Job search success killer: overqualified and undervalued

Dear Sam:

I am submitting my resume for review. I lost my job in 2013 and went back to school to earn my MBA in marketing. I have not, however, been able to break into the marketing field. Can you look at my resume and tell me what causes an adverse reaction to employers?

Dear Lou:

Thank you for sending your resume so I could provide insight into the opportunities you may have for improvement. Here are areas that may be causing an adverse reaction.

1. You do not have a Qualifications Summary.

It is critical to position yourself in the mind of the reader through a summary of your candidacy. Without that you are asking the reader to figure out who you are and what you want to do based on past experience alone, which simply is not effective during a 4- to 7-second screening process.

2. You focused on nondifferentiating qualifications.

Opening your resume with a skills list that most in marketing can also claim does nothing to differentiate your candidacy. While software skills are important, the fact that you know Adobe Creative Suite and other industry technologies does not present a compelling reason to bring you in for an interview. Instead, hang your hat on the uniqueness of your experience.

3. You have not conveyed value.

Your resume consists largely of bullet points presenting job descriptions instead of paragraph summaries and bulleted highlights presenting key value you added.

While it is important to be able to perform the job you are hired for, it is also expected, so once again presenting the expectation does nothing to differentiate you in a crowded market.

Present a blend of your roles and highlight how you added value, what you achieved and how you went above and beyond expectations. This will predict contributions to a future employer.

4. You have included too much information.

It is unlikely you need to go back to 1997 to qualify for your next opportunity. I imagine you have trimmed some of your experience given you graduated in 1992, but that too is communicating too much information. By including 20 years of experience, and dating your graduation year, you are allowing employers to determine your age and potentially consider you as overqualified. Being over-qualified can be worse than being under-qualified, so perhaps trim what you are presenting to 10-15 years of professional work history.

5. Your education and training are mixed.

Separate your education from your training, and lead the education section leads with your MBA degree instead of with your Internet Marketing Certificate, which makes the reader assume you do not have a degree. List training in its own section in order to avoid this assumption.

6. You have not demonstrated your marketing skills.

It is difficult when you are a marketing candidate as you really have to prove your skills before you get the interview. By this, I mean, how you market YOU! Think about the format, structure and design of your resume. Does it reflect the creativity you will bring to your employer? Does the content showcase your written communication skills? I question whether both the content and design are representative of your MBA-level education and the creativity I know you will bring to an employer.

Step outside of your comfort zone and create an original, engaging and content-rich resume that sells who you are and what you can do. Samantha Nolan is a certified professional resume writer and owner of Ladybug Design, a fullservice resume-writing firm. Have a question for Sam? She can be reached at dearsam@ladybug-design.com or 614-570-3442. Find out more at ladybug-design.com.