Job hunting is really hard. It’s frustrating, and it destroys any resemblance of self-esteem or ego your previous job may have instilled in you. As time goes on, you start to feel like maybe you aren’t as great at your job as you thought you were. Maybe you’re awful and just no one has told you, maybe no one will ever hire you again. Maybe you aren’t even qualified to apply to the positions you want, and that’s why no one is responding to you.
After joining a small group for job hunters on LinkedIn, I thought that some of them might want help with their resumes. So I posted an offer to the group to review their resumes. It would keep me busy, give me something productive to do, and maybe I could even improve their chances of getting a job. As people started commenting and sending me their resumes, I prepared for the typical “bad” problems like typos, long employment gaps, etc.
That is not what I got. What I got was a presentation of resilience, work ethic, and humanity. And a growing sense that there is something horribly wrong with the way the job market functions.
A former Marine with a solid tech work history was the first to seek my assistance. Then another Marine, this time one with 15 years experience as a manager. They applied my suggested changes within a few hours, and asked me to critique it again, an impressive response considering the length of my initial criticism, which spanned two pages.
The third had worked in multiple countries managing projects to improve remote rural areas. What is it like installing safe, clean water sources for people who may have never had such a privilege? What is like on the receiving end of such a change, in such a village? In my privileged world (even unemployed as I am currently), it’s hard to imagine. They wouldn’t tell me any of their stories, but I hope that someday they do share their experiences with the world.
Then finally someone with some employment gaps, but hardly extreme and not anything that I’d be bothered by when considering applicants. Still nothing blatantly wrong with their resumes that actually caused me concern about their potential job options, besides of course that they were not a professional writer and struggled with finding the right format, brevity, etc. Very few typos or spelling errors, and even very few grammar issues. Anyone who actually read their resumes would not find themselves disappointed in their experience history or general writing skills. Everyone can’t be a professional writer and they should not be held to that standard. I provide recommendations for the top 10 issues in their resumes here.
An established finance professional was next, followed by a program analyst that had spent most of their career working to keep military bases in the Middle East secure and functioning smoothly. Then an executive with a long list of companies they had founded and partnered organizations.
The resumes kept coming, and I wish I could help all of them beyond just a resume review. They don’t “deserve” to have their resume, their stories and experiences, ignored. These are not people who, even on their worst day, would be considered unemployable or unworthy of an opportunity. I hope that we can come up with solutions to this problem so that people no longer feel like they are broken instead of the system.