Take advantage of the digital resume trend
At one of my recent events, I was approached by a man who was having a difficult time finding a new job. He wanted me to take a look at his resume and LinkedIn profile.
This isn’t something I normally do at my events as I have a ton of people waiting in line to ask me questions.
He had been applying for as many as 60 jobs a week and was getting rejected every single time. He didn’t even know why. I wanted to get to the bottom of it.
The first thing I asked him was “What is it that you do? Why should someone hire you?”
He was lost for words and started stuttering. Then he blurted “I’m willing to learn anything, I like teamwork, I’m hard-working”.
He then asked again if I could just have a look at his resume to see what was wrong with it.
I told him I didn’t need to because I already knew what was wrong with it.
Now, you might be wondering how I could possibly know that without even glancing at it for a second.
No, it’s not a magical power I have (although that would have helped me tremendously in my work as a recruiter over the past 11 years).
Your resume and digital presence are supposed to be a mirror image of yourself.
If you’re having trouble with your resume or social profile, it’s highly likely that you’re having trouble with your personal and professional identity as well.
So, how did I know what was wrong with that particular man’s resume without even looking at it?
I knew he was confused about himself. He wasn’t clear about what he could offer, or even what he wanted to do, so how could he put it down on paper and communicate it to a potential employer?
This is why it’s imperative to actually know yourself – to really know what you can bring to a company. Because if you’re unsure, if you’re unclear, I can assure you that the person reading your resume, or your LinkedIn profile, or even interviewing you, will be unclear and unsure as well.
This definitely isn’t what you want, so before you even think about applying for jobs, you should get that right.
But we want to hear your thoughts: What’s more important – get your resume/LinkedIn perfect, or being clear on who you are?
Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.
Until next time,
Thai Ngo.
