We are realizing slowly that when you try to hire great people through mechanical means by searching their resumes for keywords, you don’t get the results you want. You have to hire people through human means, by engaging with them as people rather than as bundles of skills and professional credentials. Everybody has a story. We all resonate better with certain people and cultures than with others.
We need to get the human element back into recruiting. It would be good for shareholders, customers, team members and job-seekers if more employers would treat their recruiting processes as human activities rather than mechanical ones.
Sadly, most of us have been taught to write our resumes to look as inoffensive, robotic and inhuman as possible. I can understand why real estate agents tell us to make our houses look bland and generic when we’re trying to sell the house.
Our family photos, knickknacks and personal things might turn off a potential buyer. I don’t mind painting the walls my least favorite shade of beige and removing anything with personality from view when my house is for sale. I’ll be moving out soon anyway.
It’s different when you hide your personality and flatten your vibrant style in order not to scare away or offend fearful people. How could you ever be happy in a job when you only got the job because the interviewers never got to meet the real you?
Your first outreach to most employers is your resume. Why not put some life and color into your resume? No matter how automated an organization’s recruiting system is, you will not get an interview until at least one human being reads your resume.
What kind of job applicant do you want that person to meet as they read your resume: someone who sounds like a clone trooper, or someone who sounds like you?
So finally, here are 10 traditional, boring, say-nothing resume phrases to remove from your resume as soon as you can:
• Results-oriented professional with a bottom-line orientation
• Motivated self-starter
• Superior communication skills
• Savvy/seasoned/strategic Business Professional
• Meets or exceeds expectations
• Skilled at leading cross-functional/high-performance teams
• Proven track record of success
• Progressively more responsible positions
• Strategic visionary
• Dynamic Industry Leader
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