Writing a Résumé That Shouts ‘Hire Me’: A Response to The New York Times

When I was a teen, I thought the perfect Sunday morning involved a sesame bagel with lox and a schmear, a cup of great coffee, and The New York Times (especially the Book Review section). In my current incarnation, I wish I could find more meat on that bone. I was particularly excited to read the headline “Writing a Résumé That Shouts ‘Hire Me’,” thinking that I would be getting the scoop on what the experts were saying about contemporary resume writing expectations. I’ve lately been thinking that we resume writers listen to one another too much, when we should be listening to hiring managers and recruiters more.

This article somehow disappointed me. The author cited one of the best in the field, Wendy Enelow, so I was really excited to hear more about what she had to say. I have participated in several of her training sessions, and she and Louise Kursmark always give incredible, specific advice. I wondered, however, if the author of this particular article simply cited some of Enelow’s published comments, as the comments, although true and helpful, were not exceptionally instructive. Altogether, the article seemed like a list of the what rather than the how in a cohesive approach to resume writing that many readers surely would need.

I’m still keeping my RSS feed to NYT_Jobs active, and I hope that in the future we see more about what the hiring managers want to see specifically.