Bad Resume Advice

by Ted
(Van Wert, OH)

Mike-
You recently advised someone with employment gaps on their resume to eliminate the month of the dates of employment and just put the year down.

Well, lo and behold, every agency and employer WANTS THE MONTH included and will not accept any resumes without it.

I have tried it in my last five interviews.

I have explained to the agencies and the employers that the month was eliminated because of this article that was written by you as a professional advisor.

The employers and agencies have mentioned that your article is ludicrous and misleading and will not accept your argument. I had to put the months back on the resume because the agencies and employers have demanded it!

So much for your professional advice.

Mike Petras comments:

Ted-

Sure...every employer prefers you put the month and year of your jobs on your resume.

If you have a seamless job history...no problem.

But what do you do if you've made too many job changes or endured a long stretch of unemployment, and you suspect this is the reason you're not getting any callbacks?

This was the point of my article.

You need to do something to get companies to stop focusing on this and pay more attention to your skills and accomplishments.

There is nothing ludicrous, misleading, or unethical about this anymore than not putting the year you graduated from college on your resume.

Even so, no one should ever lie on their resume.

What's ludicrous is that so many companies today still blatantly discriminate against job seekers for all kinds of flimsy reasons.

So what do you do about it?

You simply have to know how to play the game to maximize your chances of getting a call back.

Do these tactics work all the time? Of course not. Nothing works all the time.

Are a handful of companies not going to like it or advise you otherwise? Sure...but at least they're talking with you.

The only purpose of a resume is to get the attention of an employer and get them to reach out to you. Period.

Any kind of response from an employer--even if it is to ask you to change something on your resume--is better than no response at all.

There are lots of opinions about resume formatting and appropriate information you should include or exclude on your resume. Take your pick.

If you are young in your career with minimal baggage, most of these resume formats will work for you.

However, if your career has had a few jolts along the way, there are ways to minimize this on your resume to improve your chances of getting a call from an employer.

If your resume gets you a job interview, it's done its job.

I've been an executive recruiter for over 16 years. During this time I've received thousands of resumes from job seekers. I don't recall ever eliminating someone from consideration for one of my openings because they just put the years of employment on their resume instead of the month and the year.

I've also sent tons of resumes to my client companies with just the years of employment and don't ever recall a single complaint. And I've placed people at senior management, professional, and executive levels with major corporations.

I'm not sure what level of jobs you are applying for. It's possible that hourly type jobs are pickier about this. If you're getting a lot of push back, you simply have to go with the flow and let the chips fall where they may.

But for the record: there is nothing misleading, ludicrous, or unethical about any of my recommendations. My intentions are pure and I sincerely want to help struggling job seekers break through the job brick wall.

The article I wrote was brief and didn't go into much detail about the psychology of resumes. For more information about my insights and experience with resumes, go to this page on my website: Best Outline of a Resume.

I hope we can still be friends! All the best to you in your job search.

Mike Petras