We are witnessing a paradigm shift in talent market. Corporations are realizing that technology is playing a spoilsport in recruiting better professionals. In fact, flaws & cumbersome applicant tracking system is eliminating the potential fits & better candidates. They are not willing to accept this flawed recruiting process & are approaching headhunters & closed networks to scout for potential employment opportunities.
Corporations are waking up to talent crisis. With the extensive availability of job seekers in the market, not everyone has the requisite attitude & skills needed by corporations. If you have a track record or success story, the last thing a corporation wants to hear is “ I have a proven track record of success”. What does that tell us about your skills/achievements? Nothing, it’s just a way of marketing yourself.
Job seekers are not to be blamed for writing just corporate boiler plate resumes & LinkedIn profiles, since this is what they have learnt at various seminars & out placement meetings. Now, you need human element in your resume to portray your personal brand for highlighting the competencies possessed in front of the hiring manager who is browsing through your documents.
Corporations are not interested in knowing about job seekers’ assessment of themselves such as mentioning I am seasoned, I have a proven track record, I am competent. Corporations have to decide themselves about a potential fit, competency &/or claims by going through job seeker’s resume & LinkedIn profiles. If a jobseeker tells his story as – “ I am MS in Financial Engineering & have spent 10 years in closing project financing deals for agri-commodity traders before getting hooked onto derivative structuring. Now I help SME businesses raise working capital from financing institutions, corporations can make their own assessment”, then he’s more likely to be noticed.
So how do you humanize your resume?
- Just think about what you want in your next job, rather than focussing on what you are qualified to deliver. If you have been working in the corporate world for a decade or more, then you can do a lot of things. Do not bind yourself in water tight compartments.
- Once you have figured out your target role, focus on branding yourself for that role. Rather than mentioning that you are a result oriented professional, tell the readers who you are & how you are different from every other job seeker out there.
- Get rid of those 19th century robotic corporate phrases in your resume such as “ result-oriented professional”, “ self-motivated individual”, “Team Player”. Replace these phrases with words that describe you & value you carry.
The Takeaway
On bringing a human touch in your resume, the reader/hiring manager gets a feel of you as a person, rather than some carrying a bundle of certifications & degrees. You can tell your career story in your resume. If you are applying through corporate headhunting portals, do keep up space for relevant keywords in your resume. In all other cases, you should use human language in your resume.
In case, you’re looking to get your resume crafted in a humanized manner, which captures the attention of headhunters & corporations, then feel free to get in touch by hitting the button below.
