Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Resume Redux
Bob Weinstein is a journalist who covers technology, project management, the workplace and career development.
No matter how brilliant your resume, the best you can hope for is a fast scan by a human being or a piece of software. If you're lucky, a key buzzword is picked up, and your resume is plucked from the pack and given a close read.
More likely, your resume will be trashed--even if you did a good job--because it lacked the right key words. This points up an obvious fact of life: The resume is a flawed job-getting tool. It's a pity, too, because the higher you go on the corporate ladder, the more important the resume becomes in the candidate-selection process.
The truth is, resumes work for about 5 percent of job searchers. These fortunate folks just happened to have perfect backgrounds. Maybe they held a few high-visibility jobs, and maybe they were in the right place at the right time. In addition, they remained in one industry riveted to one job track. In short, they created the impression of being consistent high-performers with no career blemishes.
But how many of us fall into that elite category? Not a heck of a lot. Unfortunately the majority of HR drones are not forgiving when it comes to evaluating job candidates' credentials.
Still, resumes remain powerful door-openers, and they probably always will be. In the past, I've written columns about the components of a great resume. I am not retracting a word, but now it's time to do something different and …
Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.
ADVERTISEMENTS
|
"Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining." - Jeff Raskin |