The Y Factor

Today was my last day at work for Super Book Deals. I sat down with my boss today, and he said, “You’ve done so much to help us to accomplish our goals over the past three weeks, now I want to help you accomplish yours.” My ultimate goal out of the whole scholarship experience is to end up with a job, so he had me print out my resume. I came back later in the day and we had a nice long talk about what a resume should look like.

Lesson #7, SO WHAT?

As John read through my resume, through every single bullet point he replied with “So What? Meticulously Organized and excellent Multitasker. So What? 3.5 GPA. So What? Why should I care that you have any of these things?”

After the initial heart dropping that comes with all constructive criticism, I asked, “because they mean that I am qualified?”

“No. None of these bullet points tell me that you are qualified. They tell me that you have done tasks. They do not tell me what you have learned from them, if you even learned from them, or how they will help you do the job you are applying for. You need to explain. You have all of the greatest bullet points that you could have on a resume, you have this scholarship, you run your own business, but it doesn’t tell me why that applies to me or the job you are applying for.”

“Consistently met high sales goals at a high end furniture company. SO WHAT?! Why do I care? You need to tell me that you met these goals by using your sales training to close sales! Work Experience at 3 companies for scholarship. SO WHAT?!?! This is a huge point, you got HANDS ON work experience doing Marketing, the job you are applying for, and actually helped the company achieve goals. THIS is what I want to hear when I am looking at a resume. Don’t assume I’m going to connect the dots. Make it loud and clear how YOUR skills will benefit ME.”

So to all of you job applicants out there, and there are many of you, remember that you need to look at your resume as if you are the interviewer. Why do I care? Tell them loud and clear what they want to know and why YOU are the one they should hire.