Taking The Resume Reader’s Needs Into Consideration

Before you write your own resume, examine professionally written resume samples to get ideas about writing styles and eye-catching resume formats. Then, write your resume with the reader in mind. If they are seeking someone with your background and skill set, be sure to make that the focus of your resume.

Do not use the resume templates that come with your word processor. They look like everyone else’s resume on the hiring manager’s desk.

Take the extra time needed to add visual appeal to your resume. If you are not able to do this effectively, you should seriously consider retaining the services of a professional resume writer. Be sure to ask them if they specialize in creating eye-catching resume formats in addition to their writing services.

Your goal should be to make a connection between what the hiring manager is seeking and what you have to offer in those select areas.

To get that message across at first glance, make your objective clear and highly visible. You can do this by creating a job title and positioning it prominently below your name and address. It tells the hiring manager what you are all about and sets the tone for the rest of the resume.

RESUME HEADING
Your resume heading should in bold and all caps such as this: REGIONAL SALES MANAGER

PROFILE
Your Profile or Summary section is a coutesy to the reader. It allows them to sum you up in short order. This important section sets the tone for the resume and highlights your key qualifications. This way the hiring manager can quickly get a sense who you professionally without having to read the entire resume.

Specifically, this section should list your number of years of experience, industry, credentials, and key attributes that are essential to the position you are targeting. For example, if the position is sales, your attributes would be strong communicator, strategic negotiator, and ability to establish and build key business relationships.

KEYWORDS
Keywords or industry jargon can be included in your Summary or throughout your entire resume (recommended) so you can communicate your select areas of skills by listing appropriate areas of interest specific to the job.

In the case scenario for a sales professional, these keywords might be as follows: relationship building, territory sales management, client consultation, public speaking, sales presentations, contract negotiations, value-added selling, client training and support. One of the best sources to find relevant keywords is in job ads.

ACHIEVEMENTS
This is no time to be shy and modest. You will want to toot your horn a bit by including your most impressive achievements. Your accomplishments should be presented in a factual or story telling way that gives the reader the sense that you do more than just your basic responsibilities and are not a clock watcher.

ACTION VERBS
Do not make the mistake of starting every sentence off with “responsible for”. That is understood. Try playing with action verbs such as led, directed, supervised, spearheaded, steered, guided, and executed. Instead of writing a sentence like this: Responsible for distribution operations throughout the Metro New York Area, consider revising it to read like this: Managed distribution operations throughout the Metro New York Area. Here is another example: Led the success of distribution operations throughout the Metro New York Area.

CONSISTENCY
Watch for consistency in present and past tense. If you are no longer with a company, be sure to make it past tense. Just as important, triple check for typos. Have someone else read your resume for misspellings, dates, missing periods and obviously poor grammar.

Again, review professionally written resume samples to get ideas about writing styles and eye-catching resume formats. But, make the effort to make it your own.

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Writing Resumes without Mistakes

Resume and curriculum vitae act as entry tickets to a job. Today’s world is full of competition. A prospective employer is in search for a person who is active, productive, and skillful in nature and with a positive attitude. The resume should reflect the attitude and details of education, age, qualification, experience etc. The resume should be written with relevance to the particular job. Gone are the days where one resume was used for all the jobs. The resume should be attractive enough to catch the attention of the employer among the thousands of resumes. It is important that the resume should be free from any common mistakes.

Effective resume writing:

An effective resume should contain basic sections viz., complete and powerful contact information, headline of what is being offered by the employee to the employer, summary of skills – highlighting relevant skills will be an added advantage, professional experience which has to be relevant and last but not the least educational qualification- details of grades, year of passing etc. An effective resume will be free from grammatical and spelling mistakes. This shows the command over the language. Hence, it is very important to proof-read more than twice to avoid any mistakes in the resume.

Common mistakes in a resume:

The resume with irrelevant contents is a common mistake, like the information regarding the children, spouse, hobbies etc and also when applying for a computer job, it is irrelevant to show an experience of a position held as an accountant.

When using creative fonts, one has to be very careful. It might be easier to read on the computer of the person writing the resume, but not necessarily it can be readable in the employer’s computer. If the font is not found in the computer it will show bizarre information.

