Perhaps I am dating myself , but it is not in my generations work ethic to brag , humor, or comply with the ADD issues of short one liners , bullet points or scanning databases of today’s resume.
A person may be perfect for the job and a hard worker , but the employer never sees the resume , because some twit thought you were “boring”.
It is a shame that the resume is only as good as the “CV”, (in old school it is called a SUMMARY ), and unless you can entertain their brain in less then 50 words, (in a FONT that resembles my granddaughters handwriting) forget it. No interview.
I find that many companies loose site of the professional aspects of a resume and would rather be humored with unusable tag lines or a personal motto.
If you own your business, use a tagline in your marketing, that’s great ! But in reality, when looking for employment with a fortune 500 company, where individuality and humor are not assets, the tagline should read:
“A subordinate that shows up for work everyday and will do what ever you tell them to do”
OR
” Have been employed for 3 decades. Ask me how!”Is the professional headline / personal tag line for the employing company (they already have one) or for the bored recruiter?
I see nothing “professional” about it, and frankly find it embarrassing to use in a resume.
>> Perhaps I am dating myself , but it is not in my generations work ethic to brag , humor, or comply with
I completely disagree. I think all generations can take to, or be offended by, the one-liners. I don’t think it has anything to do with age or generation.
>> the ADD issues of short one liners , bullet points or scanning databases of today’s resume.
“ADD issues” … funny, I have never heard it described like that. I haven’t done it but I’m guessing if you look up some older sales books you’ll find similar talk about creating a catchy, descriptive, engaging, etc. one-liner as an opener, or as a communication tool. Also, these taglines are not only for “today’s resumes.”
>> A person may be perfect for the job and a hard worker , but the employer never sees the resume , because some twit thought you were “boring”.
I don’t think it comes down to boring or not boring. I think it comes down to “ah, now I understand what you do for a living, or what you are passionate about, or what you can do for my company.” The goal is not to out-wit, out-humor, or best anyone because your one-liner is more clever than anyone else’s. I find most people’s one-liners are too witty and they lose me, become ambiguous, or are too filled with jargon or cliche. I’m not an advocate of witty – I’m an advocate of clear communication.
>> It is a shame that the resume is only as good as the “CV”, (in old school it is called a SUMMARY ), and unless you can entertain their brain in less then 50 words, (in a FONT that resembles my granddaughters handwriting) forget it. No interview.
I agree, it is a shame that there are techniques and tricks that can lead to someone who is less fit to do the job than I am, but that’s the world we live in. HR whines about being too busy and burdened, and they only give a resume a few seconds… this is a shame. But it’s the current system. Now, with automated “applicant tracking systems” a computer does the first round of weedout before that overburdened HR person gets to look at the computer-selected resumes.
>> I find that many companies loose site of the professional aspects of a resume and would rather be humored with unusable tag lines or a personal motto.
I can’t speak to what “many companies” are doing, or how they are making decisions, but I think a job seeker who can clearly, articulately, and clearly communicate what they need to has an advantage over those who can’t.
>> If you own your business, use a tagline in your marketing, that’s great ! But in reality, when looking for employment with…
Here’s where we really start to differ… I think that we ALL own our own business, and it is called Me, Inc. We are all marketers of ourselves. There is no “job” like there was 20 years ago… all we get now are temporary gigs, and we always should be working on identifying our next gig opportunities. You say “if you own your own business,” I say “WE ALL DO!”
>> … where individuality and humor are not assets, the tagline should read:
“A subordinate that shows up for work everyday and will do what ever you tell them to do”
OR
” Have been employed for 3 decades. Ask me how!”I read these and I wonder what that means for me. Honestly, as a hiring manager, I expect you to show up for work, be a professional, do your job, add value, not be high maintenance, and not require lots of training and hand-holding. I expect you to have good judgement and to interact well with others. I expect all of these things, but I might not know how you are different than the 20 other resumes I’ve whittled it down to. Can you tell me that? Because if you think those are the differentiators, and the other 19 also show up for work and “have been employed,” you’ve lost me (especially when they start talking about their professional breadth and depth and expertise). Your unique value proposition is not so unique, and you lose.
>> Is the professional headline / personal tag line for the employing company (they already have one) or for the bored recruiter?
The professional headline (in LinkedIn) and the personal tagline is for anyone who I meet, so I can communicate who I am, what I do, what value I bring to them. It’s not for a bored recruiter, it’s to help any recruiter do their job well. If I say “I’ve been employed for the last 3 decades, ask me how!” … how does that help them fill some of their open jobs? They can’t match that with an open job requirement, can they? But if I say “I’m every engineer’s favorite project manager” they can start to mentally match me to any open project management job they have.
Also, this tagline, which should not be gimmicky, would be used in network events, on a business card, in an email signature, in the LinkedIn professional headline, etc. It is simply a statement to communicate something.
>> I see nothing “professional” about it, and frankly find it embarrassing to use in a resume.
If you don’t see it as professional then you are probably thinking of something too gimmicky. Also, perhaps this “line” doesn’t show up on a resume… but it certainly should become a part of your language when you communicate to others who are wondering “what does Christine do for a living?” Showing up to work for 3 decades is not “what you do” for a living, I’m guessing.
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