Satisfying the Peckish and Ravenous Reader

Back in the 1700s, Francis Bacon wrote, “Some books are meant to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”

Bacon’s language suggests a bias toward the reading material which can be thoroughly incorporated into one’s corporeal experience.

However, all you need to do is attend one lecture on education or one training session on working with diverse audiences to learn that every person has different learning needs.

Not everyone wants to deeply consume every word they read.

There are readers that crave material that fits into each of Bacon’s categories of the written word.  These readers are out there, and all of them are represented by employers eager to read their favorite kinds of resumes.

As a job applicant, you may wish to consider playing with all three types of writing.

Experiment by writing a resume for three different audiences: the supervisor that just wants a taste of applicants before she calls people up for an interview, the boss that wants to comprehend and swallow the logistics of applicants’ prior work experience, and the manager that yearns to really understand the inner dreams and ambitions of each applicant before they even think about reaching for the phone.

For Peckish Employers

• Pay careful attention to the visual layout of your resume
• Adhere to a clear, linear progression in your work experiences
• Do not go overboard explaining your job responsibilities
• Get their attention by alluding to different curious experiences.  They will want to ask you about them in person.
• Don’t waste too many words accounting for periods of underemployment or your lack of a degree.

For the Swallowers

• Blaze a clear path in your resume
• Make it clear where you’ve been and where you want to be going
• Avoid mentioning too many deviant paths you’ve taken
• Go into detail about the experiences that you’ve had that are most relevant to the position in question

For Salivating Scholars

• Pique the reader’s interest early on
• Paint pictures with your descriptions of places you have worked
• Create sentences that depict images of how you work.  They will want to imagine what it would be like to work with you on a daily basis.
• Leave no stone unturned.  Assume that these employers will notice that decade gap on your resume.
• Don’t worry too much about strict page length guidelines.

Which type of reader do you think your current resume appeals to?  Can you create a new one that would appeal to one of the other types of minds?

Most of the people I have interviewed with were readers of the first two categories.  It wasn’t until I was thirty that I met an employer who had really digested my every word before I met with him.

At the interview, this careful reader was disturbed at my failing to mention a relevant job that I had had back in 1999.  He was still interested, even though it was a long time ago.  As it turns out, this employer studied linguistics in college and has long had an interest in details.  It was the details in my resume that made him call me.

Who is that person to whom you are sending that cover letter and resume?  Although plenty of articles exist that urge you to do your research and learn as much as you possibly can about the places you intend to work, it is difficult to predict what kind of reader you might encounter.

But you might consider practicing writing with these different readers in mind.  You can post all three versions on different job boards and see what feedback you can collect.

You can reap the benefits from all that feedback while you curl up to a good book– chewing and digesting as you please!