Resumes Are Ridiculous

"Resumes are ridiculous."

--Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson

from the book REWORK

　

When I first turned the page and read this heading on page 210 of REWORK, I screamed to myself, 'YES!' Having been in a position to interview and hire a lot of people over a lot of years, I hated resumes and gave them almost no notice. I always thought they were a joke. Like people actually do all that stuff they put in there and do it in that manner? Right. And, oh by the way. . . they're looking for work!

Jason and David go on after the heading to say, "We all know resumes are a joke. They're exaggerations. They're filled with "action verbs" that don't mean anything. They list job titles and responsibilities that are vaguely accurate at best. And there's no way to verify most of what's on there. The whole thing is a farce." That is said so well and I am in total agreement.

I remember people telling me that I had to have a resume and I think I made one once, but no one paid attention to it either. There is a whole industry built around writing resumes, choosing the right paper, fonts and layout. Heck, in the movie Legally Blond, Reese Witherspoon had the perfect, scented resume. . . and pink if I remember correctly.

What's worse than a resume to me is employers who seek them, want to see them, or heaven forbid, make decisions based on them. Just talk to them. It's pretty simple stuff. At least you might be able to pick out the BS from the facts a little bit because it's pretty certain it's almost all BS on the resume.

Not only have I never hired anyone from a resume, I've had a few positions in my time and not once was I hired from a resume, nor even an application. What a concept.


from the CTS Daily Inspirations Blog