3 ways to tell a compelling story with your resume

A few months ago I attended a career day focusing on the early part of career trajectories. In the session on how to create resumes that held the reader's attention, one of the panelists spoke of 'resumes that tell a story'. I did not dwell on the conversation until a few days ago. A young job seeker who had connected with me a while ago on social media sent me her resume in case I came across any job openings. Perusing through it reminded me of the 'resume as a story' conversation. In this particular case, the candidate had engaged in a number of volunteer and paid positions that were, on the surface, unrelated. However, she wove them into a cohesive narrative in a very impressive way. This was the difference between my reading until the end and ignoring it, despite the fact that I did not have a suitable or available opening in mind. How do you, especially in the light of diverse experience, tell a story with your resume?

Buck the usual format If the usual format of structuring your resume does not work for you, do not be afraid to research other alternatives of showing yourself in the best light. Go for a structure that is easy to read and follow but with regards to your creativity in the content, do not limit yourself to the traditional design. Say you have been taking up volunteer or part time roles in project management because this is the discipline that you want to transition into. Your main role, however, is in sales or customer service. Going by the chronological format, which dictates that you organize roles according to your most recent would be confusing to a hiring manager looking at the resume. Hirers do not have time to wade through this kind of perplexity so you can be sure yours will be tossed into the trash can. An alternative is to divvy up your resume into different sections like sales management and project management sections. It may even add value in the summary section to show how your project management experience makes you a more valuable sales resource and vice versa.

Summary section The summary section referred to above is the modern replacement for the outdated objectives segment that started off resumes. This is a short 3-4 bullet point summary of your career that includes past experience most relevant to the position you are seeking. If you do not have enough experience to flesh this out, you can include skills include your coursework in school. Examples include project management, team leadership, account management, stakeholder engagement, customer engagement or services, etc.

Experience All your experience should be linked to the role you are seeking - it is possible to weave a narrative by thinking of all skills as transferrable. Even unrelated knowledge such as sales roles are an asset to finance or accounting by giving experience with stakeholder management (debtors, creditors etc). Draw on the responsibilities that could make it easier to transition into the role you are applying for, especially if it gives you an edge over the candidate the hirer might have in mind.

TIPS - Do not be afraid to change the structure of your resume if the traditional one does not work for you, but remember the tweaks need to create clarity, not confusion. - Even if you have a winding career path, try and weave a narrative by using transferable skills to convince the hirer to take a chance on you.