Resumes 101

Bob Weinstein is a journalist who covers technology, project management, the workplace and career development.

 

True story: An old college buddy called me recently asking for a favor.

"I wondered if you'd critique my resume and give me some tips on how I can improve it. Would you believe I was laid off?"

"No way! You, Mr. Brilliant Techie With Kill-for Credentials?" I said, legitimately surprised.

Here was a guy who truly had an incredible background. He was the real deal: die-hard geek-techie who was born programming. He taught himself several programming languages before he entered college. He got into an Ivy League school without raising a bead of sweat, graduating at the top of his class with a degree in computer science. Then he went on to land great jobs at some of the nation's premier technology companies. When I last spoke to him, he was a senior project manager at a blue chip security-software company.

A quick scan of my friend's resume told me the whole story. Why mince words? It was a disappointing mess. Incredible credentials are a godsend, but they don't guarantee a great job if they're not packaged properly.

It's hard to believe. After hundreds of books and articles have been written about how to write perfect resumes, you'd think job hunters would have mastered the boring task. My friend's story is a variation on an all-too-common theme. But it's never too late to get your resume act together. Learn from this…

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