Today’s Plan:
- Rhetorically Constructing Resumes
- A List of Critical Decisions
- Resume Revisions
Rhetorically Constructing Resumes
When I teach resumes at the undergraduate level, I emphasize the importance of an rhetorical approach. Rhetoric here means two things to me:
- First, it means that I attempt to read what the other person wants, thinks, values, and prioritizes
- Second, it means that I approach the situation without an expectation of control or mastery, that I understand that the situation calls for a calculation of risk
I contrast this rhetorical approach to the more “philosophical” approach that tends to drive the advice one would get from career services or from many resume books and websites. Philosophical approaches try to teach hard and fast rules for developing materials. Do this! Don’t do that! They are often more concerned with their own preferences; and thus overwrite the wide chaos one finds in ads with a more simple and controlled framework. They also tend to be more conservative when it comes to voice, tone, and content. I am skeptical of this kind of “cookie cutter” approach.
Rather, I think you should approach your job materials less in terms of a baking recipe and more in terms of playing a poker game. When you play poker, the cards you hold are important. But equally important is your ability to read your opponents, and to make sure that you adjust your play based on theirs. You cannot plan out a poker strategy before you play the game–you can have ideas, certainly–but those ideas have to be re-calibrated once the game starts and you begin familiarizing yourself with the players.
In terms of a job search and the construction your materials, it is useful to have drafted in advance a resume and a cover letter. But the resume and cover letter you send to a potential employer should always be transformed based on the position for which you apply. As I talked about in the smaller groups on Wednesday: in an era in which we are fighting algorithms to make sure our materials make initial cuts or receive high compatability scores, you want to make sure as much language from an add shows up in your materials as possible. Manipulate headings and terms to match the language you find in ads.
But these transformations shouldn’t be merely cosmetic–you should create content that you think speaks to that particular organizations needs. I’ve been on the job market twice in the past 15 years, and both times I started with a default letter and CV. This doesn’t mean I recommend writing a completely different letter for every job. I don’t, no one has time for that. [job letters-unc (teaching new media and tech writing), msu (digital rhetoric research), tamu (classical)]. But I do recommend spending time reading an ad carefully, thinking about how you arrange material, and making sure that the language you use in a letter matches up with the language you find not only on an ad, but also on an organization’s website (mission statement, about us, projects). Your resume and cover letter should show organizations how you can use research and rhetoric to craft more compelling prose.
Rhetoric is the art of adapting a message to a particular audience, of recognizing the affordances and advantages of a particular situation. It always involves elements of risk and chance. I believe job searches are particularly arbitrary–there is no system or pattern to what employers look for because every employer, every human resource director, is different, and brings to the process her own preferences, methods, and attitudes. The best we can do is to learn to analyze, listen, and think through possibilities–to be aware of the potential choices we have and to make precise calculations for every position to which we apply. While we can’t be certain, we can do our best to know our audience(s), and to tailor ourselves to their preferences.
Some Practical Advice that May Even Be Useful, in Some Situations, Some of the Time
Okay, with those rhetorical reservations in place, let me tentatively offer some advice. First, we need to make sure we are designing resumes that are ATS (applicant tracking system) compliant. This is probably the biggest change I have had to deal with in the 15 or so years that I have taught resumes–the increasing difficulty and prioritization of designing a document that 1) can “beat” the machine and 2) is still persuasive, compelling, and/or readable to a human being. The advice 10 years ago focused on the importance of keywords (previous link). So does the advice today . I think our Project 1 Coding Sheet is a great generic resource for identifying keywords–but be sure to code any advertisement to which you plan on applying to see if you can identify idiosyncratic language. Also, preparing resumes for ATS has implications for style and design. (Note: see tool at the bottom, see Common mistakes, short video).
In the 2010’s the fad was to use fancy templates. To create highly graphic resumes. Visual resumes are still a thing. I still think these have a place, especially if you are applying for visual-design jobs. But I am skeptical of a lot of Canva, Microsoft, and even InDesign templates for job materials. Many of those templates are designed for a very precise amount of content. And that means that when you use that template, you end up having weird gaps, spaces, or crams. They look weird instead of showing design skill and attention to detail.
So let’s assume that we’ve beaten the machine. Now our resume is in the hands (or more likely on the screen) of a human resource director or a manager who needs to wean a stack of 20-25 candidates down to a stack of 5 for interviews. Now we might have to beat the dreaded six second scan.. But beware keyword stuffing!
Let’s close this section with a review of some generic but staple resume advice–a few Squawkfox articles.
Plain-Text Resumes
Beyond ATS preparation, there’s a movement towards plain-text resumes. There are documents with no formatting–bold, italics, bullets, etc. Such documents take ATS formatting to the extreme.
Wright, Dol, and Collins (2011). See sample resume description [could this go in a resume or a cover letter? Top of the resume for a person? Or bottom of a resume? Where to position this?]. See Wonderlic.
Another resource to help identify strengths/compatibility: Big Five personality test.
Here is my heuristic/template for starting a resume
So, this is a mess of notes. Let me try to sum this up into a list of questions to guide your resume.
- Am I passing this resume to a human or submitting it to an algorithm?
- Should I use a design template? A content template?
- How should I organize my resume? Work Experience? Education? Skills?
- Should I submit a .pdf or a docx? [Note: only use a .pdf if you know how to OCR]
If you are submitting to a human, then I would likely suggest you have a non-plain-text resume-either a designed resume or a simple, clean text resume (like, for instance, the boring template I provide above). If you are submitting to an algorithm, then I recommend a plain-text resume. These days, you should have both prepared.
I would only use a template if you feel confident in your ability to edit said template. It is better to play it safe than to use a template poorly.
You should organize the material in your resume to put your most impressive content first. That might be your education. But it might not be. Do not feel compelled to put your GPA on your resume (and I would only list it if you are a 3.5+). Do not feel compelled to put every job on your resume.
Old rules dictated that a resume never extend beyond one page. I don’t think that rule works in a digital, algorithmic age. BUT, prioritize what goes where.
An objective statement allows you to repeat the job title. They are not necessary. Some people love them, others see them as a waste of space.
There’s no need to list references. But, if you have empty space, then they do not hurt. I’d rather see a list of skills.
