THE GENERIC RESUME - JUST BARELY USEFUL

THE GENERIC RESUME - JUST BARELY USEFUL

Not only have you seen them, you probably have one: a generic resume. It’s the document you pull out of the file cabinet when someone tells you about a position that may be interesting … but it's light on relevant details (or doesn’t supply them at all).

It over–itemizes extraneous work experience, sharing details that might impress your family and friends but not a decision–maker looking for relevance.

Generic resumes are exactly what the name implies: non–specific, “baseline” resumes that describe your skills, list professional experience, and provide supplemental information like education, contact information, etc.

You’d probably be very surprised to learn how many people actually submit generic resumes when applying for a position they’ve isolated with our 7–Step Job Search Methodology. It’s appalling. Can you imagine a decision-maker scanning a resume for a position that has clearly defined core skills, only to see a grossly non–targeted resume with absolutely NO relevance?

Does this mean generic resumes have no value? No. They're good starting points for developing targeted resumes. When you identify a well–matched position, you can use your generic resume as a point of reference from which to build the targeted version. In that regard, we can think of them as “just barely useful.”