Busting the Resume Template Myth Once and For All

Busting the Resume Template Myth Once and For All Busting the Resume Template Myth Once and For All Busting the Resume Template Myth Once and For AllIts time for you to start your job hunt. You either need to write your first resume, or give it a much-needed update. You want it to look good, but youre tired of fighting with Microsoft Word, and youre far from a Pages expert.You think to yourself why bedrngnis use a resume schablone?But youre not sure youve seen folks on the web saying how resume templates make you look lazy, uncreative, and wont help you stand out.Are they correct?To demonstrate that these criticisms are not only incorrect, but they are actually cravenly self-serving, Im going to critique an article by TheLadders about whether you should use a resume template.TheLadders quotes experts that also sell resumes. Conflict of interest much?TheLadders argues that you should not use resume templates. To support their argument, they quote various career-management and marketi ng experts. These career gurus argue that, hiring professionals can spot a cut-and-paste resume job a mile away and that resume templates shout, I took a shortcutIt appears to be a strong argument on the surface. After all, career management and marketing experts cant be wrong, can they?Yes, they can be wrong.Worse, they can be deliberately misleading. The article quotes Barbara Safani from Career Solvers saying that resume templates reveal laziness and dont put forward, the image you want to convey to hiring managers.A brief look at Career Solvers reveals that they sell resumes starting at $1,000. Thats clearly a conflict of interest. Of course she will argue that resume templates arent good. If you use a template, she wont be able to sell you her service for thousands of dollars.Shel Horowitz is quoted later in the article saying that resume templates are bad because some are designed poorly. Not only is that an irrelevant red herring (of course people shouldnt use bad resume temp lates), he also suffers from a conflict of interest. He also sells resume writing services for hundreds of dollars on his site accuratewriting.com.To buttress their argument further, TheLadders vaguely writes that, one resume template vendor who spoke to TheLadders even agreed with their rationale that resume templates arent ideal.Did that really happen? Should we take TheLadders word for it?Resume templates are the devil Unless Susan Ireland sells them. Then its perfectly legitimate Wait a minuteThe article takes a bizarre turn when TheLadders interviews Susan Ireland about the merits of resume templates. Susan argues sensibly that it isnt cheating to use a resume template theyre more like tools. Furthermore, she bluntly states that professional resume writers use their own templates anyway.The articles entire second section is tagged on like a careless afterthought, as though Susans argument doesnt completely demolish the reasoning against using a resume template in the first hal f of the article.Heres the reason Susan Ireland takes the practical (read correct) approach to talking about the merits of resume templates shes a savvy businesswoman who is making money by both selling expensive professional resume writing services and ready-made resume templates for $24.95.After all, it wouldnt be smart of her to say that the template portion of her business is useless and going to negatively affect the job hunt of her paying customers, would it?Why be dishonest about resume templates? For the $$$, of course.Of course there are merits to hiring a professional resume writer, which Susan lays out perfectly. The resume templates indicate laziness argument is not one of them.That argument is nothing more than a lazy, self-serving sales pitch that holds no water.The idea that there are super-critical hiring managers twisting their mustaches and sniffing at resume templates is a laughable invention.Soshould you use a resume template?Go ahead, if you want to. Hiring man agers are paid money look at the content of resumes, not judge whether it looks like it was made with Microsoft Office. A hiring manager that actually did do that would get fired.A good resume template is one that displays information clearly, period. If youre going to hire a professional resume writer, do it for the right reasons not because youre afraid a hiring manager is going to toss your resume out because theyre tired of looking at Times New Roman font.Resume template resourcesIf you want to use atemplate, here are some resources we recommendResume Genius Templates Basic, Career Objective, and AdvancedTemplates by Microsoft OfficeTemplates by Google Docs