A resume is not a list of all the jobs you've done
I got to thinking about this in some detail this morning and realized there was no way I could squish what I wanted to say into 140 characters, or even 280, so I'm posting to my poor abandoned LiveJournal about it, in way more detail than anyone cares about. In short, a resume is not a list of all the jobs you've done. It's a presentation of your skills and experience that makes you stand out as the best candidate for the role in question.
To illustrate this point, I thought I'd take you through my thought process on what sorts of things you should and shouldn't put on your resume by going through mine.
A couple of things you should know before I start:
* My resume is not perfect. There are problems with it (that I'll point out). But it's good enough for this exercise.
* The resume in this example is specifically tailored for a job as an in-house recruiter at a local (San Francisco) game company.
With that said, here are the jobs I listed on my last resume, and why. YMMV:
Contract Recruiter at Game On! Recruiting (9 months)
It should be obvious why I listed this. Game On! is a recruiting agency that works solely in the games space. The experience here is very applicable to the role to which I'm applying.
I mentioned what sorts of positions I sourced, and I called out my specific duties and how much interaction I had with candidates and clients. By pointing out that I'm on contract, no one will question the short duration of my employment, though they will likely question why I'm leaving.
I did not mention how many roles I filled, as the number was low and I did not want to call out my weaknesses. If the number had been high, I'd have called attention to this.
Full-Cycle Recruiter at Gazillion Entertainment (3 years)
Another obvious listing. Gazillion is a game development company, with several studios. Experience here is directly applicable to the role to which I'm applying.
I mentioned that I was a full-cycle recruiter, responsible for all steps of the hiring process, and then I detailed what those steps entailed. I called out that I had been with the company while it was still in start-up mode, and how large it grew while I was there. I mentioned that I filled roles in all disciplines, but then called out my specialties (design/art/production), as many recruiters find those roles intimidating, and I'm not one of them.
Committee Chair at Low Key Gathering (9 months) and Con Suite Lead/Convention Staff at Fiddler's Green (1 year)
This is one of those things that's debatable for my resume. I wanted to show that I can lead a group, work with a group, manage tasks and people on a timeline, and hoped that it would show that I could do this effectively while doing an awesome job at my day-job. There's also the off-chance that someone reading my resume may have heard of Neil Gaiman and would understand the scale of what the job entailed.
Given that I'm a very community driven person, and that's something I like to call out as a recruiter (recruiters familiar with the community for which they are recruiting make for stronger in-house hires!), I mentioned aspects of the job that made me a valuable member of the community, while being a leader within it, as well as all the myriad tasks involved with the work - especially the parts where I had to work with people in positions of authority to advise them. It was very similar to working with some hiring managers, and I hoped that would come across.
Receiving Manager at Rasputin Music (5 years)
Another that's a bit debatable. If I hadn't included the Neil stuff above, it would be necessary to have this on the resume, but since I included the Neil stuff, it's sort of a toss up. I decided to leave it on because I did a lot of stuff there, was responsible for a lot of imporant things - like ordering stock, payroll, the books, in-store appearances - and because it was a shitty experience in a lot of ways and damnit if I was going to let it roll by without any notice. Fuck that.
Uh... yeah. Like I said. Debatable whether or not to leave it on. FWIW, several interviewers asked me about this experience and were generally happy with the details I provided. I think it made me look like a responsible manager who wanted to work in a fun industry. when queried, I tried to highlight my relationship with my superiors and the customers, and how I had to manage difficult situations (sometimes involving my superiors & hiring managers).
It's kind of a lame justification to leave this on the resume, but when you consider that I've only been recruiting for 4 years, I needed to pad my resume with something.
Secretary/Receptionist at MISCO (4 years)
MISCO is a manufacturers respresentative company for the water/wastewater treatment industry. In retrospect, I should have left this one off. I kept it on the resume because I wanted to show that I could work comfortably in a corporate environment; that despite my freakish exterior (unnatural hair colour, piercings, tendency for black clothing), I could be trusted as a first impression. In reality, all it does is press people to ask me why I left a happy well-paying corporate job for a crappy retail one. Then they ask why I left it on my resume and unless I am actually giving a negative first impression as a freak (in which case no one cares what the answer is), my point is missed entirely.
Here's what I DIDN'T put on the resume, and why:
Mistress Mousey Designs (8 years)
My sewing habit might be something I bring up in an interview if someone asks me about what I like to do in my spare time, but it has less relevance to my desired role in games recruiting than my role as Mom at Home.
Go-Go Dancer at various San Francisco goth-industrial clubs (2 years)
Do I really need to point out how this isn't relevant? Listing this could actually be grounds for people to *avoid* hiring me.
Although as a funny aside, about a year into my game recruiting career I discovered that one of the designers whom I tried to recruit was actually one of the other dancers I worked with at Assimilate. How's that for small world?
Co-Owner of Shrine of Lilith (goth club) (6 months)
No relevance to games recruiting, and as the club tanked it could hurt my credibility as a business person.
Retail Rat at various establishments (1.5 years), prep cook for my uncle's catering company (4 months)
The jobs were very short term, which could hurt my resume - lots of bouncing never looks good. I had no authority or special duties at these stores. They are wasted space on my resume. If anyone were to ask me about the missing time on my resume, I would happily explain to them that I took on a couple of odd jobs while I was going to school or taking care of my new son.
