Spruce It Up!

These days there’s dudes gettin facials;
Manicured, waxed, and Botox’d
With deep spray-on tans
And creamy lotion-y hands,
You can’t grip a tackle box.
With all of these men lining up to get neutered,
It’s hip now to be feminized.

(Brad Paisley, “I’m Still a Guy”)

The gods may be vain, but men are vainer.  As county music icon Brad Paisley points out in his hit song, aesthetics and cosmetic surgery are no longer confined to the female gender.  Individuals of both sexes invest in eyelifts, tummy tucks, personal trainers who whip them into shape, and colorists who convert gray hair into richly hued tresses.   Cosmetic subterfuge, however, cannot alter one’s circumstances in life.  And, after a while, one usually reverts to how one appeared prior to the transformation.  So why invest in something so transitory?

The answer, of course, is that when most people like the image that gazes back at them in the mirror, they feel happier.  Having been temporarily altered by special creams and injections, they, and the world at large, sees them as younger and more vital.  Beautiful people are perceived as more valued members of society.

When seeking employment, consider that resumes, too, can benefit from “face lifts.”   Although you cannot alter the basic facts surrounding your career history, you can change its presentation so that employers will perceive you as a valued potential member of their corporation.  If a reverse chronological work history portrays you as “too mature,” you can revise your resume into a modified functional format, thus highlighting your core competencies and downplaying your age.

If you have crammed your career synopsis onto a single page because you have heard (falsely) that this is the unbreakable rule, you may have denied yourself the space you need to convey some of your accomplishments.  Employers always view accomplishments favorably, as they are indicative of your future performance as well as past achievements.

If you have not included keywords into your resume, you’ve done yourself a disservice.  Keywords “pop” with relevance to specific job titles and industries and make the employers’ search for workers with perceived value that much easier.

So, the next time you head off to the salon to cover your gray roots and get a youthful cut in hopes of nailing interviews, give your resume a thorough going over.  You may look great when you slide out of the salon chair, but without a strong face-value resume, you’ll never have the chance to meet, face to face, with your future employer.