MarPro - The Marketing Procurement Podcast

MarPro Office Hours - Job Hunting and Resume Writing

March 01, 2022 Rusty Pepper & Dana Small
MarPro - The Marketing Procurement Podcast
MarPro Office Hours - Job Hunting and Resume Writing
Transcript

So I was sitting there laughing earlier this week, when I saw your text about a six page resume that came across your desk, and It got me thinking, this would be a fun conversation Conversation for us to talk about. I know that was something that you had mentioned to me as well So I'm 100% in alignment with you. This is definitely a good conversation I think we should have. Based around the importance of Professionalism when it comes to resume writing and getting a freaking job Yeah, and I know there is a lot out there I can see maybe a reason or two for It, like we were talking about there's that computer algorithm That you go to submit your resume. If it doesn't have key buzzwords or things of that sort It won't even get past that filter. That said I think you can get it Done in less than six pages. And I never even thought anything Past two pages was considered acceptable I think it's rude. I do too. Who has time to read six pages? Who has time to read one page? So if you can't capture the Attention in one. That's the key is Nobody cares after a certain point about all the different experiences. Quite honestly if you You have a six page resume, that means you are not reliable You are not consistent, you're flighty, you change jobs way too often Because there is zero reason for you to have that many jobs Well you know, okay so If it goes back say twenty years, and you can kind of look at my career too I wasn't flighty, I was very directed in my career path But I worked in a quality control lab. That was my first job out of college, I have a Biology undergrad, right? Yeah, but can't that just be A single line right? That's exactly it. That's exactly what I do. Because it's not Relevant to what you are doing now. It was just a stepping stone to get there And I say the same thing. The last two Two jobs probably prior, is where you really need to elaborate Because that was the substance of what you've done. It's what have you done for me lately? If you can't come into an organization, a hiring person What value you are bringing to my organization Why are you qualified to do this, and why should I talk to you And if I can't see that within a page Page, quarter page, 30 seconds of looking at it I'm moving on. I would have hit delete You know what. You know I would have to if it was Hiring for my position, But I've noticed on the other side of The business it seems to be almost standard, that they have these Exceptionally long resumes, and to me I just don't Don't see the need for it. Because isn't that part of the interview process? Like if you have the experience, ok Right, now let's interview and talk about it so see if we can talk Intelligently, but to have six pages I Just, I don't understand the thought Process of like, this is a great idea. I hope you had a cocktail When you were reading that, because that is like a novel. Well, yeah It is like. As soon as I saw it, and this is my honest Reaction, I went, uhhhh what? And I just like scrolled Through and I was like, I can't, I couldn't even focus on it because there was so Much. It was too much. Right. And like you said, if you can't capture somebody In the first, well you texted me and said, I've got a six page resume here I've got to look at You got distracted by the, the comic framework, yea Of it. Because, first of all I think that's the longest resume I've ever seen. But Like what story are you telling in six Like what is so important that it takes six pages? Like I write Blogs that aren't that long. And they Make more of a point than this resume did. Not that the person Isn't qualified, not that I didn't like them. But, I was just kind of left Scratching my head of like, do you really expect somebody to Read this. I know I said it, kind of in the interview. Oh you did I did, I was, I kind of alluded to it half jokingly Like yeah, I didn't get through your resume. So you got Actually, the six pager actually worked though to get Get the interview. Uh, I suppose so. You know it got through the algorithm and it I mean, maybe that's the tactic Or maybe the algorithm couldn't handle it and was like, I got nothing on this I'm tapped out, I'm tapped out just pass it Just go, go. I don't want to have to deal with this one. Just go through I mean I think it would be interesting for a HR Or somebody in HR that specializes in this, because it would be really interesting to get that feedback About a six pager. I mean personally, whenever I've had to hire somebody When I at resumes, I look basically at the Last job, what are they doing, and to me I think the intro Letter, is more important, oh really, than the resume They are storytelling. They are telling story You can see somebody's personality in a cover In a good cover letter. If it's a boiler plate, wow you really Are really interesting in my, in what we are doing. You can just tell It was plugged in. Resumes, you know if someone look at my resume They'd be like okay cool, whatever. But when you talk to somebody you can actually How they write, how do they communicate, to me especially Do what we do, that's really important. Yeah, I'd say from a marketing Perspective 100% it's a lot more important It just to me, I just never thought in any Point of any business, that it was ever acceptable In any group, and I mean it was procurement, it was sourcing and You know it's great. So you know it wasn't fun reading I mean at that point. I knew it just wasn't going to be a good time Wow, this is going to be fun, a six page procurement Resume, wow. Can't wait to dig into that one. Exactly. And on top of it, half of it wasn't even procurement. The thing is I would keep that six page resume, because if we ever do have another Toilet paper shortage or you know it would be good to have that That back stock of inventory, because you just never know when you may need it For something else. But you did actually bring