USE HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN FOR YOUR RÉSUMÉ DON NORMAN UCSD Design Lab dnorman@ucsd.edu Most student résumés are self-centered: All the stuff I ve done. If you want a job, make them readercentered. Practice Human-Centered Design on the résumé. Assume the reader will spend 5 10 seconds on yours. Repeat: 5 to 10 seconds. How can you make your résumé attract their interest? Fancy fonts or colors. Wrong answer. Put yourself in the place of the busy hiring manager. The workload is high, deadlines are looming, and more people are needed. Suddenly the Human resources people (HR) dumps a pile of résumés on the desk. Ugh. More work to do. The only thing worse than a pile of printed résumés is a list of URLs for the résumés. What? In this age of the paperless office, electronic versions are bad? Yup: because it takes a lot more time to open and shut all of those URLs than to glance at a résumé and categorize it. Now imagine how the résumé is read. Well, actually it isn t read: it is glanced at. The manager looks at each item and throws it into one of two piles: Nope or look at later. Question 1: How do you get yours into the Look at later pile? Now when the hiring manager goes through the look at later pile, how much time does each one get? Still not that much. Now the items go into two piles: No or interesting. Interesting items are either sent to other people for their opinion or are called in for interviews. Question 2: How do you get your résumé into the interesting pile. Answer to both questions: Exploit your differences. Résumés should have your name, address, email address, and phone. They should have a date (so the reader can tell how old it is). It is amazing how many résumés make it difficult to figure out how to reach the person. There should be a paragraph at the top that summarizes in simple sentences your virtues. Assume every résumé is wonderful. Everyone has lots of experience. Everyone has done brilliant projects. Everyone says they work hard and are enthusiastic, creative, and good team workers. Everyone says. What should yours say? First, here is what not to say: I am hard working, looking for creative work where I can be a collaborative team member. Why not? Ask yourself, would anyone ever say they are not hard working, not creative, not a team worker? No? Then don t waste your space. That paragraph may be the only thing that gets read the first time. So make it stand out.
When I interned in China, I was able to speed delivery and lower costs by 23%. I once created a life-saving mechanism from paper clips and duct tape. Well, maybe not, but you get the idea: those sentences attract attention with some unusual, but relevant experience. Use human-centered design methods on your résumé. Give it to people who do not know you: ask if they would hire this person. Make believe you are a busy, overworked manager. Better yet, find people who have been in that position and get their advice. Don t just write all the stuff you have done. Portfolios Same advice. Read the résumé advice and translate it into portfolios. (And every portfolio should also have a copy of your résumé.) Put your most exciting project first. Illustrate it with an unusual photograph or drawing. Do not try to compete by showing how wonderful your work. Compete by showing how unusual your work, unusual but relevant to the job you are applying for. Remember: the reviewer only scans the first page or two on that initial pass.
Résumés 1 RÉSUMÉS DONALD A. NORMAN Nielsen Norman group Prof. Emeritus, Northwestern & University of California, San Diego don@jnd.org This note updates advice I developed for MBA students in the MMM program at Northwestern University that I co-directed. This was a dual-degree program with 120 students (60 in each of the two year program) where students received a Kellogg MBA as well as an Engineering degree: MEM, Master of Engineering Management. MMM was a normal MBA program with a special emphasis on design and operations. I was responsible for the design segment, as well as for mentoring and advising all the students. This note applies to the one-page, summary résumé, but the principles apply to everything. HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN The basic philosophy of Human Centered Design (HCD) is to know the person for whom you are designing something. In business, this means to understand your client or customer and their needs. It requires observation and empathy. It also applies to the way you write your résumés (and reports, memos, etc.). Consider the hiring manager. The manager wants to hire one person, but has been given a thick pile of résumés, cover letters, and accompanying material to look through. The manager has many other things to do: emergencies to respond to, important meetings to prepare for, etc. Put yourself in the shoes of the manager: given all the conflicting demands upon the manager s time, how can one look through that pile and select? Assume that all the applications are superior in quality. After all, you are competing with the best graduates from the best MBA programs. You have to make your application stand out with something novel and special that attracts the eye of the reader. No, I do not mean slick marketing tricks such as special colors or fonts, binders, or paper. You have to stand out properly: by pointing out some unique skill or attribute. The person looking at all the applications only spends a minute or so on each. Attention is apt to go quickly from a quick skim of the cover letter to the résumé and then, if nothing special popped up, to the next person s application. The most important part of the résumé is your statement of interests. Do NOT say you are hard working, industrious, etc. Everyone is. A good way of reviewing your statement is to ask if anyone would ever say the opposite: I am not hard working, I am not industrious. I do not do my best. Use HCD: Imagine you are a hiring manager faced with too many applications and not enough time to examine each carefully. Design your material accordingly.
