Earlier this week, I was providing a résumé critique for a client. While his résumé, overall, was pretty good, it was simply too long with too many words. I asked “Dave” the following question:
Dave, if you were an HR Manager or recruiter, would you read all this stuff?
Immediately, he offered a crisp “no”!
In sharing with Dave many tips and ideas on how to rewrite his résumé to get it in more manageable, readable and actionable order, I suggested he consider a Think Tweet mentality.
Think Tweet?
Yes, Think Tweet. I’ll show you what I mean. We went to the computer where I showed him how to make a tweet:
Today I am showing a client how to write a tweet and how it is so important to write with brevity in sharing the essence of your message with your audience. -17
As I typed the above tweet as an example for my client, he read aloud the message that popped up when we tried to post the lengthy entry.
Your Tweet was over 140 characters. You'll have to be more clever.
Your tweet was too long – it went over by 17 characters, Dave advised me.
We rewrote the entry, and he quickly grasped the difference between a long-winded one-liner (tweet) and a short one. Less is more.
If you decide to write (or revamp) your own résumé, I would encourage you to keep it brief and relevant and present the essence of your message in as few words as possible. Make it easy for the reader to get to know you in a few seconds. No more long and boring résumé.
As Twitter suggests: “You’ll have to be more cleaver.”
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