3 Core Messages for your Résumé

9 May 2018

Imagine the scenario in your mind.  Three members of a selection panel sitting around a conference table in a stuffy room with your résumé in front of them.  Someone ask the question, “OK, what do we know about [your name]?”  What are the three core messages you want each person in that room to say?

As you construct your résumé an important step is to ask yourself what you want those three core messages to be.  What is it that it will be most beneficial, for you, to make sure they know?

Assessing an applicant’s suitability for a role is a complex cognitive scenario and the panel members are under a lot of mental strain.  Their mental capacities are stretched to the limit.  They are working hard to do a lot of things, such as: be fair and remember what they know about employee selection; work out their own status in the selection panel; look good/intelligent in front of other panel members; make sure the candidate they most fear doesn’t gain favour; fight, without looking like they are, for their preferred candidate; remain focused and not distracted by their phone/mounting emails and real work; clear their lingering thoughts about the last person whose résumé they looked at; oh, and remember what they have read about you. There is a lot going on.

In this scenario of cognitive overload, you need to make their job is as easy as possible. Your résumé needs to be well designed and it is really useful if you have pre-thought the messages, about you, they most need to hear, then made sure those messages are clearly articulated and prominently displayed.  Three core things are about the limit they will be able to remember as they do their initial assessment, and your job is to make sure they can remember the three things you have chosen long after putting your résumé down.

The three things will be unique to you.  Mine them from your: skills, knowledge, past experience, relationships, personal characteristics, strengths, potential, qualifications/training, current connections, and achievements.  Then look for multiple spots in your résumé they can be featured, for example in a skills section, under various employment, in an overview, in a summary, through the choice of your referees.

Then re-image the scenario where the question is asked: “OK, what do we know about [you]?”, and the panel members all reply the same three things.  That is the scenario where you get moved further along in the selection process – go you.

As always wishing you a flourishing career.

Katherine