The resume should not be like a job application, the previous employer’s name, contact information of the previous employer; reasons for leaving the job are irrelevant in the resume.

Never get obsessed about the length of the resume but focus on the content. Also personal pronouns like “I”, “me” should be avoided, as it might pose you as an egoistic person.

When sending resumes to multiple recruiters never send it via one email, as personalized addressing is very important.

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The Purpose of Your Resume

The Purpose of your resume

You should only build a resume for one purpose – to get an interview.
Keep this purpose in mind as you read the article below:

Why did I say ‘build’ a resume and not ‘write’ a resume?

A resume is not a story, it is not written with stream of consciousness like a novel. Resumes are built in a purposeful, strategic way to sell your strengths and eliminate your weaknesses. The best resumes turn your Tasks and Responsibilities into Accomplishments and Results

A resume should not be purely chronological – that is a big mistake. I don’t know anyone who has had a consistent rise in significant accomplishment over a long career. Most people, including you, have nuggets of brilliance – accomplished at many different times throughout your life.

Your resume should be a highlight reel not an autobiography. The strategy is to match significant keywords, (Knowledge Skills and Abilities), to your accomplishments. You can’t do this with a chronological resume,

The only purpose a chronology has in today’s job market is to help the reader understand when you moved from job to job and which job you had first, second, and third. The chronology doesn’t explain a thing about who you are and what you accomplished. Neither does your longevity. Some people accomplish more in six months than others do in five years.

Never confuse a job title with an accomplishment.

Resumes must be functional to attract attention. Many say it’s the first third of the page that sells – if you can’t grab the reader at the top, the list of facts at the bottom will never be read. That is why it is critical to sell your key accomplishments and KSA,s up front.

Use the following checklist to help you think outside the margins of your resume:

1. Prepare a profile that matches your background to the job description.
2. Prioritize your tasks and responsibilities to match the job description.
3. Only list tasks that are relevant to the job you are applying for.
4. Select tasks that you can back up – preferably with a strong accomplishment.
5. Use a qualifying line to describe how you were selected for the job.

Example:
ABC tech Firm – 2006-2007
Technical Writer
Hired by the V.P of Documentation to improve RFP efficiency and develop a document reuse policy.

This line adds a little zing because it gives the reader some insight into your story. Be prepared to add more details at an interview. This short descriptor can help you build interest in your story. First, you name drop a little. In other words, you tell the reader who hired you and the title they command.

Second, the reader/interviewer may want to know how you increased efficiency and how you developed that reuse policy. The strategy is to place ideas and questions in the readers head. Just make sure you have the answers.
Your resume must be constructed – ‘built’ in such a way that it structures the conversation before you get to the interview.

The Interview process is like dating. You wouldn’t sit down on a first date and say – “let me tell you what my worst qualities are”. Yet, people do this all the time on their resumes.

Now, let’s continue with the checklist:
6. List all tasks in the active voice. For example Developed, Initiated, Directed, Organized
7. Never say ‘responsible for’ just use the action word.
8. List your accomplishments before you build your resume. I guarantee that this is the most difficult part of the process.
9. Select the strongest accomplishment and place it after your keyword table- (more on this in my next article), and before your chronological list.

Wait a minute – I thought you said chronology doesn’t’ matter. I didn’t say that. What I meant was it is the least important part – but an essential price of admission.

10. Identify your Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA’s), by using the Occupational ONET Online database. This is an excellent repository developed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and contains occupational information that can be an invaluable resource for education and research.

When you are ready, please visit http://www.ONETOnline.org
Now, lets continue.

11. Smooth out small gaps in employment by using annual dates i.e., (2006-2007) instead of the month and date.
12. List awards and citations/achievements only if they compliment the job you are seeking.
13. A note on Education. Include all completed degrees, regardless of subject matter. All employers value education. One caveat: Don’t include Certifications that do not apply to the industry in question.

Example: I am a professional writer and in addition to my B.S. and M.A. I am a certified professional Coder (CPC). This is a health care certification. The only time I include it on my resume is when I am approached about a writing opportunity that requires some understanding of health care issues.

Finally, remember that building a resume is one of the most difficult jobs you will do – if its done right. Its not easy to capture the essence of a persons talents and abilities in one or two pages, especially if you are a mid-career professional. There is no recipe. The checklist I provided is only a guide. Always practice good judgment and use what works for you.

