ton of resumes over my career as a Recruiter and a Workforce Specialist, I look at it this way: “How can I make myself stand out from other applicants to an employer”? In other words, put yourself in the employer’s shoes and look at your resume from that perspective. An employer will probably have less than a minute to pre-screen your resume (if done by hand) and decide if it goes into the “keep” pile or the circular filing cabinet starting with “g”. That means the top third or half of the first page of your resume should have the points that you want an employer to see. These would be your selling points. That brings us to the ongoing debate of using an Objective or Summary at the top of your resume.

My preference is to use the Summary, for a number of reasons. Before you read further please check out this article by Roy Miller to see his reasons for choosing a Summary over an Objective.

What do you think now? Has your opinion changed? Let me further stack the deck in favour of the summary; look at the definitions above for Objective and Summary that I retrieved from an online dictionary.

In job search terms:

Objective = “something that one’s efforts are intended to attain” or “what I am looking for, or want”.

Summary = “a comprehensive and usually brief abstract of stated facts” or “what I bring to the table for you”.

An Objective simply covers what YOU are looking for or want.

A Summary shows what is in it FOR THE EMPLOYER. It allows you more opportunities to showcase your talents; i.e. a snapshot of all of the great things you have done, all wrapped up in a bow at the top of your resume. So instead of employers having to search through your resume for the reasons to interview you – you make it easy for them by listing them right at the top, where it will be seen first.

An objective can work if the rest of the resume is laid out in a way that allows the employer to see your skills easily. Having a list of skills right after the objective could work. To me though, an objective is boring, “cookie cutter” and misses an opportunity to show your worth to an employer.

Check out these two samples:

Objective – To secure a position as an Administrative Assistant at ABC Company

OR:

Summary - Personable Administrative professional, with over 5 years of expertise in handling customer inquiries (100 calls per day avg.), executive scheduling for 3 partners, data entry (70 wpm) and event planning (trade shows and client appreciation events). Proficient in Microsoft Office, multi-line phone systems, with fluently French.

If you were the employer which person would you want to meet?

By using a Summary, you can showcase your best-selling points to an employer to show them that you match their expectations. This allows you to stand out from the rest of the applicants, thereby making you a memorable candidate.

Finally, a Summary provides you with an opportunity to enter in key words or phrases from the posted job description. With many companies using scanning software to review resumes and identify key words which match the job posting, a Summary can get you extra points by having those key words mentioned upfront.

It is clear by now that my preference for a Summary rather than Objective. I believe that it has the best potential of getting an employer interested in interviewing the candidate, which is after-all, the purpose of a resume in the first place.  But, this is only my opinion, which I have arrived at years of working with employers, reviewing articles by others in this field and searching for jobs myself.  I’m sure there are folks out there who have a different opinion, and I say: if they use an objective and are getting interviews that lead to jobs, then by all means keep up the good work. As the saying goes “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

But if the saying that best resembles your job search is “Houston, we have a problem” then maybe consider using a Summary.

Good luck in your job search.

Resume writing for the new economy

Writing a resume is one of the first tasks facing job searchers, as they set out to seek new employment. The challenge is to prepare a concise and clear document that represents your work history and skills in the best, most interesting way possible. 

As an Employment Counsellor, my experience has been that while most job searchers already have a resume, it most often requires some serious work to update it and represent the job searcher as current in the new economy. So, how do you prepare a well written resume that fits in with the ever-changing expectations of employers?

Here are some places to start:

While it is a good start to begin by unearthing your old resume and adding information about your most recent position, this is clearly not sufficient. Keep in mind that the quick pace of change in the job market has affected employers’ expectations of you – both in terms of your skills (i.e. the content of your resume), as well as the way your write it (i.e. style and layout).

Once you have added information about your most recent employment, it is worth seeking out advice for updating the appearance and style of the resume. There are many credible “how-to” sources to guide the resume writer. I recommend starting out by finding suitable job postings on job boards such as Monster.ca, to help you identify the relevant key words and descriptions of job functions, which you can integrate into your resume. They also offer a comprehensive Career Advice section, which offers excellent tips and suggestions.  Other excellent online sources are About.com’s Resume Tips, as well as Susan Ireland’s Resume Site. You will find good samples of resumes online, as well; I often refer clients to WorkBloom, who provide a good range of different types of resumes to inspire the resume writer to use new formats and wording.

Keep in mind that not all advice fits all resumes. For example, resumes should be styled to reflect the varying characters of different employment sectors. To illustrate that point, the financial sector (banking) is more conservative and requires traditional resumes, whereas marketing, especially social media, can be quite creative and may include a range of media such as Videos, Infographics or other alternative digital resume formats. 

Once you have gathered information and have begun tackling the process of rewriting the resume, it is worth seeking independent personalized feedback from those who you might regard as “in the know” – this might include Employment Counsellors or Workforce Specialists in local publicly funded services such as JVS Toronto.

Ultimately though, the best sources of feedback on your resume will always be people who hire into the fields which you are targeting. Make sure to ask as many as possible to ensure that you get a broad picture, and target people in large companies who see many resumes.  Eventually, you will reach a point in the writing process, where you have a “good enough” resume with which to start the process, keeping in mind that it will be adapted for EVERY job.

A good resume will be useful when you job search and network, and it will also be an excellent tool for setting up a detailed LinkedIn profile to initiate the online networking process. Taken further, there are even more ways of using your resume as a tool to increase your online presence, such as Visual CV.

There are some additional tips to keep in mind when writing a resume in this economy, with the increased use of email and online technologies:

• When chosing a font, keep in mind that resumes are primarily read on computer screens, so it’s useful to pick a font that is simple, clean and which allows for more information to be fit into a page and yet still be readable. I personally prefer Calibri, Tahoma or Verdana , but simple Arial is also good.

• Avoid using tables, as their outline shows on the computer screen, and try to eliminate underlining, which looks on the computer screen as if it is a link

• Keywords are very important. Remember that employers often use online screening tools, which search a resume for certain words, so make sure to use a range of keywords which may be sought after

• Assuming that employers will be checking up on the information you provide, using online tools such as Google and LinkedIn, make sure that your company names are valid and exactly spelled, and that the data on the resume is consistent with other sources such as LinkedIn

• Since resumes are on a screen, you are able to add live links to LinkedIn, as well as your blog/website, if relevant. This may be an excellent to encourage the employer to read more about you and for you to showcase information beyond the simple resume

Overall, while the process of writing a resume can be very stressful and demanding, it can also be an excellent way to re-evaluate your skills and learn about the changes in the job market.  Be prepared to take on the challenge fully, and make the best of what you can learn. It is well worth investing some time and energy (though not necessarily money) to make this a worthwhile learning experience that will enhance the chances of you finding the work you want more effectively.