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The Resumé is Dead

 

I want to declare the death of the resumé as a tool for hiring. It's passé. It's old school. It's last century.

Just what is a resumé? It's a list of functions that others have allowed you to perform in the past; it's not an indication of what you know that you can do in the present or in the future. Big difference.

For example, my resumé wouldn't say anything of my artistic abilities. Never really done that for an employer. And as a programmer, I show a lot of SQL Server, web site development, etc. But it says nothing of my ability to read people or my knack to rapidly see potential problems in a given solution that others might miss, which saves time and money.

I mean, think about your resumé... what's missing from it? What about you makes you stellar but isn't easily shown on a resumé?

And the interview is usually worse. It's so 1990's, it hurts.

"Tell me about your previous work... tell me about yourself... why do you think you would be qualified for this position?"

How many times have you walked out of an interview knowing that they have your resumé in hand but feeling like they have no clue what you're capable of doing for them?

I'll paraphrase one of the quotes that I posted earlier:

The 'surplus society' has a surplus of similar interviewees, exhibiting similar skills, with similar educational backgrounds, probably coming up with similar ideas, producing similar things, with similar salary requirements and most likely similar quality.
Having done a lot of hiring in the past, there are two piles for candidates: the "absolutely not" pile and the "maybe" pile. The "maybes" need more investigation: background check, reference check, and ultimately, an interview.

With the "maybe" pile during the interview, an employer generally looks for intangibles, such as personality traits that make the candidate seem more like a "fit" than the other candidates. But being a "fit" doesn't indicate breakthrough performance. It means that the person will most likely be much like everyone else already working there. Does that help the company stand out among its competitors? Normally, no. In other words, most people don't really know what to hire to make their group/division/company stand out and impress in the marketplace.

And when managers hire, they usually expect the employee to perform within the job description, which is usually based on previous experience doing exactly what they've always done. Which generally leads to this tombstone, which I've borrowed from Tom Peters slideshow:

Screw that.

"Our business needs a massive transfusion of talent, and talent, I believe, is most likely to be found among non-conformists, dissenters and rebels." - David Ogilvy

"My wife and I went to a [kindergarten] parent-teacher conference and were informed that our budding refrigerator artist, Christopher, would be receiving a grade of Unsatisfactory in art. We were shocked. How could any child - let alone our child - receive a poor grade in art at such a young age? His teacher informed us that he had refused to color within the lines, which was a state requirement for demonstrating ‘grade-level motor skills.'" - Jordan Ayan, AHA!

A resumé is exactly that: it shows how well you've colored within the lines. But it says very little about what you can really do. It only shows what you've been allowed to do.

Screw that.

All in favor of the death of the resumé, don't just say "Aye!" but instead, go create a portfolio of your talent in such a way that everyone can view it and get a real sense of who you are and what you can truly do.

 

0 Comments
Tags: tom peters | resume
by Brett Rogers, 5/19/2005 11:58:50 AM
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Tom Peters in Saudi Arabia

 

Tom Peters went to Saudi Arabia to give a presentation at King Fahd University on May 16. I downloaded the slideshow that he used. Good stuff... and I haven't finished looking through all of it. Here are some snippets.

"The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind—computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind—creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers. These people—artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers—will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys."
- Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind

Why Do I love Freaks?
(1) Because when Anything Interesting happens … it was a freak who did it. (Period.)
(2) Freaks are fun. (Freaks are also a pain.) (Freaks are never boring.)
(3) We need freaks. Especially in freaky times. (Hint: These are freaky times, for you & me & the CIA & the Army & Avon.)
(4) A critical mass of freaks-in-our-midst automatically make us-who-are-not-so-freaky at least somewhat more freaky. (Which is a Good Thing in freaky times—see immediately above.)
(5) Freaks are the only (ONLY) ones who succeed—as in, make it into the history books.
(6) Freaks keep us from falling into ruts. (If we listen to them.) (We seldom listen to them.) (Which is why most of us—and our organizations—are in ruts. Make that chasms.)
- Tom Peters

"The only reason to give a speech is to change the world."
- JFK

Great design = One-page business plan.
- Jim Horan

"You do not merely want to be the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do."
- Jerry Garcia

New Work SurvivalKit2005
1. Mastery! (Best/Absurdly Good at Something!)
2. "Manage" to Legacy (All Work = "Memorable"/"Braggable" WOW Projects!)
3. A "USP"/Unique Selling Proposition (R.POV8: Remarkable Point of View ... captured in 8 or less words)
4. Rolodex Obsession (From vertical/hierarchy/"suck up" loyalty to horizontal/"colleague"/"mate" loyalty)
5. Entrepreneurial Instinct (A sleepless ... Eye for Opportunity! E.g.: Small Opp for Independent Action beats faceless part of Monster Project)
6. CEO/Leader/Businessperson/Closer (CEO, Me Inc. Period! 24/7!)
7. Mistress of Improv (Play a dozen parts simultaneously, from Chief Strategist to Chief Toilet Scrubber)
8. Sense of Humor (A willingness to Screw Up & Move On)
9. Comfortable with Your Skin (Bring "interesting you" to work!)
10. Intense Appetite for Technology (E.g.: How Cool-Active is your Web site? Do you Blog?)
11. Embrace "Marketing" (Your own CSO/Chief Storytelling Officer)
12. Passion for Renewal (Your own CLO/Chief Learning Officer)
13. Execution Excellence! (Show up on time! Leave last!)
Distinct or Extinct!
- Tom Peters

He gave this presentation in Saudi Arabia. Think about that.

 

4 Comments
Tags: tom peters | daniel pink
by Brett Rogers, 5/19/2005 8:56:14 AM
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