Is a Perfect Resume Necessary?

Is a perfect resume essential?

As a professional Denver resume writer, I’ve counseled hundreds of clients on the major points of a good resume and the subtleties, both good and bad, that will kill a resume or take it to great heights and snag bushels of interviews. I’ve preached those points to the best of my ability. I’ve heard my colleagues sermon on the best way to write a resume for years.

So last week, I had a chance to give advice to a close friend, not a client, on those generally accepted fine points. A freebie.

I reviewed the resume he and his girl friend had worked on. Immediately I saw something dangerous. They had written a functional resume. Now I’m not here to say the functional resume is bad, it’s just that it’s developed a bad reputation for hiding things. Hiring managers have caught on, right or wrong. It also doesn’t connect well in electronic scanning programs. It’s advisable to steer clear from this format for a resume.

So I cautioned against it and even went to the extent of reformatting the resume to a straight chronological resume. I didn’t touch the content. That wasn’t my job.

Three days later I got an exuberant call: “I just got a job offer and accepted.” Needless to say I was excited for them and conveyed heartfelt congratulations.

As it turned out, they went ahead and had submitted that functional resume, the one that I cautioned against.

What’s the story here?

Was I correct in assertions about functional resumes? Or was I mistaken? Did I steer them wrong? My assertions and most of my colleagues will stand behind the reputation of a functional resume and serve up caution, just as I did.

But here’s what I haven’t let you in on:

• My friend had the goods. Meaning he had experience, strong core competencies, skills, abilities that matched up perfectly to the job description.
• He and his girlfriend sat down together. They took an afternoon and applied to close to a hundred jobs using online searching methods and phone calling. I repeat…PHONE CALLING. All suggestions I had given them. They left no stone unturned. They were intent on getting him on someone’s radar.
• The company that bit on his resume and the one he eventually went on with was small with a less sophisticated hiring process.  And they needed someone immediately. Bingo.

It worked. He was perfect for the position and the company was just right for him.

The moral of the story…..- if you got the goods and you work hard at a well structured job search, the resume can be less than perfect.

However if the job you seek is highly competitive, you aren’t a perfect fit, and the company you are approaching has a sophisticated, layered hiring process, I suggest you get the resume as close to right as possible.

Perfect? Not so sure there is such a thing.

Happy Hunting,

Chet Baker