I was watching this TV programme called “Style by Jury” on Mediacorp Channel 5 TV about this lady who is undergoing a make-over. She has been portraying a poor image of herself by wearing baggy, out-of-fashion clothes which only seems to emphasise the flaws of her body.
On the TV screen, she looked haggard, sluggish and messy. It is not surprising to know that when she went for interviews, those job employers turn her down even though she had outstanding qualifications and possess the relevant skills to secure those jobs. To enlighten her plight, the TV producers of this show had decided to invite a career consultant to help this lady to secure a position.
Thinking Out-of-the-box
The career consultant scanned through her resume which she had prepared for her previous interviews and said:” Your resume is so long. A 20-page resume is getting you nowhere.None of the employers is going to read your long resume.You have to be concise.You saw those stack of resumes and cover letters over there? Those are written by countless Americans whom, like you, could not get a job.
Right now, you have to think out-of-the-box so that your resume looks different from that stack of junk. Remember this; you have to write a resume in a way to advertise yourself. Try to present it in different ways, like a cereal box.”
“Come back after one week and show me what you’ve got!”,he said in a demanding tone.
A week After
The lady handled a brown paper package proudly to her career consultant.
“Oh my, you have surprised me. I like your idea of presenting your resume as a form of a jigsaw puzzle.To read your resume, your employer has to piece these few pieces of cut-outs together. This is creative of you.Look at your resume! You have listed down all the necessary information which the employers want to see.Very concise.And you did what I’ve told you! I am so proud of you.”
Question
Do you think it will work if I present my resume in such an unconventional way? How far can this sort of creativity in resumes go? I don’t think an employer wants to see me doing a mascot in his or her office or even a banner with my career details splash across it.
Note: We have not touched the issue on resumes yet, but this issue has been bugging me since I last saw the TV programme.
