One resume doesn’t fit all purposes

I had my reading day at home on Thursday, which was, overall, blissful.  I started off a little slow, but soon got back into a groove and motored through a big pile of applications.  Along the way, I noticed a particular phenomenon that I want to bring to your attention (in order to convince you to avoid it).  I read several applications that included detailed information about the applicant’s job experience — information that, nonetheless, left me in the dark.

If I wanted to, I could be uninformative, too.  For example, instead of wearing down my typing fingers, I could list my employer as “FSLD/TU.”  My résumé could note that I have “transmitted actionable information to customer base via social media.”  Neither is wrong, exactly, but the résumé would be much more helpful if it said that I work at the Fletcher School and I write a blog for the Admissions Office.

When you prepare the résumé to accompany your application, remember that your reader is in a different part of the country/world and works in higher education.  If your organization goes by a name that doesn’t hint at its mission, please give us some clues.  Just a few words (in common English) about what it’s all about will go a long way.  And even if everyone in your industry knows exactly what V2RRX means, when you apply to grad school you’re not writing for people in your industry.  Please provide a hint as to V2RRX’s meaning.

It’s always possible that applicants are trying to obscure the nature of their work, but that wasn’t my assumption on Thursday.  It’s more likely that they didn’t stop to consider that a résumé written for one audience won’t be as useful for others.  If you haven’t yet submitted your application, please be sure that it includes clear information about the nature of your work.