I recently heard a story of a person hired for a job in the hospitality industry. She was placed in a role serving hot drinks to guests because her résumé had stated that she was a “fully trained barista.” But when she tried (and failed) to make her very first latte on the job, it became clear that she had no such training. She later admitted to letting her friend “beef up” her résumé and hadn’t even bothered to take the time to look at what her friend had added. Her boss said something in response worth remembering: “You are responsible for everything you put on your résumé.”
You may find yourself in a position right now needing to update your résumé. And you may even find yourself tempted to embellish “just a little” to land that next job. While there may be a fine moral line between exaggerating and lying, it does beg the question: How does one craft a résumé that is both excellent and accurate? Professional, polished…and honest? Here are a few quick tips to get you started:
- Research. The complexity or simplicity of various résumé formats tend to vary depending on the industry or field. For example, résumés by medical professionals, professors, artists, and people in other specialized fields may be expected to be longer. Check what is required in your field of interest.
- Remember. Once you know what is expected, sit down and list out all the experience (however much or little) you have had in previous jobs. This is not just listing titles of roles, but specific tasks and responsibilities you held in that role, ideally using active verbs (taught, lead, created, initiated, etc.). Make sure you can speak to each task or responsibility with concrete examples if asked.
- Revise. Once you have remembered all your experience and put it on paper, now is the time to go back and insert key words that are relevant to the specific job to which you are applying. Know what they are looking for and be able to articulate how your experience matches that.
- Run it by someone. Finally, once you have completed the previous steps, always send it to someone you trust to look over it. Ask them not only to check for typos and errors, but to confirm that you are portraying yourself accurately. As a wise friend of mine once said, “It is better to undersell [yourself] and overdeliver than oversell and underdeliver.”
We are living in difficult times and when the going gets tough it may be tempting to let your personal integrity slip a bit. But in all that we do, in good times or bad, let us remember that we are called first and foremost to be representatives of our Lord Jesus Christ, serving as His light and Truth in this dark world. So have fun crafting your résumé, but before you send it consider praying these words of the Psalmist who said, “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer” (Ps. 19:14).