May 2010
Prepared by Dr. David C. Miles Chairman ‘ The Miles LeHane Companies
Over the last 20 years we have witnessed the evolution of the resume. It has always stood as the foundational document for those looking to fill a position as well as those who are seeking opportunities. Many will agree that the approach has evolved, but few fully understand the major shifts that are happening today. With ongoing high unemployment at all levels of the work force, why are some finding new employment within a reasonable period of time and others almost impossible while searching for a year or longer?
The answer is not in just one or two simple statements, but requires a reflection of what employers are looking for in the people they bring into their restructured and refocused organizations. Today, hiring is more critical than before as the elasticity of business has been stretched, and remains so, to the limits of a balance of revenue, cash flow, commitments and sustainability. Each hire must be successful as the cost of failure is increasingly more expensive. The resume comes under greater scrutiny as a sorting document for competencies as well as an insight into the personality and intellectual processes a candidate brings to the table. What is being looked at today must be incorporated into the resume as well as all additional supporting documents. The screening and hiring interviews are the two final pieces of the puzzle, but without an effective resume there simply are too many candidates to interview randomly. The resume must ‘speak’ the new language to get you to an interview.
It is helpful to look historically on what trends have occurred in the field of resume development and how they have been utilized. In the 1980′s thru mid 1990′s even though we as a country had adopted new laws governing work relationships, the traditional style of ‘Career Progression’ resumes were the norm. During the transition from historical labor laws to ‘At Will’ contract laws governing labor, we honored this time tested concept. The basis being, you had loyalty to one or two employers, and you stayed within an industry, and your growth in position responsibilities were an indication of your accomplishments. Loyalty was rewarded with larger responsibility and growth in title. The more rapidly this occurred, was considered an indication of your abilities. As the pace of business grew and the speed of change increased along with the emergence of technology and the beginnings of a global economy, this model was not conducive to the new order of business.
The next era naturally evolved to the concept of ‘Accomplishment Based’ resumes. This met the needs of change that were happening and was at the heart of the new resume styles. The intent of this approach was to demonstrate that you were keeping current with the ‘new world’ of business and in many cases focused on technology knowledge and integration into the mainstream of business practices. Implied in this approach to resumes came such concepts as ‘life- long learning’ and later the concept of ‘coaching’ for personal development. We all had to learn how to use technology effectively. The evolution of the resume was again underway especially after the terrorist’s attacks of 2001 and the large number of people forced into transition. By historical standards a million people restructured in one year is considered a major downturn in the economy. After 9/11, approximately one million people were restructured in the remaining 90 days of 2001, which already had seen over 900,000 restructured due to the ‘dot com’ down turn. Again, millions of resumes flooded the market only to be greeted by key word sorting and ‘fuzzy logic’ prioritizing of one’s credentials against the position specifications. Organizations became overwhelmed as technology made it easy to broadcast your candidacy for a position, but also easy to reject it before being reviewed by a real person.
Enter this unprecedented time of high unemployment with no immediate signs that we will return to what has historically been viewed as full employment. Organizations have been through a process of restructuring, refocusing, and fine tuning their strategic and operating plans. A different approach has emerged from the rapid changes we have all experienced in the demands on our work force. With the rapid advance of technology replacing routine positions and the globalization of competition and the changes in fundamentals of operating effectively, the two old resume approaches do not yield the type of skills, knowledge, abilities, attitude and adaptability of thinking that is required to succeed today. Enter the age of the ‘Value Contributed-Critical Thinking’ approach to resumes. This new style of writing must carry through the entire process of the search and interviewing process if a candidate hopes to be selected. It is estimated that there are between 6 or more candidates for every available position against a standard of 1 to 2 just a few years ago. Today, organizations need a different type of person and that is reflected in the hiring process and support materials.
What does this new approach entail that is different than the past? First it is assumed that more of yesterday activities performed will not be needed. Old competencies will probably not get the job done and will require a new way of approaching the ‘customer’. While it is not throwing out the old ways, it does require analytical skills and problem solving in a new global environment with potentially different cultural underpinnings. The new approach, captured under the umbrella of Critical Thinking, entails logic, thinking, consensus building along with core values that can build trust and respect. This new dimension of how one processes their reality of business and gains results is dramatically different than just counting the end score. How you get there and the journey travelled in business is now being factored into the resume and interviewing approaches. Today’s well written Executive Summary and bullets that follow will present an insight into these areas and will open up a dialogue in the interview to probe the thinking, logic and actions that were taken to add value to the organization. More than ever the interrelationship with the resume, your approach to day to day operations at work and your references take center stage. A candidate, more than ever, needs to present themselves as a coordinated ‘package’ on paper and then again in the interview if they hope to land that new position! Different thinking for a new age of global competition.
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