Tag Archives: resumes

Blog #3: When Does It Pay To Be Creative?

Remember my presentation on Wednesday about modalities? I would like to think of this blog post as an extension of my PowerPoint presentation. Specifically, the way audiences’ reactions to modalities shift in various context and cultures. When we are ready to write our resumes, we must apply cognitive empathy. That is, we must put ourselves in our potential employers’ shoes in order to understand their thought processes when analyzing our resumes.

In my PowerPoint, I broke down employers into three very broad groups: general audience, specific audience, and international audience.  General and international audiences would want traditional-style resumes because these have always been deemed professional, and thus, suitable for professional workplaces, such as law firms, investment banks, and government offices.

However, specific audiences are media-based employers like Facebook, film, or radio stations, whose audience is the public. Specific audiences do not like traditional resumes because they do not represent the progressive actions of the company, nor do traditional styles reflect their values in creativity and imagination. So, what should we give them? The examples below are alternative resumes that have landed job interviews. Click one for a closer look.

 

resume_FB  resume_movie

(Images: “13 Insanely Cool Resumes that Landed Interviews At Google And Other Top Jobs.” 2014. Web. Courtesy of Patricia Laya on Business Insider.)

 

What does this mean for us? It means that we need to be ready to create multiple styles of resumes in addition to our traditional resumes. Click here for more creative resume ideas to apply to your field.

My field is in English, so I can go into multiple positions for editing anywhere. If I were to go into menu design and editing, I would resemble my resume to a menu:

  • Name of the restaurant: Your name and contact information
  • Appetizers: Your objective/goal
  • Tapas: Your skills
  • Entrees: Your skills applied to experiences
  • Sides: Your education and work history
  • Desserts: Your awards, certificates, or licenses

If I were to go for a position at a greeting card company, I would use a bi-fold card as my resume template:

  • Outside of card: Name, contact information, objective/goal
  • Inside (left page): Skills and skills applied to experiences
  • Inside (right page): Education/work history and awards/certificates/licenses

 

In addition to alternative resumes as a means of deviating from the crowd, there are a few other ways to distinguish you from others with similar backgrounds:

  • Kill the buzz words, like “team player” or “detail-oriented.” Instead of using these adjectives, provide a concrete example of a project where you had to work with others. Also, show the employer that you are detail-oriented through your resume. Make sure you used correct grammar and that your spaces are parallel and words are aligned.
  • Include your goals. People with similar backgrounds don’t necessarily have the same goals (Veritas Prep). Being able to articulate exactly why you need the job to achieve your goals is a strong tool.
  • Avoid jargons associated with your field.  Employers are subjected to the same words used in multiple resumes, which means they will be inclined to overlooking these words and consider it a poor use of space on resumes.

On the other hand, we need to keep in mind that these alternative resumes can be risky even within the specific audience. For example, I included an animated resume in my PowerPoint with background music that was far too fast-paced, and thereby, affecting the pace of the content in the video. Another example of the risks of alternative resumes is Greg Dizzia’s experience when his “resume became the actual interview.” An employer asked him “what would happen if this was black and white?” and from there he learned that his “resume itself was becoming a pivoting point in the negotiation of [his] position” and that “although he says he’s gotten mostly positive feedback, he says his resume has caused mixed reactions. It mostly depends on who you’re talking to[…]and he gets much better reactions from people in creative positions than people in HR” (Laya).

Other risky ways of representing yourself include social media profiles. We need to step back and ask ourselves not how do we want to portray ourselves, but rather as whom do we want to portray ourselves? This refers us back to my blog post last week about the lack of ethics in resumes and why it is okay.

I have never thought deeply about the image I want to portray on social media. After Brandin’s presentation on Wednesday about audience, I took his advice on what we should keep in mind when we have social media profiles:

  • Likes/dislikes/following whom
  • Memes that we share indicating racism, sexism, violence
  • Grammar, homophones, apostrophes
  • Photos/what is in the background of those photos

In a perfect world, we would want to create a neutral image for our employers. However, it is hard to tell who considers things negative or positive. Personally, regardless of what I want to be or for whom I want to work, I know that my degree will be in English. So, the image I want to create is a person with good grammar and coherent sentences. In addition, I “like” Grammarly on Facebook, and the “Books I’ve Read” section on my profile lists all of the classic novels I have read (even if I did not like them). These factors can work in my favor instead of being risks to my character.

