Have you ever heard of the Proactive Department? I hadn’t. It is a great
departmental name, implying great service. But I am imagining what the department is charged with, rather than knowing for certain.
The client who’s resume proclaimed he worked for the Proactive department was looking just at the tree, when there is a forest out there. My professional opinion was, he needed a serious resume rewrite.
A resume is your marketing product. It is composed of facts and information that conveys what you achieved given the job duties you were assigned. It tells a story of your skills, experience and your successes. It should use terms that are commonly understood by the reader.
My client was actually surprised when I asked what his department did. He had worked at the company so long, he was not aware that that was a company specific title. He assumed other companies used the same department name.
Realizing that a department name or term is unique to the company or your field of work is a great step toward relating to the outside world
If your resume uses terms that others will not understand, let go of hugging just your tree, your job, your way of doing things. Start to identify a bigger broader picture of how to talk about your work.
Take a walk in the forest.
Step back from what you do and where you have worked. Expand your way of thinking, beyond your employer’s terminology and ways of doing things. As a job seeker, consider the bigger picture and translate the unique terms that are familiar to you to your new audience.
Your priority is to market your skills and talents. Think about common language, descriptive words that are more generic and easily understood. In your resume and in networking you will want to explain to others the internal workings of your job and your company.
If you are coming up for air after years with the same company, how do you determine what other companies want and how they describe their work? Read. Read a lot. Read local newspapers; read online. Go to the bookstore or library and research your field or the field you’d like to enter. You will begin to have a broader picture and that translates into more applicable ways of referencing your skills and work experience.
If there is a company you have identified, research their inner workings, so that you can relate what you do and know to their way of doing things. Try to find others who work at that company through your network. Ask good questions so that you’ve got a way of merging your ideas with their corporate culture.
See the tree and the forest, by relating your past experience to the companies you are targeting.