Résumés 2 RECOMMENDATIONS Minimize the past: emphasize the future. Emphasize your unique skills, abilities, and interests. Traditional resumes emphasize your past, whereas one of the reasons many of you decided to get an MBA is to avoid the past to be able to do something new. But traditional résumés will lead people to only consider you for positions that match your past. You have to use your statement of interests to overcome this bias. Introductory paragraph Lead off with an introductory paragraph (short) that says what job you want and why you think you are unique. The standard résumés all look identical. I can t tell one person from another. You need to design your résumé (yes, design), using human-centered design principles: show some empathy for the managers who have been given 50 résumés to read. Hiring managers are busy, with many more important things to do. Each résumé gets a few seconds. So you need some way for yours to stand out, to catch their attention. Executive Summary The Cover Letter is important: see the Appendix to this note A Cover Letter Is Not Expendable at the end of this note, but because cover letters are not always seen, and because they might get separated from the résumé, the résumé must stand by itself. I ve been a manager who has had to hire. I didn t have time to read both a cover letter and a résumé. I looked for the executive summary, which is the one paragraph at the top of a résumé where applicants explain who they are, what they are looking for, and why they are qualified. Then, I pulled out a small number of résumés that attracted my attention and I read everything they had: cover letter, résumé, and what I could gleam by reading in-between the lines. Your goal is to become one of those few résumés that are pulled out for more attention. Do Your Homework About the Company The summary paragraph should be appropriate to the company, so it might be different for each company. Do your homework on the hiring company and make that paragraph explain why you fit the company s needs. You might have to send out a different résumé to each company.
Résumés 3 LESS IS MORE In many MBA résumés I see a long list of majors: design, operations, marketing, finance, accounting. One of our alumni said this to me: I wouldn t want this person: this is someone who has no idea what they want to do. Figure out what your talents are and your interests and focus on them. I would recommend no more than two majors. Now, you might actually have more majors. Fine: but you don t have to tell everyone. (There is nothing ethically wrong with downplaying your accomplishments.) Suppose you actually have majors in design, operations, strategy, and marketing. if you are applying for a job in a consumer products division, say you majored in Design and Marketing. If you are applying for a job in supply chain, say you majored in Operations and Strategy. Adding Lesser Skills Weakens Your Résumé It is amazing what some people brag about. When I see a résumé that says the person is fluent in Word and Excel, I say: wait a minute, why would I want to hire someone who is proud of these skills? I take basic skills for granted. If you brag about them, I can only assume that it means you don't have anything better. So look carefully at the list of technical skills you have: list only the most sophisticated ones. If you have them, people will automatically assume lesser skills. Don t brag about your grades, your high-school accomplishments, or things that are completely irrelevant. A one-page résumé has little room, so use that space for important information. I want to know what you will bring to my company. I do want to know a little about you as a person: after all, anyone I hire I have to live with, so I want him or her to be an engaging colleague. So, add some nonbusiness skills. Add One or Two Non-Business Skills Note that it is useful to list non-business skills that say something about the kind of person you are: if you are good at a particular sport, game, or activity, say so. For example: chess grandmaster, equestrian, pick-up basketball, collector of, award-winning cook,. Make the Résumé Readable The résumé must be easy to read. Use short sentences, short line-lengths (4 ½ to 5 inch maximum (like this document). If you want to pack more material in, consider using two columns: two columns, each of 3 ½ inch width is easy to read, yet gives 7 inches of space. Total length: One page is ideal, two maximum. Use a readable type font. The proper font size varies with the=he choice of font (e.g., Times is a smaller typeface than many others, so 10 point Times font is too small for legibility, whereas 10 points is fine for others (this is written in 10 point Trebuchet). If you are not a good writer or not a native speaker of English, consider hiring a language coach to edit your material.
