Designing your Resume

Musings from Dennis #46: Resume Design. We sat down after lunch for a quick catchup, my Takashimaya Singapore Department Manager colleague (shout out to Joyce Lim!) and I. “Hey Dennis”, she said, “Have you thought of where and what would be your next career move if you were to ever leave this place?”. It can’t possibly be for another retailer unless it was a move up in position she advised, or have in mind an employer that would be one-up in brand prestige at least and let it keep going up… I never thought of it that way and found it to make sense and I took it to heart. Glad that when I go back and look at my own resume now, it looks good from that time to now. So over the years I have used this resume planning reframing strategy to share with my mentees: Try to design your life long resume with the companies you plan to work at and with. Don’t be attracted by that mere extra $100 or $200 but rather look at the spectrum of where you plan to take your career growth to and then see yourself beyond the years progressing. It must get brighter and brighter as you go along – not up, down or yo-yo. Would-be employers always want to see that progression as it will paint a very positive picture of who you are and how you can likewise add value to their purposes and then earnestly seek to get you (on your terms) to join them.