Definition of Job Search Insanity
“What is the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing time after time and expecting different results.” Wall Street – Money Never Sleeps
As I watched this movie on HBO today it got me thinking how this applies as much to college grads looking to get started in the job market as it does to the Bulls and the Bears looking to make a killing in the stock market.
You see once again it’s the time of year that my in-box fills up with dozens of resumes from recent graduates taking advantage of my offer for a free resume critique; and unlike the dozens of professional and executive resumes I critique each week for free that are written using varied styles and formats but are for the most part mediocre at best, I continue to be amazed that year after year 8 out of every 10 entry level college grad resumes I see (BS, BA, MS, MA and MBA) are carbon copies of one another. And this is true if whether the student graduated from NYU or Hostos College, UCLA or East LA College, Harvard or Podunk U, the names of the candidates change but the basic format and facts remain the same.
One reason for this I found after talking with college career and placement counselors over the past few years is that they, not unlike certain resume mills, are under the assumption that there is only one way recruiters and hiring authorities want a resume to look and read. A second reason, one that is troublesome to me and should be for all new grads, is they desire continuity for all the resumes that are placed in the Career Book which they provide to on-campus recruiters. The reason this bothers me is that less than 25% of graduates (and I imagine in most school the number is considerably lower) are recruited directly off campus.
I disagree vehemently with this premise. After all when screening 30-330+ entry level resumes for the same position, which I did for at least 5 years during my career, and to all intents and purposes the vast majority look and read the same, how can any screener differentiate your resume from others in the pack. Do we use quality of the school, GPA or other criteria that eliminates you if you were not a top student or you were a bad test taker; or worse yet if your family could not afford to send you to a prestigious or well known university? This is a dilemma I talk to students about all the time.
So what is a frustrated college grad to do? Once again I’ll tell you that your resume must be written to separate you from the crowd as apposed to placing you smack dab in the middle. If your resume comes across to a screener as a recycled version of 80% of the resumes a they read every day your chances of being noticed and called in for an interview are very low, especially when you submit it or post it on a job board among tens of thousands of other candidates’ resumes.
I can tell you this with assurance, creativity works exceedingly well in my practice and it will work for you. Once I convert a recent grad’s old resume to my Bio-Rez or MBA style format the ‘submit to response’ ratio for most candidates has increased substantially.
So if after a few months of sending out the same tired old version of your resume and expecting to get different results is driving you crazy, I suggest you forget what your college advisers told you and try something new. Be creative and remember what I say to everyone I meet; “a resume is not a one size fits all document” because just like funk pioneer Sly Stone said “different strokes for different folks.”
This advice is not only meant for recent graduates, it’s meant to aid anyone who is not getting results.
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