Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, Millennials, have one thing in common that causes hiring leaders to hand slap their heads—it’s the use of a “Gen Eric” resume. Generic products are fine if you’re pinching pennies, but a “Gen Eric” resume is causing you lost time and salary.
Generic resumes (Gen Eric) continue to flood the ATS systems and hiring leaders’ emails. IT, engineers, executives, and professionals from across the board (all industries and all generations) are still short-cutting themselves when submitting perhaps the most important document of their life, their resumes.
“Gen Eric resume” definition: (jen-AIR-ick) A boring string of words ping-ponging from left page justification to right page justification, sometimes preceded with a bullet or asterisk. No metrics are ever mentioned. Poor use of resume real estate flanks the upper right hand corner with unneccesary information such as, PHONE: or CELL: as though the reader can’t discern that 7 digits separated by a 2 dashes is a phone number. Words like “objective”, “responsibilities include”, and “I” are overused and paired up with meaningless adjectives.
“Gen Eric” resumes have become a brand of their own, taking over intelligent candidates knowledge, skills, and abilities and leaving top talent performers in the dust. Identifying “Gen Eric” resumes is easy, knowing how to fix them is in most cases the obstacle for candidates.
Top 10 Tips to turn your resume into a coveted marketing tool:
- Front and center of your resume, boldly showcase the position that you are targeting as it appears on the job description.
- Remove words preeeding your phone number such as: phone, cell, P, or C.
- Remove your home address. Where you live has no basis for your qualifications.
- Add metrics and measurement to quantify your value add to the organization and position you are targeting.
- Remove positions and/or details dating back more than 15 years. If employment is relevant, simply state that you worked at XYZ company in XYZ role.
- Showcase your personality in your resume. Remember, your resume is your first representation of you. In 2016, your personal brand is your calling card.
- 1-2 pages of information is more than sufficient to convey your achievements.
- Include your core behavioral leadership competencies.
- Remove the use of “I”, “me”, or “my”.
- Show your results in a graph or highlight box.
Creating your marketing tool effectively to speak for you is an investment and first impression. Kick “Gen Eric” to the curb. It’s time to have a marketing campaign representing your very best achievements!