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Four Simple Steps To Write A Successful Resume

Your resume is your calling card, and it’s usually the first impression a potential employer will have of you. Looking your best on paper is imperative if you want to capture the interest of someone who may end up calling you for an interview. Many people, however, tend to find writing a resume a daunting frustrating task, but breaking the steps down into four simple sections can turn a difficult task into something rather simple.

The first thing you can do for your resume is limit the length to one page, so as to hold the attention of your potential employer. In our fast-past world, attention spans are short, and you don’t want anyone growing bored with a resume that stretches on and on.

Start with the simplest part – the heading. At the top of your resume page, you should clearly indicate your name. Below your name should be your address and contact information, namely your telephone number and e-mail address. Make sure it’s clear where an employer can reach you, otherwise you’ll never get that call for an interview.

After the header, the task of writing a resume becomes a lot harder, as you’ve reached the point where you need to indicate your objective – namely the position you’re applying for. Make sure you use the exact words that your potential employer used in his employment offer for the desired position, so that there’s no mistake what you’re aiming for.

Never put your objective as being money or other such similar tactless things. You want to maintain your professional appearance at all times. Continuing onward from your objective and for the remainder of your resume, you’ll want to present each bit of information in a bullet-point form; a short but concise sentence that imparts all the information you want to mention in one to three lines.

The third section is your work history, where you list your past jobs and any major achievements you accomplished while employed at various businesses. If you’re new to the job market, you’ll probably want to include as much as possible.

If you can’t fit the entire resume on a single page, start cutting items from this section and focus on previous employment experience with the most relevance to the position you’re applying for. You need not limit this section entirely to employment though. Volunteer work, business ownership, independent sale of your work, and other experiences showcasing your abilities can be listed in this section.

The fourth and final section of a resume is your education. As with work history, relevance to the position you want counts, if the one-page limit requires you to cut certain items from your resume. Focus on the most pertinent education you have that could relate to the position you’d like to land, or highlight special training you’ve received that makes you an attractive asset to the company.

All that’s left once you’ve completed the four sections is editing and formatting your resume to have it appear as professional as possible. While a typo may not always mean the difference between life and death, it can lower a potential employer’s opinion of you, so be sure everything on your resume is correct. If possible, try running the text past some else to check for your mistakes. Once that’s done, all you have to do is send it off to a potential employer and hope for the best.

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Free Resume Examples — Are You Getting The Most Out Of Them?

Are free resume examples the answer to the jobseeker’s dreams? You’d think so, by the number of books on the subject to be found online or at your local library or bookstore. Just imagine: resume samples for almost any industry or profession, ‘before’ and ‘after’ versions with critiques by professional resume writers … manna from heaven!

Well, up to a point. Many resume examples are excellent models of design, presentation and technique — and there’s a lot to be learned by seeing what has worked well for other job applicants. But like most good tools, it’s important to know how to use them well.

Most well-designed resumes are the result of many hours of development to create a profile which uniquely represents its subject. This usually involves:

* analysis of the industry or job-specific requirements

* appraisal of the applicant’s attributes and work history

* promotion of accomplishments and skills to match an employers’ needs.

But when a job applicant is faced with the challenge of producing a quality resume in a short space of time, their first recourse may be to look through some resume examples to find a style that appeals. The trouble is, creating your own resume by simply rehashing someone else’s is unlikely to result in a document that sells you to an employer on the basis of your individual qualities and achievements.

So how do you get the best out of resume examples?

One of the biggest advantages of sample resumes is that they help to imagine what it must be like to be a recruiter. Faced with dozens — if not hundreds — of resumes, you’re likely to scan each one to pick out the few that match what you’re looking for. So when you stand for a few moments in your ‘employer’s shoes’, you get to assess the impact of different presentation formats: what’s aesthetically pleasing, what layouts are best for reading quickly, how to pack a punch with powerful language.

But the savvy reader can get a lot more out of a sample resume than just an appreciation of its style. The real value comes when you take the time to peel back the layers of the resume ‘onion’ — for example:

* Does the resume show how the employer will benefit from hiring the applicant?

* Does it sell this benefit by highlighting the value the applicant added in previous positions?

