Many of us are familiar with the presence of self-help books both in the bookstores and online. These books provide us with information that is helpful for cultivating professional and individual growth. Among these are books geared toward helping you improve your resume. Some of these simply discuss the principles that make up a good resume. Others offer distinctive perks, such as that of the infamous “one-hour resume.”
The Project Triangle
Let’s relate the one-hour resume to business. Consider the project triangle. At each corner are the principles of “time,” “cost” and “quality.” You cannot accomplish one corner perfectly in a project without sacrificing parts of the other two corners. When working on any business project, you have to come to terms with this sad truth. You never have enough time to turn out the very best quality product because of the constraints of cost. It becomes a simple matter of balance.
A one-hour resume fulfills the “time” corner if you feel like you’re too busy in life. But, what are you sacrificing in the cost and quality of such an endeavor? Cost does not always equate to a financial figure and can be figured in terms of detriment. A one-hour resume is convenient, but it hardly allows you to create unique resume that will grab an employer’s attention.
The Reality
Writing the perfect resume in one hour is rarely possible. As wonderful an accomplishment as it would be, we cannot create quality work out of a rushed job. In today’s world we expect results fast, especially when we’re unemployed. While continued unemployment can be attributed to any number of personal traits or circumstantial factors, a shoddy resume will almost always head the list on why you don’t get a first interview.
Many individuals don’t get much practice in writing a resume (which can be a good and a bad thing), so it stands to reason that you’d want to get it written quickly. Being unemployed is an unpleasant experience and it’s hard coming to terms with the fact that this one sheet of paper largely determines the fate of your future employment. Resumes are rarely fun to write. Starting each sentence with an action verb and tooting your proverbial horn is a difficult endeavor.
Authors of resume writing books understand this and capitalize on the idea of your being able to write a resume in a very short span of time. Be cautious in this approach.
One Positive
The only positive effect I’ve found is that a one-hour resume helps you through the first draft. Good job! Now rinse and repeat. Perfect that piece of paper. It’s the one chance you have to make a good first impression. Do you want to gamble the thousands of dollars in income that you earn each year on one hour of effort? You must continually update, edit and revise your resume depending on the position you’re seeking.
Writing a good, effective resume is not something that should take one hour. And you may not capture the essence of your job history fully in the first draft. Depending on the position you are applying for and the industry, you will likely have to revise your resume multiple times. Take heart in the fact that your efforts will ultimately influence future employment opportunities. Work hard and be patient. It will pay off in the end.
This is a guest post by Ryan Goodrich of NorthOrion.com, a guiding light in online education.
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