Are Generic Résumés a Smart Résumé Writing/Job Search Strategy in This Recession?
By Darrell Z. DiZoglio, Certified Professional Résumé Writer @ RighteousResumes.com © Nov. 2022 All rights reserved per the DMCA.
A generic résumé/multipurpose resume is still one of the most requested items not on my website’s services page. So, this info article will explain why these résumés are so popular (full details in list below) among people who earn less than $45K annually.
Unfortunately, they are mostly popular due to the online advertising and marketing campaigns of resume builder websites and all the gullible people that believe said advertisements. Yes, this is the very same software that often tricks you into "writing your resume for free" using their "advanced software" but merely tricks you into doing all the work yourself and you just end up with a weak typed work history that's indistinguishable from the masses who hold the same position.
Since a generic/multipurpose resume is the equivalent of buying a Mega Millions lottery ticket with 293MM – 1 odds, you can understand why it's only popular among the inexperienced, uninformed, below $45K income earners, and online resume builders (fully automated websites that mass produce typed work histories). This is true because it's 2023, and employers across the U.S. have evolved tremendously since 1995. Now employers use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to filter out untargeted/generic résumés (less desirable candidates) by keyword density scoring, formatting restrictions, and for having untargeted content which is irrelevant (thus of no use to the hiring committee whatsoever). Of course, they must do this, to continue to survive and prosper since competition is fierce. This is exactly why job postings are far more detailed now than in decades past.
Since, I'm just a humble Copywriter/Editor with a typewriter/working stiff, a great place to start here would be to see how powerful, convincing and compelling an ordinary worker bee's resume and LinkedIn profile can be when it's fully optimized by an expert. https://linkedin.com/in/darrelldizoglio (be sure to click on "see more" to read all the text, my resume attached to the About section near the top, and my LinkedIn recommendations from clients, which are at the very bottom of the profile). Seeing is believing isn't it? This is how I sell all my professional, leadership, high-income, and executive clients to employers.
I am confident that requests for a generic résumé are mostly due to lack of education/experience, or could it be that “the customer is always right” rule applies here too? It seems many ordinary workers are not focused on winning the race to secure employment, and just want a type-written work history just to apply, at the lowest price possible. Well, wake up and smell the coffee people, We Are in a Terrible Recession with Nationwide Mass Layoffs, a Plummeting Stock Market, and Hiring Freezes. Today, everyone must have their résumé updated, fully optimized to explain their value, and ready to go because half of the newly laid off employees that call me for résumé writing help report their layoff was a total surprise. Look at the competition's resume (blue link just above in paragraph #1) and LinkedIn profile, then compare yours side-by-side.
Here's exactly why weak generic resumes are particularly problematic for 95% of professionals earning above $45K annually: They expose you to extended unemployment (doubly painful from loss of income, 401K contributions, good credit rating, depression, and loss of all savings simultaneously) because they expose all your flaws - multiple employment gaps, frequent job/employer changes, frequent career changes, backward steps from management to ordinary worker bee, no industry specific experience, lack of advancement etc. while simultaneously eliminating very helpful targeted content, a sales effort, value building, and keywords (any chance of passing through the ATS is ruined due to lack of keyword density), and even if you were to be lucky enough to have your weak type-written work history seen by an Operations Manager/HR Manager, it would be trounced in side-by-side comparisons every single time because surprise > 90% of smart professionals/parents (if you're young or in college) delegate this difficult task to Certified Professional Resume Writers (CPRW)/Executive Resume Writers. The other 10% will soon wish they had. While I'm on the subject of good advice in a recession...
If you do not have six-12 months of living expenses minimum in the bank for emergencies, it’s time to add a side hustle ASAP until you do. Yes, we just had over 12 consecutive years of upward momentum in the stock markets, job growth, GDP growth, and general economic growth after the Financial Crisis, when the longest previous similar period in US history was only seven years. But that’s all over, the Fed will continue to increase interest rates, and it’s essential to know that the pendulum swings both ways!