It’s an example of the ‘hidden gold’ in sample resumes — and the secret to one of your most powerful techniques: the ability to create and influence your reader’s perception of who you are.

So be proactive and take the time to dig up the buried treasure in those resume examples. You’ll be learning to select appropriate aspects of your unique skill set and present them persuasively to your prospective employer — marketing yourself, in fact!

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Writing a Nursing Resume – What You Need to Know

Whether you’re still in school or you’re finally done and want to get a job, you want to start thinking about your nursing resume. This will be a document that showcases your skills and expertise thus far and will help you get into the best hospitals and nursing positions. If you have aspirations to further your nursing degree and enter a management position, you may want to start building a resume that is going to help you in the future.

When You’re Still in School

If you’re currently a nursing student, you have ample information and activities that you could include on your resume. Including information about your education, experiences, and outside activities will create a resume that sells your skills as a nurse when you’re out trying to get your first job. Here are some things that you need to include on your nursing resume at this point:

• The details of your college background
• The details of your nursing education
• Any additional classes you may have taken outside of your nursing curriculum
• Any volunteer work that you have done related to nursing
• Any groups or organizations you are a part of
• Any leadership positions you have held

What you’re trying to do at this point is show that you are committed to being a nurse and a good one at that. Prospective employers want to see that you are educated, that you are interested in learning more, and that you are responsible. Of course, you don’t want to take on so much responsibility that you are overwhelmed and not getting anything out of these tasks.

When You Have Graduated

If you have already graduated from nursing school and are looking to find a new job, you can still include all of the same information that appeared on your resume as a nursing student. Your resume should look professional and be absolutely clear as to what background you have and what you are interested in.

Some other points to keep in mind for your resume:

• It should be typed on professional paper
• It should be free of grammatical and spelling errors
• It should have your current address and contact information
• It should include your nursing school transcript
• It should contain a goal for your nursing career – i.e. I see myself

working with children. This will focus your resume and depict which positions interest you.

As you gain experience in the nursing field, you should add onto your list of accomplishments as a nurse, including any specialized training you have received or additional courses and degrees you have achieved – i.e. RN or BSN. This will further prove to those that read your resume that you are the best person for the job.

When You Have Management Experience

If you are looking to extend your nursing degree to a management or supervisory level and you have other management experience in other career paths, you might want to include this on your nursing resume. This will show that you are capable of managing others and that you can combine past experiences to help you in your new career.

Building a nursing resume is just like building any other resume that you may have had in the past. However, you want to prove that you are qualified for each health care position that you apply for.

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Benefits of Hiring Resume Writing Services

Resume writing services assist in making a resume stand out from the crowd and help get interviews quickly. Resume writing services have contacts with the clients throughout the process and have a personalized approach to develop the resume. The charges for resume writing differ from company to company and depend upon the type of resume.

Resume writing services are of two types viz proof reading and copyediting resume and professional resume preparation. In the first type there should be an own resume and sent it as an e-mail attachment. Services would then check for the grammar, punctuation and spelling and add comments where there is a need for rectification and return them.

Services merely check and correct the existing errors but do not rewrite any resume
Professional resume writing services prepare resumes based on the information provided like date of employment, specific positions of the employment and responsibilities. Accurate and specific details given help in drafting a complete and credible resume.

Professional resume writing services are inevitable because if there are spelling and grammatical errors they may automatically disqualify a resume form consideration. Since employers receive scores of resumes everyday it is imperative that one resume stands out to be noticed and resume-writing services do just that.

The job of a resume writing service can be made easier if the resume is short, identifying the skills clearly, being honest, not being modest, giving importance to content and always along with a covering letter.

Since the resume represents the person in his absence, it is the first contact with the prospective employer and therefore it should stand ahead above the rest. A resume written by professionals will highly increase the response rate and shorten the job search time .In fact the candidate who presents very well gets the job rather than who is better qualified. Professional writing services quickly screen out scores of resumes and see to it that the resume survives the initial ten-second scrutiny.

The resume writing services have an in-depth knowledge of what the employers exactly need and therefore skillfully convey the nuances and information that are needed to reach the objective of gaining an interview. Resume writing services determine what should be eliminated or included, identify the key words important to the resume being selected and minimize the factors that make the resume an average one and thus write a powerful resume that is appealing to the employer.

