Language is a funny thing. Ever noticed how many different ways there are to read a sentence? Take that title, for example. It’s a simple interrogative sentence. But what does it mean? Let’s take a look.

Why should I re-write my resume, Ms. Recruiter?

On the face of it, this is a good question. Ms. Recruiter apparently feels your resume could be improved in some way, in order for you to be considered for a position. Perhaps you need to highlight a different skill set, or provide more detail on some of your successful projects. It could be the lack of grammatical structure impedes the reader’s comprehension.

A better question for Ms. Recruiter is, How can I improve my resume for this position? This question asks for direction. No sense in guessing about what changes will improve your chances of being submitted for a job. Ask for specifics.

Why should I re-write my resume, Ms. Recruiter?

Ah. The emphasis here is a little different. Who better to re-write your resume than you? No doubt about it — creating a resume is not fun. Well, it could be, but in general, most people feel “fun” is not the word they would use to describe this exercise.

You were thinking that Ms. Recruiter should be the one to do the re-write? Really? Let’s be logical about this. Ms. Recruiter probably was not sitting on your shoulder during the scrum meeting when your suggestion smoothed the way for a rapid turn-around on that project that was on its way off the board. She was not there when you found that glitch and wrote the script to extract those key data elements.

Have you ever heard someone else try to retell a story that was not their own? Someone else’s personal story? It just doesn’t sound quite the same. The timing is off. The allusions don’t make sense. It’s not their story.

The same is true of your resume. No one else can tell your story the way you can.

~Catherine Buck Morgan
Corporate Media Specialist, DPP 
Image: ElfriedeFleck