The Glass Slipper Problem

I was posting this morning on my new blog about the lack of real-world value provided by college Career Services offices. Offering tactical services
ranging from resume writing and cover letters to mock interview sessions, for
most students, this is the destination of last resort, used only as summer
or graduation approaches. And what is the result? A glass-slipper approach to a
job or internship search—jam your foot into this shoe, hope it fits and you’ll
be ready to face the world.

As a result, we’re seeing an increasingly faceless,
uniform, colorless crop of job hopefuls— encouraging kids to follow often
outdated models of resume writing, interview techniques and personal
salesmanship. This at a time when pressure on students to obtain
meaningful work, whether during the summer vacations or immediately after graduating
is at an all-time high. Gone are the days when you could baby sit,
scoop ice cream or mow lawns for the summer and still hold your head high.
The status quo now seeks resume-building assignments, whether paid or unpaid,
during every available period of time.

I think the reason college kids find resume writing so difficult (and I get several desperados a week looking for help) is not because they lack work experience, but because effective resume writing (at any age) is just like any piece of writing: you have to know what you want to say first. If you don’t know who it is that you are writing that resume about, then neither will your reader.

I’m often asked about the "one page resume" rule. (Where did this come from anyway?). My answer is an emphatic no–your resume does not need to be one page, if your relevant experience won’t fit. Simple as that. However, make it worth my while to turn the page.