Landing the job is 70 percent skills and 30 percent presentation. To achieve this goal, it is important to choose the best resume writing service.

A service, which has a strong history record, that publish information regarding ownership, location and history without concealing them can be taken to be a reliable good resume writing service. Also companies that have partnerships or good affiliations with large organizations are good resume writing services.

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Writing a Killer Resume to Attract Prospective Employers

Resume is a document containing a summary highlighting the experiences and credentials and education usually written for the purpose of gaining an interview while seeking an employment. Since resume is the first thing that a potential employer encounters regarding the applicant, it carries a great significance.

A resume may be limited to one or two pages and can be organized in several ways.
A chronological resume highlights a candidate’s job experience in reverse chronological order, that is, the main body of the document shows the professional experience beginning from the most recent experience going chronologically backwards through a succession of previous experience. The main aim of a chronological resume is to give an impact of credibility through experience gained. This type of resume is the most common resume in use.

A functional resume highlights work experience and skills classified by skill area or job function. The objective of a functional resume is to focus on the skills particular to the kind of position being sought which directly gives weightage to professional capabilities and experiences as a backup. In contrast to chronological resume, functional resume will highlight these competencies and is most suited for jobs that require a particular skill or clearly defined personality traits.

A combination resume balances both the chronological and functional resumes, which typically leads with a functional list of job skills and then the chronological list of employers.

A resume is quite short and therefore contains experience directly relevant to the position and many resumes use precise keywords and action words that the employer is seeking for. Increasing number of job seekers and employers are using Internet based jobs and therefore an ideal resume should be long enough to provide a concise, adequate and accurate description of an applicant’s employment history and capabilities. Job seekers are now able to reach the employers through direct e-mail contact and resume blasting which is the mass distribution of resumes to increase personal visibility within the job market. The simplicity and complexity of the resume formats produce results varying from person to person, industry and occupation.

Since many employers find candidates through search engines, it is important to use appropriate keywords while writing a resume. And they must choose a file format to maintain their resume. Unlike regular two page resumes, which highlight only the recent work experience and education, Internet resumes highlight the candidate’s skill development over his or her career.

While writing a resume, emphasis should be placed on accomplishments, effective organization and more importantly the appearance of the resume. To achieve this, proper care should be taken to see to it that the font is plain and easy to read written on a resume quality paper, formatting the resume with simple bullets, highlighting the accomplishments and not taking away the attention.

While organizing a resume it is very important to start with an active descriptive action word, include numbers and percentages and restrict the resume to one page. The resume is nothing but an advertisement with the main purpose of winning an interview and to be an effective resume, it should stand out from the crowd.

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Is A Resume Writer Necessary?

Some people think that Resume Writers are necessary only for executives. But is that true? Writing a resume does not seem like a big deal until you sit down to write it. After all, it’s just a list of your experience and education, right? Wrong!

Companies are looking for applicants who have strengths and abilities that will give them an advantage over their competition. Your resume is your first introduction to such a company. You need the first impression to be excellent.

The goal of a resume is to be called in for an interview.

Very few people can write a good resume. Most can put together one that is an organized listing of their education and experience, but being like most will not get you the job you desire.

Your resume must be excellent to give you an advantage in your job search. The best way to get that advantage is to hire a professional resume writing service to write it for you.

Resume writing services specialize in taking your list of accomplishments and tailoring them into a showcase of your talents. This is essential to make you stand out amongst all the other applicants.

You do not need to pay a high price for your resume. Remember, though, that you are hiring a professional, so you need to be prepared to pay for the service. Always keep in mind that a better resume will mean better pay for you.

You do not want to go for the least expensive resume service and end up with a cookie cutter resume. Your goal is to stand out, not blend in with the other applicants. Your experience and skills need to be the things that get employer’s attention, not fancy graphics or pictures.

Your resume is an essential part of the whole interview process. No matter how you found out about the job, your resume will make a statement. If you are answering an advertisement, or working through someone you know your resume must represent you accurately.

You must have your resume prepared at the beginning of your job search. If you wait until you have begun applying for jobs, it will be too late. You want to prove that you are prepared and a good choice for the company by having your resume at hand.

