People that live in the house down the block like to clean their yard frequently and put piles of leaves on the street for the city mulchers to retrieve. This is common practice in the Fall and usually not a problem. But, it’s January and their next door neighbors must be tired of navigating the leaves to park their car because, last night, someone decided to bulldoze those leaves all the way down the street and dump them in the middle of the intersection. I could see the trail of leaves from one spot to the other.
The entire neighborhood had near collisions with this massive pile of leaves – all day and night. Someone finally called the city and warning cones with reflectors were placed around the pile. This morning, one of the cones had been bum rushed by a surprised vehicle! Thank goodness the city got the pile by the time I got home this afternoon. If this situation wasn’t so alarming, it would have been funny. Excitement on boring Alfaretta Drive!
This evening, I got to thinking how much our street and that pile of leaves is like a resume. Stay with me. I’m not just trying to find an excuse to write about our crazy neighbors. (It is fun though.)
WHAT IS YOUR OBJECTIVE?
I’m sure our angry neighbors had a point to make, an objective for moving those leaves. They wanted to communicate to their neighbors they weren’t happy with the leaf blockade in front of their house. But, they didn’t hit the mark. Why didn’t they bulldoze the leaves in the culprits driveway? That would have clearly said, “Stop blocking our cars with leaves!” or “How does it feel to be blocked by a pile of leaves? Take that!” But, NO! They block the whole neighborhood and create a safety hazard. What point does that make except prove someone has lost their marbles?
This is exactly what hiring managers think when they receive a resume that been slapped together with no rhyme or reason – maybe even typos and formatting errors – just a bunch of jobs, hopefully listed in order with a generic objective serving as a catch all for any job the individual sees posted.
Before writing your resume, think about what kind of work you are going after and tailor the wording for those kind of jobs. You can do this through:
- A Professional Summary at the top of the resume
- An Areas of Experience list
- The job responsibilities in your work experience
Hiring managers appreciate you targeting your experience to their vacancy and it gives you a better shot at getting the interview – your first objective in the job search.
BACK TO MY NEIGHBORS
May I suggest, dear neighbors, that you figure out what objective you are trying to meet before you create a leaf weapon in our neighborhood. I think you simply wanted some common courtesy. How about knocking on their door and explaining your predicament? Most reasonable people appreciate that approach. And, there is high possibility they didn’t realize they were inconveniencing you.
In closing, here is a CONTEST! Watch the video below called “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood – Mad Feelings”. Then, go to our Facebook page, tell us one thing you learned in the FB comment section below the video and share on your page. The prize is a copy of “THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MISTER ROGERS: Important Things To Remember”. We will pull an entry out of a hat and contact the winner for a mailing address. Good luck!
– Heather McBride, SPHR
Oregon Resume Writer, Oregon Career Counseling, Oregon Outplacement
“Your Career Solution” for anywhere in the Nation
