I promised to talk about “The Stack” and I have come through for you. So what is the stack? Let me define:
The stack is simply where every resume goes that is not exceptional, that does not catch your interest and does not deserve special attention. It is where EVERY resume goes unless you (the applicant) take time to make it stand out from other applicants.
Simply put, the stack is exactly your least adventageous place to be as a person applying for a job. It makes you ordinary and boring. How do you get out of the stack? First of all, how not to get into the stack:
- Fancy paper (nobody cares)
- TYPING IN ALL CAPS OR USING BOLD EVERY OTHER WORD
- Telling me how much of a mistake it would be not to hire you
- Horrendous, unavoidable spelling and grammar mistakes
- Filling your resume and cover letter with fluff and convoluted terms
- Long cover letters telling me word for word about your resume
- Long resumes that go into detail from the first time you babysat a kid in 3rd grade
- Super large or small fonts sizes, strange, hard to read fonts
- Cover page, portfolio, folders, graphics, photos, etc…
Those don’t work. This works though:
- A one paragraph cover letter written specifically for the position telling me precisely what from your background makes you the best candidate for the position
- A one to two page resume written with the intent of conveying the most relevant positions you’ve had in the past
- A cleanly organized, neatly formatted resume that allows me to scan your experience in less than 20 seconds so that I can make a determination that I should read the rest
- The rest is neatly written in a fashion that allows me to get your major job duties after two minutes of reading through it
- Font size between 10 and 12 point, name no larger than 16 point and a standard font (arial and times new roman are the best)
It isn’t easy but getting out of the stack gives you way more opportunties than being stuck in the stack with the other generic cover letters, Microsoft Word default format resume. Take the extra effort and make yourself stick out (in a good way)!
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