You could spend hours preparing your resume. A practical alternative is to hire a resume writing service and use your time preparing for job interviews. That would be a much better use of your time. Resume writers will open the doors for better jobs. When you have an effective resume, your career path will be easier to follow.

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Video Resumes: Seem Like a Good Idea at the Time

As job searches go on longer than anticipated for many, it’s understandable that people would start to look around for ways to differentiate themselves in the market. However, making a video resume may NOT be the best way to accomplish that goal.
I’m noticing that the video resume craze is starting to pick up momentum. On the surface I’m sure that video resumes seem like a good idea to job seekers. Hasn’t everyone at one time or another said to themselves “If they could just SEE me, I know they’d want to hire me. This plain ‘ole resume just ain’t doing me justice!” Understandable, however the video resumes I watched certainly didn’t do anyone justice. Here’s why video resumes are a doomed proposition unless you’re gunning for a job as a news anchor and have a TV production studio to shoot your video. First. The nature of this format makes you a talking head on camera. I’ve made a video like this before, and I actually posted it on YouTube, and it’s very, very hard. The camera is completely, 100% focused on YOU, all the time. It doesn’t blink, it’s mind doesn’t wander, it doesn’t look out the window behind you occasionally, it’s totally on YOU. This means it catches every stupid thing you do. Even something simple like scratching your nose looks incredibly unprofessional when it’s caught for all eternity in a video resume. What about when your mind wanders when you’re giving your pitch and you slide in some ums and ahs? Those will be caught for posterity too. Great huh? If you think for a millisecond that job interviews are nerve-wracking-just try making one of these videos. Unless you have a teleprompter, you have got to know exactly what you’re going to say and can talk about it with some enthusiasm and style. Second. You have GOT to look professional. The few I watched on CareerTV–a place for great videos of career advice and where you can post your video resume–had someone sitting in a rocking chair (talking about how energetic she was), and another person in her medical scrubs, which wasn’t so bad, but unfortunately she didn’t take the time to edit her mistakes out of the video. These videos have got to be the absolute best you can give. It’s your one shot! In an in-person interview you can at least realize that you’ve made some mistakes, and pull it back together toward the end of the interview. Once it’s on tape, employers can watch it repeatedly. It’s harder to erase it from their memory. Think of the funny videos you watch on YouTube. Same premise. Also, you’ve got to watch what you wear! Whatever you would wear to an interview to make a good impression is what you need to wear in the video. You’re trying to use it as a supplement to your resume, so why would you dress in anything other than a suit? Third. Employers cannot not discriminate against you on the basis of your age, race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion-basically the things that have nothing to do with how well you do the job. By casually chatting on these videos you can inadvertently open up a Pandora’s box of issues that cause you to not be considered. One simple example: In your video, you state that you’re moving to a new city to be closer to your boyfriend/girlfriend. The phrase “to be closer to your boyfriend/girlfriend” is the problem. To you, it seems like you’re explaining about the move. To an employer, it’s too much information. As an employer, I get a vision of you turning down my job offer because you broke up with him or her, or after you move, you break up with him or her and plunge into the depths of despair because the ONLY reason you moved was for the relationship-which is now over. An employer may not want to take a chance on you with your baggage vs. a local candidate with less visible baggage. Stating that you have firm plans to move to the city is fine, if asked in an interview, you can say that you’ve developed an interest in the city and are looking forward to meeting new people. But discussing your personal relationships is just too much information. In an effort to be friendly and casual on the video, you can end up telling employer things that actually take you out of the running. Fourth. Again, based on that employer discrimination concept, as far as I know, the laws have not specifically tackled this issue of video resumes vs. non-video resumes. I know that currently HR departments are overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork they need to regularly submit to some governmental agency to prove that they’re not discriminating. That’s just dealing with the traditional hard copy and emailed resumes they receive from applicants. I know of another company involved in video resumes and they have to keep incredibly detailed records to prove that all applicants’ videos are being viewed for the same amount of time. Think about it. The last thing you want is for an employer to not consider you because you remind them of a relative or former employee that they never liked, and to immediately close your video before hearing you out. You also wouldn’t want a candidate who did a video resume to get preferential treatment over you who did not do a video resume. I know that there are some employers who like the new format, and to be honest, if I was a hiring manger, there are times when I’d wished I could see an applicant before bringing them in-but it’s because I know if I saw them first, I would not have invited them in for the interview. If you are still inspired to give these a shot, remember to keep it professional, dress like it’s an interview, and keep it as error-free as humanly possible. Good luck with that. It will be interesting to see where this idea leads, but for now, I’d recommend sitting on the sidelines to see how it plays out.

