The Resume Creators

A recent column by The New York Times reporter Adam Bryant provides a timely reminder that the content of a job seeker’s resume is of little interest to a CEO on a mission.

Unsophisticated job seekers — we were all there once upon a time — spend countless hours on the format, suitability, meatiness and relevance of their resume. Yet here was Bob Eckert, chairman and CEO of toymaker Mattel, telling Bryant that there are two things he looks for when interviewing candidates: learning the name of a mutual acquaintance (whom Eckert will then call for a reference) is one; the other is listening to a candidate’s “stories”. And the candidate’s resume? Read on.

Recalling a job interview over thirty years earlier Eckert said he’d fretted that he’d not done well, that the CEO had only wanted to discuss Eckert’s background, his family and his interests. Eckert wasn’t even sure that the CEO had read his resume. Fast forward fifteen years. Now Eckert found himself doing the same thing from the earlier interview, using the time with a job seeker to learn whether they had shared values. And the candidate’s resume? Read on.

In a 2009 installment of “Office” Adam Bryant gleaned equally sage tidbits from John Chambers, the Chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems. Chambers recalled for Bryant that Jack Welch, the iconic former leader of General Electric, had once told him that true leaders know great setbacks, including “near death” experiences. You mean, as in nearly dying, Chambers asked. No, responded Welch. Not you. Your company! Thanks to Bryant’s probing questions as he interviewed Chambers readers learned not only about Chambers but also about Welch.

These are the “stories” that provide great insight but are typically absent from a resume. In answering another of Bryant’s questions Chambers proved this point. Diagnosed with dyslexia in childhood Chambers recalled that a teacher had given him a way to conquer his handicap: Look at it like a curve ball, she’d said. “The ball breaks the same way every time. Once you get used to it, you can handle it pretty well.” Bryant noted that as its CEO Chambers grew Cisco from a $1 billion firm to a $40 billion powerhouse. With what we know of Chambers’s early life this achievement is easier to acknowledge while astounding to consider.

While technology brings us closer to the pulse of the job market the one truth that seems not to have changed is that interviewers are most influenced by the candidate’s interview. As Eckert, Chambers and Welch have all said so well, it’s our experiences, our stories, that help form an impression of us. The interview and insightful reference-checking do the rest. And what about the resume?

Sure, a nice-looking resume can’t hurt, but let it not overshadow a candidate’s emphasis on developing the skills to tell his or her story in person. Only here will the interviewer learn what they’re really seeking — the bits of a candidate’s personality, vigor, initiative, passion and willingness to take a calculated risk that by themselves are like mini-chapters in a book, and taken together the measure of a candidate that conveys much more than a resume ever could.

Be honest and be well.

Chuck Conine operates Hospitality HR Solutions offering real answers to HR’s biggest challenges. He is a graduate of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration and a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources whose regular column on HR issues appears monthly in the Smith Travel Research publication hotelnewsnow.com.