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Submitted by dorian.w on
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Hello all, I've been a faithful follower for quite a while and have applied many of the MT techniques with good success. Today, however, I've got a question that I'd like to get the collective wisdom of the group.

I'm currently interviewing for a senior position in our municipality (upward move with my current employer). Today I had the long list interview with the Recruiter doing the search, and prepared using the techniques from the Podcasts and the Kellogg video. All went well, except that during the interview, the recruiter asked me: "and what's with this resume?"

I've known this person for about 5 years, and she actually recruited me into my current position in 2002. I was kind of taken aback, as I'd worked hard to get my resume to the one page format, ensuring that the bulllets are action oriented, leading with results, and quantifiable. The content is much superior to my previous version. She didn't like the format of my MT resume, and her comments were along the lines of:

- "How do we find out about the 'you'?"
- "Who's the customer here?"
- "Where's the Professional Association / Personal side?"
- "Looks like you didn't take the time to worry about presentation"

She also mentioned that my potential boss wasn't that enamoured with the format, which concerned me somewhat too.

Now, being an internal candidate, I'm wondering if they didn't just skim over the guts of my resume, and not really look as hard at the content as they would with an external candidate. Looking instead at the presentation vs. substance. I resisted the urge to say something like "what part about being a results focused, high achieving and forward thinking leader didn't you see in there".

Any advise or experiences that anyone can share with me on their use of the MT resume? I'm a little concerned that if a typical recruiter won't/can't see the good content crammed in there, that a typical HR type may not either.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Dorian

MattJBeckwith's picture
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Hello Dorian. Resumes help get you interviews, interviews help you meet people and get jobs. It sounds like you got the interview so, wham-o, it worked. Seriously, I know it's probably not that cut and dry with an internal position but your resume isn't what gets you the job.

I have converted my resume to the one-page, M-T style and have shown some recruiters I know. They all agreed that it's format worked well and they all agreed it was an improvement over my original one (of course, because my original resume stinks).

Best of luck to you!

XOLegato's picture

Well, I'm not sure how to address the recruiter's specific questions, but I have noticed this: some people find the MT resume to be very severe looking in its presentation. Through discussing with B-School profs and Career Services advisors, I've come to what I think is a happy medium between MT and what most "long flimmy flammy stylish" resume people like.

One change that seemed to help assuage the aesthetics is to remove all of the underlining, and un-bold the time periods (March 04 to October 06). Even if you change nothing else, this will soften the contrast between your bold and regular content.

Hope this helps!

- William

Mark's picture
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The vast majority of B-School profs have never interviewed (on either side of the table) for the kinds of jobs many of you are considering.

Career Services advisors are some of the most ill-informed "recruiting industry" people I know, and are often there because those jobs are much easier to obtain than recruiting jobs in large firms or executive recruiters. They make their recommendations to satisfy one very narrow constituency: the clients that recruit there, who have created a specific and precisely tailored format that is immediately considered ineffective anywhere else, in part because it is only one part of what the school provides.

Mark

dorian.w's picture
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Thanks for the thoughts and advise. You're right: the Resume is intended to get you the interview....the interview (supported by practice, practice, practice) will get you the offer. I'll stick with the MT resume and knock 'em dead in the interviews!

Dorian

asteriskrntt1's picture

Sometimes these recruiters think putting the screws to someone (ie, making them feel quite uncomfortable) is a great method to try to judge how you react to stress in general. In fact, the potential boss probably didn't even make the comment. I don't think it is a great technique, as your resume should be a good (but not perfect) indicator of how you handle stress on the job.

One response might be "Thank you for the feedback. What can I do to get you the information you desire?"

PS - Like the others opined, you probably did a great job on the resume. After all, you got the interview :) Well done.

mwojtow's picture

I have a questions regardin the MT resume format.
I recently (this morning) sat down and began revising my resume to reflect the MT format. My work history includes companies where I have been either promoted or transferred to another department.

Would I show each internal promotion and department transfer as a separate position indicating specific dates; position; department; and company (followed by the MT format)?

Thanks,
MXW

sholden's picture
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[quote="mwojtow"]
Would I show each internal promotion and department transfer as a separate position indicating specific dates; position; department; and company (followed by the MT format)?[/quote]

I have done this on my resume. I think it is appropriate.

Steve

mwojtow's picture

Steve,

Thank you for your advice. :lol:

That is exactly what I’m going to do.

MXW

Mark's picture
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Steve's right.

Thanks Steve.

Mark