Here are some reasons why video resumes are a doomed proposition unless you’re shooting for a job as a news anchor or have a TV production studio shoot your video. First. The nature of this format makes you a talking head on camera. I’ve made a video like this before, and I actually posted it on YouTube, and it’s very, very difficult. The camera is completely, 100% focused on YOU, all the time. It doesn’t blink, it’s mind doesn’t wander, it doesn’t look out the window behind you occasionally, it’s totally on YOU. This means it catches every stupid thing you do. Even something simple like moving a lock of hair out of your eyes can look incredibly unprofessional when it’s caught for all eternity in a video resume.

What about when your mind wanders when you’re giving your pitch and you slide in some ums and ahs? Those will be caught for posterity too. Great huh? If you think for a millisecond that job interviews are nerve-wracking-just try making one of these videos. Unless you have a teleprompter, you have got to know exactly what you’re going to say and can talk about it with some enthusiasm and style.

Second. You have GOT to look professional. I’ve watched a few on some websites, and this one stood out. The few I watched on YouTube and other video sites–had someone sitting in a rocking chair (talking about how energetic she was), and another person in her medical scrubs, which wasn’t so bad, but unfortunately she didn’t take the time to edit her mistakes out of the video.

These videos have got to be the absolute best you can give. It’s your one shot!

In an in-person interview you can at least realize that you’ve made some mistakes, and pull it back together toward the end of the interview. Once it’s taped, it’s permanent–employers can watch it repeatedly. It’s harder to erase it from their memory. Think of the funny videos you watch on YouTube. Same premise.

Also, you’ve got to watch what you wear! Whatever you would wear to an interview to make a good impression is what you need to wear in the video. You’re trying to use it as a supplement to your resume, so why would you dress in anything other than a suit?

Third. Employers cannot discriminate against you on the basis of your age, race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion-basically the things that have nothing to do with how well you do the job. By casually chatting on these videos you can inadvertently open up a Pandora’s box of issues that cause you to not be considered.

One simple example: In your video, you state that you’re moving to a new city to be closer to your boyfriend/girlfriend. The phrase “to be closer to your boyfriend/girlfriend” is the problem. To you, it seems like you’re explaining about the move. To an employer, it’s too much information. As an employer, I get a vision of you turning down my job offer because you broke up with him or her, or after you move, you break up with him or her and plunge into the depths of despair because the ONLY reason you moved was for the relationship-which is now over. An employer may not want to take a chance on you with your baggage vs. a local candidate with less visible baggage. Stating that you have firm plans to move to the city is fine, if asked in an interview, you can say that you’ve developed an interest in the city and are looking forward to meeting new people. But discussing your personal relationships is just too much information. In an effort to be friendly and casual on the video, you can end up telling employer things that actually take you out of the running.

Fourth. Again, based on that employer discrimination concept, as far as I know, the laws have not specifically tackled this issue of video resumes vs. non-video resumes. I know that currently HR departments are overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork they need to regularly submit to some governmental agency to prove that they’re not discriminating. That’s just dealing with the traditional hard copy and emailed resumes they receive from applicants. I know of another company involved in video resumes and they have to keep incredibly detailed records to prove that all applicants’ videos are being viewed for the same amount of time. Think about it. The last thing you want is for an employer to not consider you because you remind them of a relative or former employee that they never liked, and to immediately close your video before hearing you out. You also wouldn’t want a candidate who did a video resume to get preferential treatment over you who did not do a video resume.

I know that there are some employers who like the new format, and to be honest, if I was a hiring manger, there are times when I’d wished I could see an applicant before bringing them in-but it’s because I know if I saw them first, I would not have invited them in for the interview. If you are still inspired to give these a shot, remember to keep it professional, dress like it’s an interview, and keep it as error-free as humanly possible. Good luck with that. It will be interesting to see where this idea leads, but for now, I’d recommend sitting on the sidelines to see how it plays out.

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