Here Are the Top Ten Times When a Generic/Multipurpose Résumé is Actually Useful…
Clearly, there are still legitimate uses for a basic type-written work history because an 18-year-old skilled construction laborer could walk onto a construction site, hand one to the hiring Manager, and get hired instantly. However, many more experienced professionals are either asking for them or are tricked into purchasing them from a free online resume builder (garbage, their business is all about mass document production) which is scary/career sabotage. Thus, without building your value, demonstrating your value, marketing you, selling you, SEO with relevant keywords, and ATS compliance results are not even considered. Without thinking forward enough to be concerned about actual job search results, you will be paying a steep price in tons of missed employment opportunities, lower wages, bottom of the barrel employers, and layoffs every single time. That lost opportunity cost results in extended unemployment (financially devastating), working for a tier III or IV employer vs. tier I or II, repeated job changes from bad bosses/employers/toxic workplace cultures or being chronically underpaid. All these outcomes are far from desirable and preventable with a convincing and compelling résumé that explains you true value and return on investment to employers!
It's exactly the same investing in yourself concept as wearing your best clothes to employment interviews and church, driving a nice vehicle, staying in-shape, and looking well-groomed when you are dating, but the results are more lasting and significant since a higher starting salary/compensation package repeats year after year.
So, regardless of the economy, but especially since we are in a cold, cruel recession again, let me make this abundantly clear, the only time you want a basic typed work history/generic résumé is if you don’t care what kind of job you get, how low your wages are, how long you stay unemployed, how often you are laid off/have to quit jobs, what type of organization you work for, do not mind moving back in with your parents, or don’t care what kind of horrible boss you work for next. Even worse, extended unemployment normally leads several painful and financially ruinous losses including loss of good credit rating, savings, happiness, confidence, vehicle/s, housing, spouses/partners etc.
Before you decide on upgrading your resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile, you must know these are valuable sales and marketing documents that have a sky-high return on investment (not cheap typewritten work histories). If you are an experienced professional, it matters what employers think, how they have always succeeded with data-driven hiring decisions/ internal candidates for decades, and that they will continue to focus on hiring only the best talent available in order to survive and then prosper in a recession (remember, many employers have still not financially recovered from the Coronavirus Pandemic & Lockdowns of 2020-2022 yet).
If you are determined to purchase a generic typed work history/multipurpose résumé, no one can stop you. But, before you do, it is essential to know that you generally get exactly what you pay for in life. A great resume isn't just about helping you secure employment, it's also about making sure you are paid what you are truly worth, protecting you from future mass layoffs, working for a most admired employer, and helping you to advance (demonstrating and building your value, explaining the return on investment of hiring you to the hiring committee).
Yes, I am a Certified Professional Résumé Writer/Executive Résumé Writer and Christian Résumé Writer, who wants you to be paid fair market value, advance, work for a top tier employer, and get hired promptly. It’s not just the ATS that will eliminate any weak generic résumé from contention, it’s the established best practices of hiring, the masses of competitors that want the same job in a recession, the side-by-side comparisons with much better résumés, and employers’ relentless focus on hiring the best, thus I prefer to offer expert résumé writing services that are valuable, provide real results, and align with my Christian faith, and my passion for servant leadership.
Ask yourself, why do so many wealthy, educated, and successful families always ensure that their children who are graduating college/graduate school are set up success with the best Résumé Writer and LinkedIn Profile Writer they can find? Success leaves clues folks.
I help the long-term unemployed, chronically underpaid, and people who previously were only able to secure temporary positions. One hundred percent of these folks have used a weak generic typed work history or hand-written applications to find work. All of them insist on a generic typed work history (despite having real skills) without realizing it perpetuates continued low earnings. But, you are smart enough to know better and want a brighter/more prosperous future.
Please do not model your career after chronic underachievers who use online resume builders to create a dishwater weak typed work history, invest in yourself/future success, and pay more for a genuine Righteous Résumé with the words that sell you into the job you so richly deserve. Your résumé should be one of the most valuable documents you own. It has everything to do with your new annual compensation package, new position, career advancement and whether you hired or not, and when. If you want to be winning from the beginning, hire Darrell DiZoglio, CPRW/Executive Resume Writer at RighteousResumes.com today.
