It is time to democratize access to quality resumes. And here are the real reasons most clients do not have one.
On a caseload, you see a pattern in how different groups of workers take ownership and claim credit for successes they were involved in. The commonalities tend to track with gender, education, and social class.
For instance, clients with doctoral degrees tend to share too much. The work is to pare down the content, put it in context, and simplify the language so employers can actually read it instead of getting overwhelmed.
Other clients do not have impressive academic credentials. If they went to college, they may have been the first in their families to graduate. They often have no idea which parts of their experience to showcase. The resumes they bring are often boring lists of tasks, with little embellishment or quantitative information about impact.
Some of this might be cultural; in many collectivist societies, it is not appropriate to take credit for collaborative work. More often, these clients simply have not learned how to market themselves to employers. The task is to ask enough questions to get at the meat and impact of their experience, and to push them to take credit for the work they were involved in.
What does that look like on paper? Passive words like Helped, Assisted, and Supported should be replaced by more proactive language.
Here is one example of a before bullet, and two after examples that could replace it.
- Helped supervisors perform opening and closing.
Use these instead:
- Participated in store opening and closing procedures, for high-volume location serving 500+ customers each day.
- Collaborated with supervisors to ensure consistency of operations and adherence to corporate policies.
For each bullet you write, ask your client questions about the context the work took place in, and the impact they helped to achieve.
More important than language is the mindset you bring. Do you believe your clients are capable and deserving of quality jobs? If so, it is your role to help them create quality materials to get them there.