Why résumés matter: 3 things you should consider!
Why care about your resume?
After years of reviewing resumes and helping professionals nail theirs and land job interviews, I have noticed an interesting correlation: Those who had stronger resumes were the ones that appreciated help the most and hence would invest more into crafting even stronger resumes.
A few years ago, I conducted a survey through which 72% of the respondents indicated that they need help with their resumes. Yet, it was astonishing to find that the ones who felt most confident about their resumes were the ones who valued an extra hand the most. Basically, those who didn’t have resumes or weren’t confident in theirs, didn’t value having a great resume as much.
Many people underestimate the importance of having an impactful resume. Many also believe that a resume’s only utility is in getting the job interview; and that in my opinion is not totally accurate. In case you are one of them, here I wish to shed some light on a handful of things to consider when thinking about the value of a strong resume, or whether or not you should invest time and energy on it.
1. A resume helps you know yourself
Putting enough time into building your resume helps really bring out the best in you. This is a common challenge especially for young professionals entering the workforce. They tend to disregard what they’d accomplished and think of it as not worthy of mentioning or don’t even think of it at all. It is often because they don’t give enough time for themselves to sit down, diligently think about their accomplishments and write them down on a piece of paper. However, listing down your accomplishments – as suggested in Writing an effective résumé: Here’s what you should know!, literally all you can think of – goes a long way.
2. Of course, it’ll help you get the job you always wanted
Through your resume, you’ll give a first impression about your yourself. How would you like that to be? A recruiter is likely to spend as little as 6 seconds before they make up their mind about your candidacy potential. Not to mention, before this stage, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) – used by most large corporations – filters out approximately 70% of resumes, requiring more attention to keyword optimization, and that alone is enough for resumes to matter to those seeking opportunities at large corporations.
However, beyond just the screening stage, many recruiters and hiring managers base a large portion of their interviews on questions related to the candidate’s resume on hand, which very much raises the importance of thoughtful resume content which would not contradict with how you want to present yourself in the interview. Moreover, often times organizations have to choose between candidates after completing the interviews with them. In such cases, they would, to a large extent, refer back to the candidates’ resumes when making a decision, besides just the interview notes which largely rely on only the interviewers, and are not always representable in recruiting or hiring committees for those who did not meet the candidates themselves.
3. Think ROI (Return on Investment)
Think about it for a second. What is the ROI of putting together a well-crafted resume? A better resume returns a better success rate in landing interviews for the job you want. But not only that, a better resume will also get you interviews faster. Now think about it. A ‘better job’, ‘sooner’, and you can only try for yourself to see how much better or faster it could make it for you to succeed.
Example: Think of a scenario in which your target job/role which pays SAR 20,000/month, at one of a handful of companies. You were well prepared, nailed your resume and interview and was the better fit amongst other candidates; you get the job (at time ‘zero’). On the other hand, think of a scenario in which you did not have a strong resume or application in general, which made it harder for you to even get an interview, let alone secure an opportunity; let’s say you were desperate and lowered your expectations, and after two additional months, you accept an offer which pays 25% less, at another company and possibly for a different role from the one you were initially hoping for. Let’s assume that you’d get a 10% raise after 12 months of employment in each of the scenarios, and (for simplicity) other variables are constant. In just two years from point ‘zero’, the difference between the two scenarios would total to SAR 161,000. This equals to almost half of the total income you would generate in the second scenario.
Think of every effort you put into your career as a building block; every block matters. What makes this especially important is the compound effect. In the previous scenario, the initial reduction in pay was only 25%, but when you look at that over time and factor in the other variables linked to the better opportunity, the difference or benefit magnifies. Generally, a better opportunity would provide better access to more opportunities, and ones which are better relative to their starting base.
If you find this compelling but are having some difficulty putting together your resume, or just need some advice on specific parts of an almost ready-to-go resume, check out Writing an effective résumé: Here’s what you should know!, or learn more about how I could help you or reach out and I will be thrilled to see how I could help.
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