By Darrell Z. DiZoglio, Certified Professional Résumé Writer @ RighteousResumes.com © Nov. 2022 All rights reserved per the DMCA.
A generic résumé/multipurpose resume is still one of the most requested items not on my website’s services page. So, this info article will explain why these résumés are so popular (full details in list below) among people who earn less than $45K annually.
Unfortunately, they are mostly popular due to the online advertising and marketing campaigns of resume builder websites and all the gullible people that believe said advertisements. Yes, this is the very same software that often tricks you into "writing your resume for free" using their "advanced software" but merely tricks you into doing all the work yourself and you just end up with a weak typed work history that's indistinguishable from the masses who hold the same position.
Since a generic/multipurpose resume is the equivalent of buying a Mega Millions lottery ticket with 293MM – 1 odds, you can understand why it's only popular among the inexperienced, uninformed, below $45K income earners, and online resume builders (fully automated websites that mass produce typed work histories). This is true because it's 2023, and employers across the U.S. have evolved tremendously since 1995. Now employers use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to filter out untargeted/generic résumés (less desirable candidates) by keyword density scoring, formatting restrictions, and for having untargeted content which is irrelevant (thus of no use to the hiring committee whatsoever). Of course, they must do this, to continue to survive and prosper since competition is fierce. This is exactly why job postings are far more detailed now than in decades past.
Since, I'm just a humble Copywriter/Editor with a typewriter/working stiff, a great place to start here would be to see how powerful, convincing and compelling an ordinary worker bee's resume and LinkedIn profile can be when it's fully optimized by an expert. https://linkedin.com/in/darrelldizoglio (be sure to click on "see more" to read all the text, my resume attached to the About section near the top, and my LinkedIn recommendations from clients, which are at the very bottom of the profile). Seeing is believing isn't it? This is how I sell all my professional, leadership, high-income, and executive clients to employers.
I am confident that requests for a generic résumé are mostly due to lack of education/experience, or could it be that “the customer is always right” rule applies here too? It seems many ordinary workers are not focused on winning the race to secure employment, and just want a type-written work history just to apply, at the lowest price possible. Well, wake up and smell the coffee people, We Are in a Terrible Recession with Nationwide Mass Layoffs, a Plummeting Stock Market, and Hiring Freezes. Today, everyone must have their résumé updated, fully optimized to explain their value, and ready to go because half of the newly laid off employees that call me for résumé writing help report their layoff was a total surprise. Look at the competition's resume (blue link just above in paragraph #1) and LinkedIn profile, then compare yours side-by-side.
Here's exactly why weak generic resumes are particularly problematic for 95% of professionals earning above $45K annually: They expose you to extended unemployment (doubly painful from loss of income, 401K contributions, good credit rating, depression, and loss of all savings simultaneously) because they expose all your flaws - multiple employment gaps, frequent job/employer changes, frequent career changes, backward steps from management to ordinary worker bee, no industry specific experience, lack of advancement etc. while simultaneously eliminating very helpful targeted content, a sales effort, value building, and keywords (any chance of passing through the ATS is ruined due to lack of keyword density), and even if you were to be lucky enough to have your weak type-written work history seen by an Operations Manager/HR Manager, it would be trounced in side-by-side comparisons every single time because surprise > 90% of smart professionals/parents (if you're young or in college) delegate this difficult task to Certified Professional Resume Writers (CPRW)/Executive Resume Writers. The other 10% will soon wish they had. While I'm on the subject of good advice in a recession...
If you do not have six-12 months of living expenses minimum in the bank for emergencies, it’s time to add a side hustle ASAP until you do. Yes, we just had over 12 consecutive years of upward momentum in the stock markets, job growth, GDP growth, and general economic growth after the Financial Crisis, when the longest previous similar period in US history was only seven years. But that’s all over, the Fed will continue to increase interest rates, and it’s essential to know that the pendulum swings both ways!
Here Are the Top Ten Times When a Generic/Multipurpose Résumé is Actually Useful…
- You have recently married the billionaire boss’s daughter or son, so you are set for life.
