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Does Your Resume Wear Blue Jeans?: The World's Best Book on Resume Preparation and Job-Search Strategy
Does Your Resume Wear Blue Jeans The World's Best Book on Resume Preparation and JobSearch Strategy Author:C. Edward Good From the Preface: Does your resume wear blue jeans? — Mine did. Until one of my students set me straight one day. I remember it well. I was in my office at the University of Virginia School of Law reviewing my resume and essay, which I was about to submit to the Supreme Court of the United States to apply for a Judicial Fellowship. It was a Frida... more »y. The application was due Monday.
As I was about to seal the envelope and send it and my fate off to the Supreme Court, a law student poked his head in my office and asked, "What are you doing?" I told him and I invited him in. We discussed the Fellowship I was itching to get, and I described how meticulous I had been with my resume, essay and all the other stuff.
"I mean," I said,"I have been over this pile of paper at least 10 times. There's not an error to be found. The typing is extremely neat. I even bought expensive paper for the resume and essay."
"Mind if I take a look?" he asked.
"Of course not," I said and handed it over.
He took one look at my resume. The color drained from his face. Mustering every ounce of tact a law student can muster, he said, "Ed, this is awful!"
"Whadduya mean, 'awful'?"
"Wait here," he said, as if I had something more important to do than find out why my resume was awful.
Soon he returned with his resume. "Take a look at this," he said. I did. The color drained from my face, replaced immediately with the green of envy. His was beautiful. Mine, without doubt, was awful.
My resume wore blue jeans. His didn't. His was properly dressed. His caught the eye of the reader. His forced his reader to see the credentials he wanted to emphasize. His was graphically designed. Mine was thrown together. His was terrific. Mine was a mess.« less