Your Resume's purpose is not to find a job

Excuse me?

I repeat: your resume's purpose is not to find a job.

When I say this to my mentees I receive the most honest 'that one has a screw loose'-looks you can imagine.

And yet, I'm sticking to it. Your resume is not the means to get a job.

Alright, genius. What is the purpose of a resume?

Your resume's purpose is to get an interview.

Let me immediately follow up with admitting that I'm not saying anything new. This concept has been handled many times before.

Despite that, the average applicant continues to consider the curriculum vitae as the means to get a job. Understandable, since it is and remains the most used first step 'on the way' to a new job of position.

Why is it important to understand the difference between getting a job interview and finding a job?

When you state the question like that it sort of answers itself.

But first this:

Not every Yes is the same

How many yesses are there?

In ascending order you can get the following yesses:

Yes during the initial talk at job fairs, graduation events, open houses, etc.

This yes you usually get even before you send in your resume. This yes is to encourage you to apply. The purpose of this yes is to get as many suitable applicants as possible. It is not a guarantee to a job. It is only a first indication that your profile 'might' be of interest to the company.Deze ja's krijg je meestal nog voor je je CV ingestuurd hebt.

Yes after reception of your resume and motivation letter.

This yes grants you access to the next stage in the hiring process. That can immediately be an interview but in most cases it will more likely be an invitation to some form of assessment procedure. This yes is no guarantee to a job. It does indicate that your profile generally matches with what the company is looking for. They want to get to know you and especially find out if your knowledge and skills match the conditions they have placed on the position.

Yes during the assessment process.

This yes grants you access to the next stage in the assessment process. Depending on the hiring procedure of the organisation that process can consist of 1 or multiple stages. Each stage is usually only accessable after successful completion of the previous one. This yes is no guarantee to a job. It provides the recruiter with a deeper insight in to your knowledge and skill level. This yes indicates that you possess the technical expertise that they are looking for in the skills they feel are important for the position.

Yes during the interviewJa tijdens het interview.

During the interview they are refining their perception of your match with the organisation. At this stage they will not only look at your technical skills, but also assess your personality, norms, values and personal style and approach. This is usually the yes you've been waiting for and that leads directly to a contract.

Not every hiring process will have all of these steps. the intensity and length of the process depends on a lot of things. Some organisations will merge several steps and others will skip some of them entirely.

But in all cases the following holds true: a yes to your resume is not the yes that leads to the signing of a contract.

It is really important that you realise this. Why?

Balance between expectation and disspointment

Job searching is an exhausting job.

It is hard on all levels.

But especially mentally it is quite often an energy absorbing monster that sucks you completely dry while you are expected to be ready for 100% at all times for the next challenge.

At any moment, during every fase, of every application round, with every organisation, in front of every recruiter. You must present the best version of yourself.

That is brutal.

In that situation you can use any assistance you can get regulating the expectations laid upon you. Especially from yourself.

If you, even subconsciously, burden yourself with the expectation that when you receive a yes to your resume that means you'll probably get the job, the dissapoint will hit all the more if it turns out differently.

All attempts to stay rational will not prevent your hope from rising. Hope really is that strong.

At the same time you can't give in to doom thinking because you'll start to show that through your non-verbal communication and you do not want that. So the tactic to be extra strict with yourself and keep reminding you that you probably will not get the job is not an option! (trust me, I've applied that tactic more than once myself... bad idea!)

So, what then?

How do you keep that balance healthy and realistic?

Apply in stages

HR treats their hiring activities in stages. Each stage has a specific purpose and indicators or conditions they want to see fullfilled before they let a candidate proceed to the next stage.

You can do the same.

My advice:

Treat every application like a project with multiple sub-goals.

Just as a project can have several tasks (goals), each with their own needs for certain knowledge, skills, deadlines, conditions, approaches, etc., so too does every job application have its own separate aspects that each require a specific approach.

• Resume & Motivation letter - GOAL: gain access to the assessment proces / interview

  
  

• Assessment Test - GOAL: gain access to the next level / interview

  
  

• Interview - GOAL: negotiate conditions / sign the contract

Working with sub-goals allows you to dismantle 3 very powerful traps:

1. false hope which can lead to

2. premature dissapointment and discouragement which you

3. try to prevent through missplaced negativity and doom thinking as an attempt to 'stay realistic' but which will take you in to a negative mental spiral that your environment will pick up on (including during your interviews).

Breaking up your applications in sub-goals has an additional side-effect.

Discover your strengths during the process.

By dividing your goals you can become aware of your strengths as well as your challenges in the application process.

You can discover, e.g., that you are very good in drawing up a resume but that your motivation letters could use some extra attention. Or you can notice that you consistently get stuck at a specific point in the assessment process.

This can help you to improve your method which will enhance your chances and turn the entire application process into a learning experience where you will develop skills that you'll be able to use in other situations (which you then can add as extra skills to your future resume's).

Instead of gaining a feeling of overall failure you'll be able to focus your attention to those specific areas that need extra work, while recognizing all the things that are going well.

That is how you take charge of your job search project and claim your place as an equal partner in the process.

Sidenote: I'm a very big fan of creating a Master Resume and not just for job searching. But that is a topic for a next blogpost.

Remember: Your resume's purpose is not to find a job !

Until next time, I wish you a ton of success with all your projects!

Sabine