up something, I wanted to bring up Is you bring up is job hopping and stuff. What is your thought when somebody Somebody, they go to a job for a year or two And then they move, and then they move and it's consistent and they do it a lot. It's a red flag. I agree. I absolutely know The younger generation will agree with me, millennials and Younger, that said what can you really get, in my mind What can you really get accomplished in a year. I mean you can Not much maybe something. But to me to achieve success You need to be in a position for at least a couple of years before you can say I did all of these great things before you move on, that said It was like a bad position maybe from the get-go, and your like This just wasn't for me. I've had one of those transitions where No, I made a mistake I'm done. But you can see in the rest of my career progression I was at Lilly six years, I was at this place seven years I was at this place you know two-three years, you know I Just, to me job hopping, I just don't see what you're getting accomplished I feel like your, I feel like the point of it is to get experience but how much experience Are you really getting if you are there for 9 months What's the old adage, or saying hire slow and fire fast Yeah were you take your time, find the right people, ask the right Put the pressure on them to make that hard decision I think you know within that first sixty days whether You've got, and sometimes its even sooner if it's a right fit or not I mean, I mean if not you just got to pull to find A way to transition to make it work for both parties but I mean the culture fit It's more important sometimes than the actual Ability, because a lot of times you can coach or someone is willing To fit right and they want to invest and they want to put the time in it and they just A good fit and you know that we want this kind of person on our team You'll throw resources to get them up to speed and work over time To overcome that it's the people that come in with all this wonderful Experience but they are just cancers. You know This is just nobody wants to be around you to got to get them out Well and you know its funny you bring this up So I was thinking about we had another conversation about Whenever you do take on a new job you talk about job hopping you always have these People who are like 'oh in my last job oh when I was at this place' And I know it is very easy to do when you are some Place but after awhile it just gets so old And you are like I get it, you worked at wherever and Past year or year and a half you should go back You should go back there then Well I guess the key takeaway from this episode as short as it is Is going to be is man really pay attention To the audience to which you are submitting your resume and its a competitive market out there and Six pages its way to long I'm curious to see what the feedback is going to be from You know the people who listen you know and follow this To me six pages, is just way to much we should actually put a survey out on this Yeah that's not a bad idea to see what the average length is I feel Like it should be, I know the old adage is like one or two pages Is acceptable, but if you can't tell me in one page to your point You've lost me. You've lost my Interest and I can't focus that long I mean we all have You know ADD because of technology so Just include so much I just don't yeah I don't Don't understand it but yeah well then last question On this before we just cut it is the, cause I Pull out the fact that I think the cover letter is More important than sometimes resumes because sometimes the cover letter You can actually just glance at to see especially if its entertaining And see if it can capture me and get my attention I'm going to be into it And the resume itself could be just ho-hum because its a resume I mean how exciting can you really make a resume yeah exactly it's a story of what your work Experience is but I don't care what anybody says I don't think anybody is completely honest on their resumes I think everybody Inflated and what they've done is a little bit more So you cut all that down, but your cover letter If you really get an ass-kicking cover letter that just grabs your attention I can't imagine that's not going to Overweigh that person that resume or that resume Compared to somebody who might have a little bit better resume but letter was a little ho-hum Yeah, no initially when you first said that I was like huh Then now kind of thinking through it yea 100% You see all these like examples of these crazy cover letters like Whatever it is to like what your saying to grab your attention And keep you in there and tell you why you're excited about that position What you think you can do one hundred percent I think the cover letter now In hindsight is even more important Right because your point is completely valid how fun can you really Make a resume and if you are a good writer You can really capture somebody and get peoples attention I don't think you go through a job site I think you go straight to the CEO the owner the director whoever is responsible for That department that you want to go work for go right to the source You know if you can figure it out that's easy There are so many to find those emails and get that information stalking on the internet There Rusty are you it's not hard but I mean think about it I take that more from a sales marketing perspective because yea The fact is you've got to do that anyways and if you can't do that for yourself How the heck are you going to do it for the business Yeah no I always think one of the best things you can always learn is just To figure it out without having help Sometimes you just need to figure things out and that would be another Time where it's just like figure it out, figure out how you can look at The organization in LinkedIn and see the structure and who might be hiring That's exactly right last thing out of generic Resumes and cover letters are not the way to win so anyways good good stuff I think that was a fun little Six page resume being able to call that out on what Not to do