So, when does it pay to be creative? Career coaches say that “it depends on where you’re applying to” (Laya).

 

Sources Cited

“Distinguishing Yourself in Your MBA Applications.” Veritas Prep. Web. 14 September 2014 <http://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2012/12/distinguishing-yourself/>.

Laya, Patricia. “13 Insanely Cool Resumes that Landed Interviews At Google And Other Top Jobs.” Business Insider. Web. 14 September 2014 <http://www.businessinsider.com/insanely-creative-resumes-2011-6?op=1>.

I need a job and I will get one at any cost!

Like the Nike slogan states, “Just Do It”. In this day and age where there are job descriptions that require 4-5 years experience it is absolutely okay to stretch the truth as long as it favors you in the end. A resume is typically viewed as a reflection of who you are before you get the opportunity to come face to face with an interviewer. The truth of the matter is if he is displeased or unimpressed with your resume, you will most likely not be called in for an interview. It is no surprise that people continuously enhance their resumes especially with the unemployment rate on a steady rise. While some people are lucky enough to get a job offer, most of them are being paid way less than they were earning, and they are being hired at under 30 hours a week so the company can avoid offering benefits.

In reality, companies typically will not mention how poor the working conditions are. They tend to exaggerate the pay, and often fail to mention that some jobs are not readily available to outsiders but under legal obligations they are required to post all open jobs, in some cases, the hiring manager has already predetermined that they will hire internally (Sullivan). This unfortunately is the bitter truth. Most job seekers prepare for interviews, drive up to 90 minutes to interviews only to find out weeks later that the company has decided to go with someone different. With that being said, I doubt companies really get hurt by an applicant’s white lie. The applicant goes unbothered if he does not land the job and resumes his job search while the company obviously moves on from that interview. In the long run, no one suffers for it. However, falsifying information that can be proven and tested i.e, drug and background tests can be detrimental to an applicant and reduce his likelihood of getting the position since employers spend thousands of dollars screening applicants during the process (Harding).

As tempting as lying on your resume can be, do you strongly believe an applicant who has been unemployed for over a year would be mindful of what he presents to the interviewer? Do you think he is concerned about the interviewer’s view of him or his resume when his main goal is acing the interview and landing the job? No, because as long as he is comfortable with omitting the truth or falsifying his resume the last thing he is worried about is his ethics.

Sullivan, Dr. John. “Opinion Recruiting’s Dirty Little Secrets — What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You .” ere.net, n. d. Web. 5 Sep. 2014. <http://www.ere.net/2011/12/26/recruiting’s-dirty-little-secrets-what-you-dont-know-can-hurt-you/>.

Harding, Ryan. “5 Lies That Damage Your Reputation as a Job Applicant .” Business2community, 18 03 2014. Web. 5 Sep. 2014. <http://www.business2community.com/human-resources/5-lies-damage-reputation-job-applicant-0815564

 

Blog #2: The Lack of Ethics in Resumes and Why It’s OK

simpsons(Image: “Angels on My Shoulders.” 2011. Web. Courtesy of Daniebob on WordPress)

Is it acceptable to lie to a potential employer for an opportunity at your dream job? The right answer is no, but my answer is YES.

“The percentage of people who lie to potential employers is substantial” (Tomassi), and who can blame them? Employers intimidate us in ways that slightly encourage us to shade the truth. In fact, “40 [percent] of all resumes aren’t altogether aboveboard” (Tomassi). Given the circumstances of seeking for a job in a highly-competitive market, it is understandable that one of the ways people influence their resumes is by lying. “Omission is one of the most common forms of lying in the workplace” (Goman) because people want to avoid discrimination. Let’s consider Joanne Rowling. Most of us know her as J.K. Rowling. She omitted her name with the intention of misleading the reader of her sex. “Joanne Rowling had somehow gotten the idea that books by women were not as widely read or taken seriously as books by men—or that boys shy from reading female authors—and so had chosen to be known by her gender-neutral initials” (Prose).

