I'm an MBA at a Top 20 business school, have what I believe is an above-average job history, accomplishments, GMAT score and resume for my class, and I am STRIKING OUT at Career Fairs. I don't want to believe it may have something to my MT-compliant format, if you will. But is that possible? Any chance the young folks reading my doc are less likely to appreciate it??
Personally, I LOVE the format, and now that I've used it, I'll never go back. I have monthly resume reviews even while in school to keep it updated, and the thing is absolutely jam-packed with accomplishments, and every bullet point has been written and re-written until I could pack each bullet full of impactful content on a SINGLE LINE. The result is beautful - but do they appreciate it? Is there any chance I have what may be the perfect resume to send to John Lucht for a job, but that the MBA contacts and recent grads just don't get the MT format? I have had one person say "best resume in the entire school database," but then have had 4-5 folks tell me about how it is "hard to read" or "busy" or "too crammed with info."
To be fair, the job market is VERY VERY tough for our class, with 60% of the opportunities that last year's class had. So, there are more than enough reasons, outside of my resume for the goings to be tough.
It would be G R E A T to hear about other MBAs that have used an MT-style resume and had success, or others that have an opinion.
Like I said, I absolutely love the format and don't want to change it just because I've hit a rough spot with job searching, unless the folks I'm sending it to are just too inexperienced to appreciate it. It might make me nautious to add "Leadership, Presentation, etc." to the top along with some silly objective statement....
BTW, I was introduced to MT after searching everywhere for practical expertise on interviews, and was blown away! I bought the MT interview series, started listening to the podcasts daily, and what an unbelievable help its been. Will continue to evangelize it to all!
It aint so. "too crammed
It aint so.
"too crammed with info."
Whoever told you that, needs to re-examine their reading skill, frankly.
-D
Too many variables
Career Fairs are notoriously ineffective in the best of times.
The economy (from an employment perspective) is as bad as it's been in 70 years.
MBAs have fallen into disrepute (or, in many cases, have seen diminished value in the eyes of recruiters and hiring managers).
It's unlikely that the resume format is the culprit here.
John Hack
Similar Experience, Two Resumes
I've had a similar experience in the job market and have gone to using two resume formats. A one-page, 100% Manager Tools compliant version, and the exact same verbiage on two pages, with a summary statement and a technologies section tacked on at the beginning and the end respectively.
I always lead with the MT one-pager. About half the recruiters I've spoken to ask to see me on two pages. The situation arises the same each time... they ask me a question about my experience, and I give them my well thought out, structured response delivered with energy and a smile. They respond with something like, "Now, why don't you have that accomplishment included in your resume?" When I indicate to them where they can find it, they complain about how much work they have to do to extract who I am from the densely packed one page document.
At first I chuckled to myself and their obvious lack of experience with reviewing resumes. It was easy for me to dismiss their comments because these were contingency recruiters that were relatively inexperienced. I knew that once my resume was the hands of an internal recruiter or a retainer recruiter they'd appreciate its direct nature.
Unfortunately, for the past three weeks I've had similar exchanges with retainer and internal recruiters that have decades of experience. I'm actually beginning to contemplate leading with my two-page resume. Incidentally, when they see the two page resume they seem pleased about me as a candidate, so the verbiage must make an impression.
So, what is it? Is this a Drucker moment? Is this a generic situation or are they exceptions? Have we reached one of Andy Groves' strategic inflection points in the resume marketplace? Is that marketplace different in the laid-back Southwest (where I live), verses other parts of the country where tradition might have a stronger influence? Is it selection bias on my part? Am I noticing the misses because they're the ones I hear about?
--Michael
Me too...
MMann:
I second your experience. When I was looking for work about a year ago, I got the same reactions to my one-pager. I got them from outplacement people, from recruiters, and from hiring managers.
So I listened to the feedback I was getting from my market, and I adjusted accordingly.
I'm not extrapolating anything from my experience, because it was unique to me, to my level, to my geographic region and to the job market I'm in.
The M-T resume was at the core of my ultimate personal approach. I'm thankful that I put the effort in to squeeze all the non-essential stuff out of the resume I started with. I took that "pure" M-T resume into the market, heard some adjusting feedback, and did some tweaking.
Another theory - School's resume layout guidelines
When I was in MBA school, our school had an extensive resume review that included a process to make sure the resume was tightly worded and constructed in a specific format. They did this so that the recruiters always knew where to find certain information without having to search for it on the page. I know this may sound ridiculous, but it made life easier for the recruiter who might be scanning 100+ resumes at a school.
I'm wondering if the feedback you are receiving is more of a reflection that the recruiter is seeing 99 resumes in certain format and then gets to yours and has to adjust how they scan resumes because yours is in a different format. The recruiter can then have one of two reactions: frustration that yours is different or appreciation for your layout. While I certainly agree that the M-T format is superior, this might be a case where it would benefit you to go with the flow in order to remove the possibility of frustrating the recruiter.
On a different note, I am assuming that you are a second year MBA student. Did you receive a full time offer from your summer internship? In my experience, the first question most recruiters asked in any encounter was "Did you receive a full time offer from your internship?". If you didn't, it was an immediate red flag for them.
Hope this helps.