- You have already made tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin/crypto currency/stock market/real estate investing, so you are set for life (Bitcoin has taken some significant plunges as well as gains this year). Now you can impress everyone with just your bank statements.
- You are engaged to or married to the boss/a partner/C-level executive, so you are set for life.
- You just want to apply for work to meet the continuing requirements to collect the fabulously lucrative unemployment compensation and food stamps offered by your state to the unemployed.
- You only want to apply for work to meet the continuing requirements to collect unemployment compensation checks or disability checks while you work for cash under the table (illegal).
- You are married to a politician who has risen to a position of power, so he/she can collect plenty of cash bribe money (all unreported), so you are too busy shopping for executive jets, photographing the blue-faced, golden-coated, mountain monkeys of Siberia, and exotic fur coats to care.
- Your new Landlord/Property Owner just wants to see an informal typed work history with 24 months of bank statements to approve you as a renter, so he knows if your long-term employment and earnings have been stable or not.
- You are submitting a business plan to a bank for a small business loan, and you are A-kay with a fifty-fifty chance of approval (banks have Underwriters and do want to their loans to be repaid).
- You have already been promoted by your current boss at work, but HR just needs an updated résumé to justify the promotion and new salary (FYI your annual salary matters, and it is always negotiable, especially if you are a top performer worthy of a promotion).
- You are only looking for part-time work to supplement your income or help pay for college tuition. Normally, this would be true, but during a recession keep in mind, top tier employers will be choosy and even ordinary jobs like a Domino’s Pizza delivery driver are competing to work in the most lucrative locations/stores where the monthly income can average 75%-125% higher than the tier III & IV locations/stores. It’s the same with every restaurant, night club, entertainment venue, bar, hotel, and retail establishment that pays commissions (e.g., furniture stores, auto dealerships etc.) or tips.
- You have already been hired with an official handshake and oral agreement, but the HR Director just needs a résumé to justify the hire and salary. Think about it for a minute, do you really know for sure that HR has no better internal candidates in their stack of résumés/database? You do know that businesses must hire the best candidates available to survive and thrive during a recession, right? Again, this is a 50-50 bet, I would never gamble on.
- You are volunteering in a nonprofit organization/charity or want to be a candy striper in a children’s hospital, and you do not mind starting at the bottom because you know you want a medical career.
- You want to be hired as a Prison Guard/Corrections Officer (it’s really a tough, dangerous, demanding, depressing, and high-stress job with tons of turnover) and know they will hire anyone with a pulse. Yes, indeed a typed work history will suffice. But how will you justify your value in salary negotiations without a résumé full of the words that sell you?
- When you are looking to impress a family with your employment history for a baby-sitting job, landscaping job, pool cleaning job, house sitting service, pet sitting service, dog grooming service, dog walking service, or in-home day care service. It’s probably a great idea to post this résumé on your website. Dog owners won't mind at all.
- Your primary bankable talent is working as a farm laborer/crop picker, mowing lawns/landscaping, washing dishes, washing cars, detailing cars or you are a part-time dog walker/babysitter.
- If you are homeless, are unemployed, and are open to any gainful employment. I have donated several résumés to help homeless professionals get out of a rut. Every one of them wanted a generic/multipurpose résumé. This is totally understandable since they need a job within walking distance from their shelter. I provided it as requested, prayed for them, and I pointed them to HowToFindWorkNow.org for free job search inspiration, tips, advice, and strategies. God bless all the volunteers at the Salvation Army, I am still amazed at the wonderful Christian work they do.
- If you need an internship (unpaid/paid) while you are still in college to obtain relevant work experience in your field, good professional references, and college credit. In cases like this, I have found a direct sales letter approach with references is a superior strategy since résumés are more factual by nature, and what good is a skimpy résumé without any professional experience anyway? I have written these direct sales letters for my clients’ kids during their junior or senior year in college/graduate school for many years with well over 95% success rate (still $99.95 in case you are wondering). Why make a weak first impression when you can make a strong one?
