Why Shouldn't I Start A Resume Without A Specific Job Goal?

As a resume writer, I speak to a number of people. Most of them know what kind of job they are seeking. Every so often, however, I encounter someone different. The exchange generally goes like this:

ME: "What job are you seeking?"

CLIENT: "I don't know. At this point, I'll take anything."

ME: "That's not a good way to go about writing a resume. You really need to focus on some kind of job in order to be successful."

CLIENT: "But I don't know what kind of job I want. Can't you just write me a resume anyway?"

If the conversation persists like this, I explain to the client that if they don't know what they want, I can't ethically take money from them, because they're asking me to write a resume that I know will fail. I know this because I know how employers think, and what they want to see in a resume.

There's a fundamental reason why employers don't want to see resumes without clear job goals: If you write a directionless resume, you are asking the employer to tell you what kind of job you should have. That's not up to the employer, that's up to you. An employer reads a resume with just one question in mind: "What's in it for me?" If your resume doesn't answer that question, the employer has a whole stack of resumes stretching halfway to the ceiling, from candidates who will.

That alone is something I believe people forget: competition. When you submit your resume to an employer, you are one of approximately 400 candidates jockeying for a single job. It's hard enough to get the employer to read your resume, even if it's perfect. If you come across as directionless, that employer will toss your resume into the circular file.

"So," you ask, "how do I decide what I want to do before I write my resume?" One method would be to consider the jobs you've had previously and eliminate the ones you wouldn't take again on a bet. Then consider your strengths, the things you've accomplished outside of work, the activities you enjoy doing. Is there some way you could find a job doing one of them? Ask yourself if there's something you love to do so much that you'd do it without pay.

If those methods fail, there are books on the subject, prime among them What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles. You won't go wrong with that one. There's also one called I Don't Know What I Want But I Know It's Not This by Julie Jansen. Each of these can be found on Amazon, Barnes&Noble.com, or any other online bookstore. Read them. Learn from them.

Just don't send out an "I'll take anything" resume.

Jack Mulcahy has written hundreds of resumes for people from all walks of life. Each resume he writes shows the unique selling proposition so necessary to market the job seeker. To learn more about Jack and how he can work to help your resume gain interviews, visit his website at http://www.resumesbyjack.com/.