resumé rant

how hard is it to have a perfect resumé? if there is one document you should invest time and review in, shouldn't it be the document that basically acts as an advertisement for yourself and your professional skills?

apparently, i've earned some sort of reputation for resumé nazi around the office. as soon as i get someone's resumé i circle all the typos, misspellings, etc. what's so wrong about that?

yesterday one came across my desk and it literally hurt my head to look at it. what was wrong? it was 3 pages long. reference letters were attached. incorrect usage of "it's". 3 different types of bullet points. inconsistency in presenting numbers and dollar figures. repeated (verbatim) descriptions for different job titles. just flipping through it i knew the person was a) mildly retarded, b) a compulsive liar, c) borderline schizophrenic, d) not a person i wanted to talk to.

of course, i've seen worse. misspelled emails. incorrect contact phone numbers. incorrect spellings of previous employers. multiple fonts. funky fonts. weird paper. misspelled names. outright wrong information. and the list goes on. i'm really no longer surprised by much and rather look forward to awarding "Most Atrocious Resumé" to deserving winners.

i don't get it. how can you be so clueless? how can you not proof your resumé obsessively? how come this doesn't seem to matter to people.

le sigh.