Clearly, there are still legitimate uses for a basic type-written work history because an 18-year-old skilled construction laborer could walk onto a construction site, hand one to the hiring Manager, and get hired instantly. However, many more experienced professionals are either asking for them or are tricked into purchasing them from a free online resume builder (garbage, their business is all about mass document production) which is scary/career sabotage. Thus, without building your value, demonstrating your value, marketing you, selling you, SEO with relevant keywords, and ATS compliance results are not even considered. Without thinking forward enough to be concerned about actual job search results, you will be paying a steep price in tons of missed employment opportunities, lower wages, bottom of the barrel employers, and layoffs every single time. That lost opportunity cost results in extended unemployment (financially devastating), working for a tier III or IV employer vs. tier I or II, repeated job changes from bad bosses/employers/toxic workplace cultures or being chronically underpaid. All these outcomes are far from desirable and preventable with a convincing and compelling résumé that explains you true value and return on investment to employers!
It's exactly the same investing in yourself concept as wearing your best clothes to employment interviews and church, driving a nice vehicle, staying in-shape, and looking well-groomed when you are dating, but the results are more lasting and significant since a higher starting salary/compensation package repeats year after year.
So, regardless of the economy, but especially since we are in a cold, cruel recession again, let me make this abundantly clear, the only time you want a basic typed work history/generic résumé is if you don’t care what kind of job you get, how low your wages are, how long you stay unemployed, how often you are laid off/have to quit jobs, what type of organization you work for, do not mind moving back in with your parents, or don’t care what kind of horrible boss you work for next. Even worse, extended unemployment normally leads several painful and financially ruinous losses including loss of good credit rating, savings, happiness, confidence, vehicle/s, housing, spouses/partners etc.
Before you decide on upgrading your resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile, you must know these are valuable sales and marketing documents that have a sky-high return on investment (not cheap typewritten work histories). If you are an experienced professional, it matters what employers think, how they have always succeeded with data-driven hiring decisions/ internal candidates for decades, and that they will continue to focus on hiring only the best talent available in order to survive and then prosper in a recession (remember, many employers have still not financially recovered from the Coronavirus Pandemic & Lockdowns of 2020-2022 yet).
If you are determined to purchase a generic typed work history/multipurpose résumé, no one can stop you. But, before you do, it is essential to know that you generally get exactly what you pay for in life. A great resume isn't just about helping you secure employment, it's also about making sure you are paid what you are truly worth, protecting you from future mass layoffs, working for a most admired employer, and helping you to advance (demonstrating and building your value, explaining the return on investment of hiring you to the hiring committee).
Yes, I am a Certified Professional Résumé Writer/Executive Résumé Writer and Christian Résumé Writer, who wants you to be paid fair market value, advance, work for a top tier employer, and get hired promptly. It’s not just the ATS that will eliminate any weak generic résumé from contention, it’s the established best practices of hiring, the masses of competitors that want the same job in a recession, the side-by-side comparisons with much better résumés, and employers’ relentless focus on hiring the best, thus I prefer to offer expert résumé writing services that are valuable, provide real results, and align with my Christian faith, and my passion for servant leadership.
Ask yourself, why do so many wealthy, educated, and successful families always ensure that their children who are graduating college/graduate school are set up success with the best Résumé Writer and LinkedIn Profile Writer they can find? Success leaves clues folks.
I help the long-term unemployed, chronically underpaid, and people who previously were only able to secure temporary positions. One hundred percent of these folks have used a weak generic typed work history or hand-written applications to find work. All of them insist on a generic typed work history (despite having real skills) without realizing it perpetuates continued low earnings. But, you are smart enough to know better and want a brighter/more prosperous future.
Please do not model your career after chronic underachievers who use online resume builders to create a dishwater weak typed work history, invest in yourself/future success, and pay more for a genuine Righteous Résumé with the words that sell you into the job you so richly deserve. Your résumé should be one of the most valuable documents you own. It has everything to do with your new annual compensation package, new position, career advancement and whether you hired or not, and when. If you want to be winning from the beginning, hire Darrell DiZoglio, CPRW/Executive Resume Writer at RighteousResumes.com today.