Understanding that rare is valuable!
The reason that expensive diamonds are expensive is that they are rare, and rare is valuable! If precious, unique, high-quality diamonds lined the streets of our country because they were in such great abundance, they would no longer be rare and no longer be valuable. They would be common, and common, while good, is not as valuable. So it is with your resume. If you have your resume out there posted on many websites and in the hands of multiple recruiters, and everyone is seeing it, does it benefit you more? Our theory of rarity says it does not, because rare is valuable. Our advice at Hospitality Talent Scouts is that you should be very selective as to where you post your resume and to whom you send it. Recruiters included!
Your Resume
What is the ideal resume? What does it look like? What should it say? How many pages should it be? Should I list all my duties? Should I list all my accomplishments? Should I include every job I've ever had? The list of questions goes on and on.
If you were to ask 10 experts for their opinions on your resume, you would probably get 10 different opinions. At HTS, we have seen just as many questions from Chief Operating Officers over this subject as we have from Hotel Department Heads. It is unilaterally true that everyone seems to get paranoid over their resumes.
If you were to ask Hospitality Talent Scouts our opinion on resumes, you would get a very simple, short answer.
Employers are looking for three basic things when they look at your resume:
What did you do?
Where did you do it?
How long did you do it?
Everything else is just window dressing. Remember, seasoned employers know the business and most likely the employers you have worked for. So if you made one bad career move and only stayed in that position for a short time, most employers will be able to figure it out because that company probably has a reputation for not being able to hold on to talented people, or perhaps the leader you worked for has a bad reputation.
Therefore, your resume should be no longer than two pages, three at the absolute most, and it should answer the above questions without the reader having to dig to find the answers. It should be neat, orderly, easy to read, and easy for the reader to understand. It should be visibly appealing and organized, progressing from the most recent position to the least recent.
Most candidates fail to understand that employers looking at resumes are often deluged with resumes for an open position, and you have about 3 seconds to get that employer's attention or you end up in the TBNT file (Thanks, But No Thanks). So you had better make your resume easy to read and to the point if you want to increase your chances of getting an inquiry or interview.
Your resume should show your stability and progression in your career very plainly, without making the reader dig for it.
The single most common mistake/assumption that most resume writers make is that the person reading their resume does not understand the industry, so they over-communicate. We often have to advise the most senior of management executives that the people looking at their resumes are even more senior and know most of the major employers in the hospitality industry, so they just want the facts and not a lot of fluff.