I led a couple of Career Cafe sessions at AAM which were meant to be resume writing workshops, but I decided to do something different. Initially, the attendees were a tad annoyed (another session that isn’t what it says its going to be) but in the end I think they appreciated it. I’m skeptical of boilerplate resume writing workshops because for me, a good resume is like the definition of pornography – I’ll know it when I see it.

I get to see a lot of resumes in the course of my job. And I mean a lot. Every posting we do gets around 200 submissions and its clear to me that the problem isn’t so much the resumes themselves, its that people don’t think about what’s going on in the institution and the fact that they’re entering a process. They appear to have this impression that it starts and ends with them writing a good resume. It doesn’t and when the hiring manager opens your resume, there isn’t a heavenly chorus, the business of the museum does not temporarily halt while your literary work of art is reviewed and the hiring manager does not immediately reach for the phone to secure your employment.

For my session, I talked about the process: The Position, the Posting, the Resumes, the Short List, the Phone Call, the Interview, the Offer and particularly the thing that everyone has trouble with – salary negotiation.

But before all that I talked about career and salary gradients. The truth is that nobody else is concerned about your career except you. There aren’t many people for whom this is not true. To progress requires action on your part and you will likely have a steeper career and a steeper salary gradient if you change institutions rather than staying at the same one for your entire career. This is because institutions are normally constrained to policy and guidelines for internal staff promotions and promotional increases, not so when hiring from outside.

A couple of thoughts surrounding getting promoted. Any job has what I like to think of as height and width. If your boss gives you more of the same work, that makes your job wider and that is not a reason to get promoted. However if he gives you work that requires more independent decision-making, more authority and responsibility, like supervising someone, that makes your job taller and is an opportunity for promotion, but there are some caveats: the majority of your job is taller; there is a valid reason why your department needs a higher level function, there is budget to support it. Sadly, doing the same job for 10 years is not a reason to get promoted, because essentially you are doing the same job. It all boils down to communication, ask your boss what you need to do to get a promotion. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know and if you don’t like the answer, time to move on or suck it up.

So, resumes. Your resume is metadata about you, it should be a work in progress, update it yearly to adjust some dates or add significant accomplishments – do it when you have a performance review or on your hire date. Keep it short, 1 page if possible, 2 max, unless your job requires a C.V, e.g. a list of publications, exhibitions, etc. Think of your resume as a reference tool for your next employer – simple to use and easy to understand. Its about you, so it should start with your name and a summary that captures the essence that you want to convey.

In the workshop we had a discussion about whether or not to start with an objective or summary. I’m in favour. If your resume starts with your education, the first thing I read about you is information than might be 10 or 15 years old – that’s not a good place to start. Starting with a summary or objective frames the rest of the resume, this is particularly important if you’re trying to switch careers, or you’re going for a job that doesn’t immediately follow from your skill and experience.

I encourage people to read Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, which is an excellent book but could just as easily have been published as a pamphlet, or possibly even a quote. It essentially says, people make a judgement within a few seconds and once that judgement is made, its hard to ignore. Resumes are the same, the very first thing on the resume and the very first sentence in each job description, sets the expectation for what follows. And nothing frames a resume like a cover letter which is a one page narrative about you and why I should be interested in you. Some advice, be very careful using humour – if in doubt, leave it out.

Verbs are crucial in a resume and they should match the job posting. Here’s a trick: underline the verbs in the job posting that you’re applying for and then underline the verbs in your resume. For example, if the posting says lead, manage, direct, create, develop and assign, the verbs in your resume should be similar – worked with, liaised with, helped with, oversaw are not the same. They are very defensive phrases and immediately set an expectation of your (lack of) skill and experience.

So what’s all this nonsense about process that I wanted to talk about? The process starts with the posting and a fair amount of time has likely been spent expertly crafting it – all the information is in there, so read it carefully and read between the lines. Does “sense of humour” mean a wacky boss like David Brent, a stressful job or barely acceptable working conditions? Obviously, it could mean we’re a fun-loving group of people, but you never know.

As a hiring manager, I deal in resume bulk. When you apply for a job, you’re one in a few hundred, your goal is to be that one. The first step in my process is to generate a short list, which means elimination. I’m not looking for that great resume, I’m looking for reasons to remove you from the pile. Approximately one quarter of resumes can be eliminated due to typos and mistakes. Triple check your resume and cover letter and then get someone to read it, carefully. If the job you’re applying for requires an attention to detail and you haven’t attended to the detail, you’re not right for this job. Another quarter are usually insufficiently qualified or lack appropriate experience – college graduates applying for a job requiring 5 years’ experience. I can normally cut a resume list in half without even reading your resume, just your cover letter.

If you get to the interview, you’re goal is to make the interviewer “see you” in the job. According to Malcolm Gladwell, the interviewer has likely made a decision before you’ve even sat down. Consider the interview process. If you have a number of interviews with different people, your goal is to ensure that they physically have something about you, because when they have interviewed the short list of candidates they will meet to discuss and compare notes. No notes, no you, no job. Give them a takeaway, something more than your resume. Nothing does it like a personal note to go in your file – maybe buy it from the museum store. Remember that interviewing with an HR person will be totally different than interviewing with a curator or educator. One does it professionally, the other is an amateur and does it as infrequently as possible and is probably as nervous as you.

I did two workshops and both times we got into a discussion about gender. I can fairly accurately distinguish between male and female resumes and cover letters. It won’t surprise you to learn that male’s are shorter, direct and make more sweeping statements about their experience, they use bold verbs to describe their activities, this makes them appear more authoritative as candidates. Female’s are more descriptive and there’s more of an effort to accurately describe their roles in different jobs. This can come across as defensive.

There is definitely a difference in how males and females approach salary negotiations. Males enter the negotiation to win, females enter to come to an agreement – its a subtle but meaningful difference. Again, think about the process and who’s making you the offer. Is the professional making the offer or the amateur? Don’t be afraid to negotiate, but have an explanation about why you’re asking for a particular amount – kids and mortgage don’t work, they are not my problem. Once a group of people have made a decision and you are the top candidate, no one wants to settle for second best. If you can’t negotiate on salary, try other things, pay review after six months, vest after 1 year, relocation expenses, signing bonus, &c.

Moving job should be an improvement, a step forward either financially, in quality of life or experience.

As a final thought, we live in uncertain times, and I’ve been “encouraged to move on” twice, once with extreme prejudice. After the seven stages of grief, both were excellent opportunities for me to advance. If you’re in that situation, its what you make of it.

As usual, I found a quote:

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. – Thomas A. Edison

Here’s the handout from my workshop.