To Stand Out, Must You Forget the Resume

To Stand Out, Must You Forget the Resume By Jacqui Barrett-PoindexterThanks to Cherry Woodburn for engaging me in a Twitter conversation about (yet) another article on why people should forget the resume. You can read the article on Forbes.com, here: How To Stand Out In A Crowded Job Market: Forget The Traditional Resume.People who want to hire you for a job (hiring decision makers!) will always at some point some time down the road in the process want to see a snapshot of your career story. Traditional resume,  or,  modern, contemporary resume profile,  or whatever you want to call it, its still a resume. And, people are quick to jump from the concept of saying you should be more creative with your resume to saying forget your resume altogether. Dig deeper into the Forbes article, and you find a link that does just that. Its confusing to job seekers, and quite frankly, does them a disservice.While an online presence is critical in todays job search, its still fed by the same resume process steps that offline (paper resumes ) use and thats, strategic storytelling. Trying to speed past the thinking and targeting necessary to articulate who you are to a disinterested other person to garner their attention can prove fatal to your job search.A resume that feeds online portals still must provide some information on company names you worked for, some dates/chronology as well as some of your unique value proposition statements, such as:why they should care about youhow you will fix things for themhow you will make them more moneyhow you will save them timehow you will grow their company  why they should PAY you to do thisand MUCH more!This snapshot Im describing is a Resume it is NOT dying, you shouldnt forget about it in lieu of other techniques, it is NOT being replaced by LinkedIn or personal websites or other creative Internet techniques. In fact, those online portals are just that, portals to house and showcase your branded resume details the focused career resume story you should be taking  time and sensitive thought-work to develop.There are no shortcuts or clever tactics to ditch the resume process.So, stop with the close examination and dismissal of the resume as well as the binding rules of resume development, and start with taking a breath, slowing down and writing a distinguishing story. Its really that simple. Job search, and the processes that fuel the search take time and strategy. Breathe. And do. You will get to your destination.