Jeremy Johnson has a new guest blog post this week on how many people view their resume like a tackle box, handing it off to their audience to open up and see every last bit of experience (every lure, bobber and hook) that they’ve ever used in their career, regardless of whether it’s what their audience will “bite on.” Learn why skill sets are what is most important for being your tackle box.
Jeremy is a recruiter in Kansas City for EHD Technologies, a recruiting, staffing and managed services company serving the IT, Engineering and Automotive industries.
What’s in Your Tackle Box?
Maybe it’s the fact that being left-handed makes me right-brained, but I think in pictures – always have. Not numbers. That’s a different story. Numbers and I aren’t really on speaking terms. But, explain a concept to me and I immediately begin formulating a word picture – an analogy – in my head to help me understand it.
It’s come in very handy as a recruiter when I’m explaining to candidates the importance of customizing their resumes. So, without further ado, let’s grab our fishing poles. (Stick with me; I’ve just entered word-picture world.)
Now, I’m not much of a fisherman, but I’ve gone on enough fishing expeditions with my family and grandparents to be pretty comfortable knowing how it all works. It first starts with the gear. I remember my dad opening his (very impressive ) tackle box to reveal a wide and wild array of gadgets, each designed to catch a different fish. There were shiny things, rubbery things, smelly things, and sharp things – weights, lures, bait, hooks and bobbers. All I could think of was, “Are we really using ALL of this?!”
This is exactly what too many people do with their resumes. They view it like a tackle box, handing it off to their audience to open up and see every last bit of experience (every lure, bobber and hook) that they’ve ever used in their career, regardless of whether it’s what their audience will “bite on.” In fishing terms, they’re using the wrong bait to catch the wrong fish.
The mistake is in thinking that the resume is your job-hunting tackle box. IT’S NOT!! Your SKILL SETS are your tackle box. Just as a good fisherman chooses a specific lure for a specific target, you should showcase the relevant skills on your resume for your specific target.
I’m not suggesting minimizing the resume. That’s not the point at all. The point is what you emphasize, what you showcase to make your audience take notice.
But back to my dad’s real tackle box. While I was sitting there as a kid, admiring everything it, wondering how in the world he was going to use all this stuff, he simply reached in, selected one particular lure, tied it to his line, and cast it out. Dad had a plan. Before we even started, he knew what kind of fish he wanted to catch and he purposely chose the right bait that gave him the best chance of catching it. He had all sorts of tools in that tackle box, but most of them were pretty idle on any given fishing trip.
Your career tackle box may cover dozens of years, a lot of geography or maybe even several industries. It’s everything you carry with you from your career. And, no doubt, it’s important to you. But the thing is, just because it’s important to you doesn’t mean it’s necessarily important to a hiring manager. How you structure the resume, the story you present, what you emphasize, may not match what they’re looking for.
Again, I’m not advocating simply picking and choosing bits and pieces to put on your resume or leave off. It’s the unity of message you’re sending that counts – especially if your background covers several job titles or disciplines and can confuse your audience about whether you’re the right fit for them. And that unity of message is determined by the skill sets – the “lures” – that you want your target audience to focus on. It’s important to remember all the skill sets in your career tackle box, but it’s even more important to know when you should call on each one – when to “cast” it to the forefront of your resume.
And don’t forget that throwing the wrong lure can make for a long day at the lake. So, if you’re casting your resume out there and the fish aren’t biting, you might ask yourself if you’re scaring the fish off.
So, a tackle box is a good picture to keep in mind when preparing your resume. It’s knowing how to target your audience, knowing what’s important to them and what you’ve done that they’re most likely to bite on. Don’t just throw out any bait without thinking, then wonder why the fish won’t bite.
Match the lure to the fish. Be targeted, be intentional and you just might catch that whopper.