Is Your Resume My Teeth?

Two days ago, I went to the dentist and the short story is I have three cavities. More said, I am extremely unpleased with this revelation.  Not because of money or time or the subsequent pain.  But because I don't have any idea how this happened.

I've been lucky for the past 45 years and have had only one cavity.  Now I have three at the same time. This surprised my dentist as well and he inquired as to what has changed in the last 6 to 9 months. My first thought was I started this blog nine months ago which I found amusing because I could have called this article, "Social Media Ruined My Teeth."  But the truth is, sometime in the past year, I became less obsessive about my dental care.  I know that sounds gross.  But it's not like I developed a Meth habit and now have geek stink breath. It's just that I began to think that it wasn't as necessary to be overly concerned...I figured I was still doing a good job of brushing and flossing.  But apparently not.

So this is my wake up call. In a couple of weeks I have to return to the dentist to have them filled and face the sobering fact once again. Yet I still have a hard time accepting that my less obsessive attitude led to this decay.

But isn't this how all mistakes are made?  You let down your guard, one detail slips by, and nothing bad occurs.  You let a couple more go by, still nothing bad occurs.  Essentially you teach yourself through reinforcement that letting the details slip by has no negative consequence. But what you don't realize is that decay set in awhile ago.  And the sobering fact that you did this to yourself is the hardest part to accept.

Are My Teeth Your Resume?

A common complaint that comes from the recruiting world is that resumes are generally poorly written. For example, just yesterday I saw this tweet from @boorambo, "Resume Groundhog Day: Critiquing 25-30 resumes today and tomorrow ~ Why is it I keep seeing the same mistakes over and over and over again?" 

I wonder if these job seekers are treating their resumes like I treated my teeth. Are they paying enough attention to the details, letting important details slip by, and teaching themselves bad habits? The negative consequence of having a bad resume is not successfully landing a job.  But a good rationalization can fix that by telling oneself that only one person can get the job and it was just bad luck.  This is where the mistake is made.

Fortunately for me, I have a dentist appointment every 6 months.  Because of this I can fix what happened and change my habits.  Dentists are fairly widespread and expenses can be covered under insurance.  So visiting a dentist is relatively easy. Unfortunately resumes do not have the same luxury.  But in all essence, they should be treated the same.  Think about hard it is to eat if you don't have teeth, and the same if you don't have a job.

Job seekers: treat your resumes like your teeth.

• Clean them at least once a day. 
• Get under the surface with some critiquing floss.  
• And seek out a professional (e.g.an HR friend) regularly for a check-up. 

There's a good chance if you aren't and haven't some decay has set into your resume.  You may not notice it.  But recruiters do.  Your resume is you. And like your teeth, you can only see them when you look in the mirror.