My education (AA degree from City College of San Francisco)
As the first person in 3 generations to get a college degree in my family, my silly AA degree is a pretty big deal, personally. But for a business professional, it's pretty weak. Some would view it as a sign of underachievement. Others would judge me as less than able to do the job because I lack qualifications, so I'd rather not talk about my schooling unless someone asks me to my face.
To illustrate this point, I thought I'd take you through my thought process on what sorts of things you should and shouldn't put on your resume by going through mine.
A couple of things you should know before I start:
* My resume is not perfect. There are problems with it (that I'll point out). But it's good enough for this exercise.
* The resume in this example is specifically tailored for a job as an in-house recruiter at a local (San Francisco) game company.
With that said, here are the jobs I listed on my last resume, and why. YMMV:
Contract Recruiter at Game On! Recruiting (9 months)
It should be obvious why I listed this. Game On! is a recruiting agency that works solely in the games space. The experience here is very applicable to the role to which I'm applying.
I mentioned what sorts of positions I sourced, and I called out my specific duties and how much interaction I had with candidates and clients. By pointing out that I'm on contract, no one will question the short duration of my employment, though they will likely question why I'm leaving.
I did not mention how many roles I filled, as the number was low and I did not want to call out my weaknesses. If the number had been high, I'd have called attention to this.
Full-Cycle Recruiter at Gazillion Entertainment (3 years)
Another obvious listing. Gazillion is a game development company, with several studios. Experience here is directly applicable to the role to which I'm applying.
I mentioned that I was a full-cycle recruiter, responsible for all steps of the hiring process, and then I detailed what those steps entailed. I called out that I had been with the company while it was still in start-up mode, and how large it grew while I was there. I mentioned that I filled roles in all disciplines, but then called out my specialties (design/art/production), as many recruiters find those roles intimidating, and I'm not one of them.
Committee Chair at Low Key Gathering (9 months) and Con Suite Lead/Convention Staff at Fiddler's Green (1 year)
This is one of those things that's debatable for my resume. I wanted to show that I can lead a group, work with a group, manage tasks and people on a timeline, and hoped that it would show that I could do this effectively while doing an awesome job at my day-job. There's also the off-chance that someone reading my resume may have heard of Neil Gaiman and would understand the scale of what the job entailed.
Given that I'm a very community driven person, and that's something I like to call out as a recruiter (recruiters familiar with the community for which they are recruiting make for stronger in-house hires!), I mentioned aspects of the job that made me a valuable member of the community, while being a leader within it, as well as all the myriad tasks involved with the work - especially the parts where I had to work with people in positions of authority to advise them. It was very similar to working with some hiring managers, and I hoped that would come across.
Receiving Manager at Rasputin Music (5 years)
Another that's a bit debatable. If I hadn't included the Neil stuff above, it would be necessary to have this on the resume, but since I included the Neil stuff, it's sort of a toss up. I decided to leave it on because I did a lot of stuff there, was responsible for a lot of imporant things - like ordering stock, payroll, the books, in-store appearances - and because it was a shitty experience in a lot of ways and damnit if I was going to let it roll by without any notice. Fuck that.
Uh... yeah. Like I said. Debatable whether or not to leave it on. FWIW, several interviewers asked me about this experience and were generally happy with the details I provided. I think it made me look like a responsible manager who wanted to work in a fun industry. when queried, I tried to highlight my relationship with my superiors and the customers, and how I had to manage difficult situations (sometimes involving my superiors & hiring managers).
It's kind of a lame justification to leave this on the resume, but when you consider that I've only been recruiting for 4 years, I needed to pad my resume with something.
Secretary/Receptionist at MISCO (4 years)
MISCO is a manufacturers respresentative company for the water/wastewater treatment industry. In retrospect, I should have left this one off. I kept it on the resume because I wanted to show that I could work comfortably in a corporate environment; that despite my freakish exterior (unnatural hair colour, piercings, tendency for black clothing), I could be trusted as a first impression. In reality, all it does is press people to ask me why I left a happy well-paying corporate job for a crappy retail one. Then they ask why I left it on my resume and unless I am actually giving a negative first impression as a freak (in which case no one cares what the answer is), my point is missed entirely.
Here's what I DIDN'T put on the resume, and why:
Mistress Mousey Designs (8 years)
My sewing habit might be something I bring up in an interview if someone asks me about what I like to do in my spare time, but it has less relevance to my desired role in games recruiting than my role as Mom at Home.
Go-Go Dancer at various San Francisco goth-industrial clubs (2 years)
Do I really need to point out how this isn't relevant? Listing this could actually be grounds for people to *avoid* hiring me.
Although as a funny aside, about a year into my game recruiting career I discovered that one of the designers whom I tried to recruit was actually one of the other dancers I worked with at Assimilate. How's that for small world?
Co-Owner of Shrine of Lilith (goth club) (6 months)
No relevance to games recruiting, and as the club tanked it could hurt my credibility as a business person.
Retail Rat at various establishments (1.5 years), prep cook for my uncle's catering company (4 months)
The jobs were very short term, which could hurt my resume - lots of bouncing never looks good. I had no authority or special duties at these stores. They are wasted space on my resume. If anyone were to ask me about the missing time on my resume, I would happily explain to them that I took on a couple of odd jobs while I was going to school or taking care of my new son.
My education (AA degree from City College of San Francisco)
As the first person in 3 generations to get a college degree in my family, my silly AA degree is a pretty big deal, personally. But for a business professional, it's pretty weak. Some would view it as a sign of underachievement. Others would judge me as less than able to do the job because I lack qualifications, so I'd rather not talk about my schooling unless someone asks me to my face.