| Back in the day, I always used to recommend a book called The Perfect Resume by Tom Jackson. I still think it's a great book, but now I take issue with the title.
Using this kind of language just perpetuates a fantasy. The fantasy that, with the right wordsmithing and enough polishing, you can create the perfect resume that's opens the door to the job you've been hunting for so long.
The reality is that you can draft, edit and shine your resume to the nth degree, but it will never be perfect. Though you can - and absolutely should - customize your resume for each opportunity, it can't even be perfect for a specific position within an identified company.
Why? Imperfect knowledge.
What You Don't Know Can Hurt You
First, you don't know how resumes are being screened. This matters. If a company is using some kind of Applicant Tracking System (the generic name for resume screening and candidate management programs), there are different schemas for identifying the "best" potential matches.
Most systems look for pre-identified keywords and phrases. More advanced systems use natural language processing, which will capture similar terms. Candidates are ranked by the number of keywords matched. Some prioritize further by the number of times selected keywords appear in the resume - more is better. Other systems give higher priority to the location of keywords in the resume - closer to the top is better. Flexible programs let users set their own selection parameters. (For more on this subject, check out my column, Keywords- the Key to Effective Resumes.)
Is this arbitrary? You bet. Lots of companies have decided to go this route to deal with the avalanche of resumes generated by each posted opening. Do you know which automated method your target company is using? Probably not. Ergo, no perfect resume is possible.
However, let's pretend that you're incredibly tenacious, lucky, or anal, and you've actually been able to discover which system your target company is using. (By researching ATS company websites, HR publications, etc. to ferret out this info.) You've deduced the methodology for automated screening and created a resume that has all the likely keywords that you pulled out of the job posting and off the company's websites. You can sit back now and wait, because there's no reason why you shouldn't get a call. But you don't.
The Human Element
This is the kicker every time. It's the reason why a resume can never be perfect. Despite the use of automated front-end ATS systems, people are always involved at the back-end. One person's ideal can be another person's inadequate. There's no way to predict how any single individual will behave.
Here's a story I heard recently that proves it. A highly qualified, experienced App Dev Director got a call from a recruiter who was sourcing for a well-known energy firm. He had all the credentials required for the position, so the two of them put their heads together and rewrote his resume, making sure to include words and phrases from the job requisition. All the managerial and supervisory abilities were mentioned, emphasizing the "soft" skills.
They went so far as to include all of the technologies, programs, and platforms listed in the description on the resume, even though the position was for a manager, not a hands-on developer. The result? The company declined the candidate. They said that the "applicant did not have all the required skills", though it was obvious that he did, and that he'd used their own words.
It's the human element that was at work here. We have no idea what went on, and the company's not saying. Maybe the hiring manager had a different idea about what skills the candidate needed and the job description was wrong. Maybe he only wanted someone who had previously worked for a Big Five consulting company. Maybe he wanted to give the job to a candidate from another, more favored recruiting partner. Who knows?
What I know is that the selection process is largely subjective, sometimes arbitrary and ultimately, unknowable.
This Stinks
Yes, it does. But as a candidate, there isn't much you can do about it. You can get angry and/or obsess about what you should have included or excluded in the resume. Neither of these responses is productive for job search. Anger leads to negativity, and when you eventually get to the interview stage, that's a deal-killer.
This is the time to use the serenity prayer during job search. You know …"grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference." You cannot change the fact of human nature and its significance in the calculus of candidate evaluation.
Wasting your energy on anger and recrimination leaves you with less for job search. Give yourself permission to be angry for a very limited time. But then move along. Keep looking for new opportunities. Yes, this is very hard. Especially if you've been unemployed for any significant period.
One of the best things I ever learned about job search came from The Perfect Resume. Tom Jackson says that it's a process of No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, Yes. If you get stuck on a particular No, it's going to take you a lot longer to get to Yes.
Satisficing
Obsessiveness is the other danger in resume prep. I'm seeing a lot of desperate job seekers who fixate on their resumes, trying to craft an ideal to grab the attention of potential employers. They rework objectives, shuffle bullet points, worry about white space. While it's important to get your resume into the right shape for each opportunity, endlessly poring over it equals avoidance.
Spending the bulk of your time and energy on the busywork of polishing lets you hide out from the reality of job search. While you're revising, you're not out networking. You're not making the contacts that are going to get you more No's. How are you going to get to Yes if you don't get more No's?
The solution is called satisficing. Or good-enoughness. It means that you spend time polishing and refining up to a point. And then you stop.
The Resume Continuum
How do you know when to stop customizing? Imagine a continuum of resumes, with one-size-fits-all, generic resumes at the left and the imaginary "perfect" resume at the right. If you're trying to get into the white area at the edge of this typical bell curve, it's unlikely that the ROI will pay off.
 You've probably got the right amount if you think your resume would fall within the blue area on the right. You've incorporated words and phrases from the requisition and major themes from the company's website or annual report. You've made the effort to present yourself the way the company describes its preferred candidate. The green area would be good, too, but a little more tweaking could help.
Don't think that there's safety in the middle - these days, you'd be wrong. Only job seekers who've made a serious effort to understand the opportunity and mold themselves accordingly can hope to be seen as viable candidates. If you send your generic, one-size-fits all resume, you're kidding yourself about your job search effectiveness. And this goes for cover letters too.
More
Accept the fact that a custom resume is table stakes for a job search in 2003. Keep each version of your revised resume and label them clearly so that you can find them again and rework them for similar opportunities. Keep good records so you know which resume you sent to which employer. Nothing's worse than using the wrong version when you get to speak to someone in person.
Questions about job search or other career topics? Write to me at Jamie@jobcircle.com.
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Jamie Fabian spent more than 15 years as a human resources executive before changing careers to become a senior project manager for a growing IT consulting company. Now in management consulting for a large Pharma company, Jamie would like to be seen as a hybrid of Tom Peters, Tom Jackson, and Tom Wolfe, but spends too much time working, driving carpool and watching mindless TV to write more than this column. You can contact Jamie with questions and comments at jamie@jobcircle.com.
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