As common as omission is in a resume, the same is not recommended for resumes internationally. In fact, resumes between the US and Asia differ tremendously. My father lives in Vientiane, Laos, and is the chairman of our family’s distribution company, KP Co., Ltd. During the summer, I visited him at the peak of hiring season and saw stacks of resumes on a desk. The sample resume below is a very similar template of one that I saw; instead of omitting personal details, they emphasize them. Click the photo below for a closer look.

International resume
(Image: “English Teacher Resume Review.” 2014. Web. Courtesy of An’nisa Khairani Haningsih on All Docs)

“Different countries expect and require certain information to be present on resumes, and therefore it is critical that your new resume meets the unique requirements of that country” (Redelman). Thus, resume-writing conventions need to adapt to their current marketplace whether it is an entirely different culture or within different domestic fields of study. It is important because the standard “one-size-fits-all” template is no longer enough to capture everyone’s attention. The field in which you apply influences the multimodal tools in your resume. For example, the following resume emphasizes the applicant’s talent in graphic design. Obviously, this would be an inappropriate template for legal professions.

Graphic designer resume
(Image: “Graphic designer resume sample.” 2014. Web. Courtesy of Vizual Resume.)

 

Between the two resume examples, there are differences in the contents. The second resume does not include a self-photograph or personal details that risk discrimination; though, both applicants could have lied by embellishing their experiences. This raises the question: how do we know that our competitors will not be lying in the same way that we are? “[We are] lied to from 10 to 200 times per day” (Firestone), so there is a great possibility that people are more likely to stretch or bend the truth on their resumes. After all, it becomes a cutthroat atmosphere when people are after the same job. However, I do believe that we have a moral obligation to our employers by telling them truthful experiences and giving them valid credentials so as not to waste their time interviewing us, or further, investing time and money to train us for our jobs. I think that the reason for interviewing someone is not only to get to know the applicant, but also to cross-examine the details of his/her resume. So, if you are going to embellish your experiences and credentials, then it is your sole responsibility to defend your claims.

While there are similarities between what U.S. and international applicants will do to make their resumes standout, there are differences in addition to the unique resume requirements of each country. When a U.S. citizen seeks for a job abroad, or when an international applicant seeks for a job in the U.S., there will be dilemmas that could prevent each from getting a job. For example, one trying to understand and adhere to the laws of that country and risking law violations on behalf of the business. I think that in whichever country you are, you should follow their rules. This applies to U.S. and international corporations and employees.

Another issue is language barriers that lead to miscommunication. What if a word or phrase in your resume means something entirely different in another country? It could offend the employer, or you may even have lied about your credentials unknowingly. Would you consider this lying?

Whether we think of ourselves as liars or not, “we certainly shade the truth to make it fit more comfortably into our lives—to keep it from disrupting anything from our careers to our relationships to our afternoons” (Firestone).

 

Sources Cited

 

Firestone, Lisa. “Shades of Truth: The Many Ways We Lie.” Huffingtonpost. Web. 5 Sep. 2014 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-firestone/telling-the-truth_b_3831304.html>.

Goman, Carol Kinsey. “The 10 Most Common Workplace Lies.” Forbes. Web. 5 Sep. 2014 <http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolkinseygoman/2013/10/17/10-of-the-biggest-workplace-lies/>.

Prose, Francine. “How Do We Judge Books Written Under Pseudonyms?” NYTimes. Web. 5 Sep. 2014 <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/books/review/how-do-we-judge-books-written-under-pseudonyms.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.

Redelman, Gavin. “How Resumes Differ from Country to Country.” Expatarrivals. Web. 5 Sep. 2014 <http://www.expatarrivals.com/article/how-resumes-differ-from-country-to-country>.

Tomassi, Kate DuBose. “Most Common Resume Lies.” Forbes. Web. 5 Sep. 2014 <http://www.forbes.com/2006/05/20/resume-lies-work_cx_kdt_06work_0523lies.html>.