Résumés 4 Happy recruiting. Don Norman Books There are numerous good books on the writing of résumés: Here is one that gets good reviews. Resume Magic: Trade Secrets from a Professional Resume Writer, by Susan Britton Whitcomb
Résumés 5 APPENDIX: A COVER LETTER IS NOT EXPENDABLE The following is taken from the New York Times column Career Couch by Phyllis Korkki, Sunday, February 15, 2009. Page Business section, 10.: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- February 15, 2009 Career Couch A Cover Letter Is Not Expendable By PHYLLIS KORKKI Q. You are getting ready to apply for a job electronically, and your résumé is ready to go. Do you need to prepare a cover letter? Are they necessary in this day and age? A. Cover letters are still necessary, and in a competitive market they can give you a serious edge if they are written and presented effectively. Cover letters are a graceful way to introduce yourself, to convey your personality and to impress a hiring manager with your experience and your writing skills, said Katy Piotrowski, an author of career books and a career counselor based in Fort Collins, Colo. You can also tailor them to a specific company in ways that you cannot with a résumé. Ms. Piotrowski recently had a job opening at her small company, Career Solutions Group, and she was dismayed when about a quarter of the 200 applicants did not send cover letters. Most were within five years of graduating from college, she said, reflecting a more informal mind-set among younger people. Q. How should your cover letter be organized, how long should it be, and what should it say? A. First, do your best to find the decision maker s name, and use it in the salutation. If you are applying to a blind ad, say Dear Sir or Madam or To the Hiring Manager. Ms. Piotrowski said she received cover letters that had no salutation at all or began with Hey there not a strong start. If you want to be on the safe side, use a colon after the salutation, although some people now feel it is permissible to use a comma in an e-mail message. Your cover letter should be short generally no longer than three or four paragraphs, said Debra Wheatman, a career expert at Vault, a jobs Web site. In your first paragraph, explain why you are writing it may be that you are answering an ad, that you were referred to the company through networking, or that you learned that the company is expanding, said Wendy S. Enelow, author of Cover Letter Magic and a professional résumé writer in Virginia. In the middle paragraphs, explain why you are good candidate, and show that you are knowledgeable about the company. Then convey a clear story about
Résumés 6 your career, and highlight specific past achievements. This can either be done as a narrative or in bullet points, Ms. Enelow said. You can also highlight qualities you possess that may not fit the confines of a résumé, Ms. Wheatman said. She once worked in human resources at Martha Stewart Living, and recalls reviewing applications for a chef in a test kitchen. One woman had a career in manufacturing, but her cover letter described how she had grown up in a family that was passionate about cooking and where she had frequently made meals from scratch. The woman got the job despite her peripheral work experience. Finish your letter by indicating that you will follow up in the near future (and make good on that promise). Sign off with a Sincerely, Cordially, Thank you for your consideration or similar closer, followed by your name and, if you like, your e-mail address. Q. Where should your cover letter appear, in an e-mail or in an attachment? A. You can include your letter in the actual text of your e-mail message or place it above your résumé in an attachment. If you put it in a separate attachment from your résumé, you run the risk that a harried hiring manager will not click on it at all. If you place it in the text of your e-mail message, it should generally be shorter than if you use an attachment, Ms. Enelow said. Then, if you really want to make an impression, make a hard copy of your cover letter and résumé and send it to the hiring manager by regular mail. Attach a handwritten note that says, Second submission; I m very interested, Ms. Piotrowski said. I ve had clients double their rate of interviews simply from doing that, she said. Ms. Enelow calls this double-hitting, and says she has seen it work remarkably well. She said a senior-level client of hers got an interview and was hired because the hard copy of his cover letter and résumé reached the company president, whereas his electronic application was rejected by someone in human resources because it did not meet certain rigid criteria. Q. What are some common mistakes in cover letters? A. A cover letter with typos, misspellings and poor sentence structure may take you out of the running for a job. If you cannot afford to pay someone to review your cover letter and résumé, enlist a friend or a family member with good language skills to do it instead. Another misguided thing people do is to make the cover letter all about them: I did this, I m looking for, I want to... I, I, I. Structure your letter so that it stresses the company and what you can do to help it reach its goals, Ms. Piotrowski and others said. Another danger is including too much information for example, very specific salary or geographic requirements, Ms. Enelow said. It is also unwise to point out that you do not meet all the criteria in the job description, she said. You can deal with that later, if you get an interview.
