Blog 39 – What’s your future resume?

I hate resumes. Maybe it’s because I’ve never had one. Or maybe it’s because I’ve never seen one that’s blown me away. Or maybe because a resume has never predicted someone’s success in our company.

I get them. But they need to change. My wife gets hundreds of resumes a year from college kids looking to get a job with our teams. They are almost all the same. And being open, we could care less abour your GPA and that two hour volunteer experience you had back in High School.

This will not show us anything. Then why is it still the norm? Even cover letters have become so generic. Your resume and cover letters are suppose to be completely unique. No one shares the same background and experience. But they are almost all the same. Just a different name and maybe a different font.

Why am I so critical? Because people are wasting their time. People applying for jobs. And employers hiring. We need this to change.

Starting this year we tried something new. Inspired by Zappos, we now ask applicants to send a video resume. This way we can see their individuality and creativity. The result so far? Just ok. We are now getting a lot less applicants. Which may be a good thing. If someone won’t put forth the effort to film themselves to get a job. They probably won’t be a great employee. Overall though almost all videos are the same. They are poorly filmed with just a person in front of the camera saying who they are and that they’d like a job. Underwhelming would be a understatement.

So as we often ask…there’s got to be a better way.

I began to think we really don’t care about what they’ve done in the past. We care about what they are going to do in the future. That’s what we are hiring. So we need to see their future resume.

We need to see what they are going to accomplish in the years to come? Or at least what they hope to accomplish. Now I was intrigued. I’d want to look at these resumes. Not only would it make them think creatively about their future, it could also hold them accountable. I called my wife Emily as soon as this idea came to me.

Let’s start asking for future resumes!

Before we jumped all in, I thought what better time to put together my first ever resume. My future resume.

So here it is in just five bullet points.

– Author of “Find Your Yellow Tux” and future books.

– Keynote speaker traveling all over the country

– Founder of a unique lifestyle brand

– Inspirer of millions around the world.

– A Loving Husband and Father

For the first time, putting together a simple resume inspired me more than anything.

How many resumes today have that ability to inspire?

The truth is that I believe I can make this all happen. But it starts with focusing on the future instead of the past.

What does your future resume say?