Is your job search strategy an Ikea project without the instructions? 🛠️

I sometimes meet job seekers who are frustrated by conflicting resume advice from different career coaches. Should they stick with two pages or go longer? Exactly what should go in that executive summary? To use keywords or not, that is the question…

So I’ll just say it. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁. I say that with confidence because there are tens of thousands of talent acquisition specialists and hiring managers. And they are all different! We all have our quirks, foibles, and peculiarities. The people on the hiring side of the fence are actually human too. And thusly, two hiring managers might assess the same resume completely differently…There is no single perfect resume format. So if you’re currently trying to cobble together resume advice from five different career coaches, you’re likely getting more confusion and frustration than value. 

𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝘅: 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗻𝗲. Pick a single career coach whose advice you’re going to follow. Just one and only one. 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰, 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁, 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂. Pay them, or just use their free stuff, either is fine. Pick a coach and give it time to work. Be smart, be consistent, be persistent, and measure your progress. Because there are no silver bullets.

𝗢𝗵 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁, 𝗜 𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗼𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁!!!! Use your network. And I don’t mean someone you spammed on LinkedIn after you applied, that doesn’t count. Someone with whom you have a relationship built on trust. 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗮 “𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵” 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸. So please stop fretting about crafting the perfect resume. Instead, invest your time and energy into rekindling, nurturing, and growing the group of people who trust your work.