Résumés 7 Hiring managers are looking for ways to exclude you as they narrow down their applications, she said. Do not give them that ammunition.
Don Norman June 14, 2011 Résumé Advice: Addendum 1 RÉSUMÉ ADVICE: ADDENDUM DONALD A. NORMAN The following two recommendations were posted on a mail group I belong to in June 2011. Truly excellent advice. I got permission to reprint them, but I was asked to keep their names confidential. Recommendation 1 In my experience in Europe, the concise, relevant one page CV is a must to even get to the first round. Having been on both sides of the table, I realize that most decisions in the first round are based on a 10 second scan of the one-pager. I was looking to see whether the candidate understood our company culture and had relevant qualifications for the position advertised. If they couldn't explain their motivation in a concise way, then they were deselected in favor of others that could. Anyone can string words together. Only a few can craft it into a compelling story. There are lots of creative people, but much fewer people who are creative and curious. I was trying to find the latter. Recommendation 2 I used to hire a lot of people and then found myself on the other side. Use a 1-2 page hybrid resume (recruiters hate them/hiring managers like them). Be very succinct. Use lots of keywords matched to the job description. Throw job description and resume into Word, compare, then tweak resume. No more canned resumes or cover letters. Tailor each to each job you apply to. Every resume is scanned and keyword sorted by HR Software (SW). Only the highest rankings make it to a desk in HR (person filling position). If they like you- then a hiring manager. If you know the hiring manager, it's a huge plus to get around HR (sometimes a black hole). But don't circumvent HR unless you have friends on the inside to deliver your stuff to a hiring manager. Use LinkedIn contacts with relationships on the inside to get your stuff to hiring managers and top of HR (not associates)! LinkedIn address goes on top of resume. Add Twitter and blog addresses too if you use both professionally. I included FB too because I used it professionally. If you only use FB for personal use, don't include it- but they'll check you out anyway. On cover letters, list and tie accomplishments to the type of person they're looking for in job description - this is different than qualifications listed in job description, those need to match your
Don Norman June 14, 2011 Résumé Advice: Addendum 2 resume. In cover letter mention one accomplishment for each listed quality they're looking for: be succinct. Never, ever send a PDF of your resume/cv/cover letter. HR SW can't scan it. Always use Word or equivalent. If you get to an interview, bring examples of work/project list as leave behind. I showed a diagram of the marketing cycle and every point where I had experience. There's also a thing called a networking profile that became popular during the recession. Use it to network before you send a resume. Sometimes I left that behind after interviews and some HR and hiring managers really appreciated it. (Comment by Don: This is a list of contact you know and, ideally, have communicated within the hiring company.) Your job is to stand out from the tons of resumes HR and hiring managers get, and get an interview. I hate to say it, but there's a lot of age and unemployment discrimination out there today. In '09 the advice was "take the dates off your resumes." In '10 it was "put them back on because it looks like you're hiding something." If you've been out for a while, do volunteer work/consulting- it shows you're busy and not "unemployed." Find job opportunities before they're posted (network!). Many great jobs are posted for policy reasons with internal candidates already selected. Smaller companies don't have big HR departments/scanning SW so you really need to network directly with insiders at conferences, events, etc. I ended up interviewing w/6 companies simultaneously last July, got an offer and then went back to each company and got some to counter. I picked the one I wanted to do, and it wasn't the first offer.