To be truthful....to embellish? This is a dilemma we all face when remaking our resume. For some reason, if we try to limit our resume' to one page, it feels like some of the important information will slip out. The idea of using an 8 font in order to cram more onto one page is not appealing-there could be a baby boomer reading the resume' and then they may be too annoyed by the tiny print to bother reading it at all.
Being unemployed and looking for work is stressful enough without having to walk this moral tightrope. How can I make it look like I know more than I know, or that I did more than I did without lying? How much extra information will be too much and will be a red flag of resume' distortion? Is my work experience relevant to what they are looking for now?
You can list all of your work experience, and your education but how do you make them fit to the job you are applying for? It is not deception to simply switch things around and use buzzwords that you think the employer will notice. But buzzwords should be used sparingly. Too many may signal too much of an attempt to custom tailor the resume to the job opening. It too is a fine line.
The period of unemployment is a curious time. It is a time to reassess what you want to do, what you are capable of doing, and what you will not do again. It gives you time to take stock of where you are in your life plan. This is a good thing and a bad thing. If you are relatively close to where you want to be along your life plan, then onward you go to the next step along the way, the next job. If you have gone off course so far that you don't even remember your life plan, maybe it is time for a new plan.
For those of us who took time off from their (career) life plan to raise our children, the life plan has become hazy. We developed new skills as Moms and are not sure how they translate to a work setting. We had to mega multitask to even be able to get a shower in the early days of our kids lives. We had to mega multitask during the times of shuttle driving everyone around to their various activities and appointments. We have been the short order cook, banker, cleaning service, dog walker, taxi, social secretary, personal shopper, travel agent, health care advocate, and family coordinator all while being at home with the children. And for no pay at all! How do we put all of that on a resume'? The sad thing is, I don't think we can put any of it on there at all. It is one of those things that slips off the page in order to make the resume compact/one page.
For me, there is a large gap between work experiences. In December 2009 I was laid off from my job of 3 1/2 years, the first job I had since my children were born. Before that, the last time I worked for a paycheck was 15 years prior. On a resume' that may look like I sat around and ate bon bons and watched Judge Judy for 15 years. Anyone staying at home with their children knows this is completely not the case. In addition to the normal child rearing stuff, I had to manage a 3 year old with diabetes. That was a full time job in itself. I also volunteered my time at the school and have been doing fundraising for Juvenile Diabetes Research all along. It is unfortunate that this experience may not be important to my next employer.
I fall into that category of people who had a life plan and it was crap! I have learned over time that you never know where life is going to take you; you may have a plan and you may try to stick to your plan, but life may have other ideas for you.
My job now is to find out where my plan is leading me and to shape up my resume'. I will not lie on my resume', and I will choose not to embellish either. I may even have to use a larger font! I would like it to look like I was the CEO of something and that any company would be foolish not to hire me, but I will have to settle for listing my work experience, my volunteer experience and my education.
I will just have to wow them at the interview and then my resume' with the large time gap will seem irrelevant! In any case, I will choose to take the high road and let my experience and my personality speak for themselves without embellishment.
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