Thinkubator – A Thoughtprocess Interactive Blog

I like to peruse the blogs over at U.S. News & World Report from time to time, and I came across something today that I think is really interesting and directly related to what we’re often trying to communicate to our clients. In a post today, one of USN’s career bloggers, GL Hoffman, says that HR departments generally give your resume 20 seconds to grab their attention. He follows up with some advice on how to be sure yours stands out, but what is really interesting is the little bit of info he tacked on to the bottom:

I did an experiment over at WhatWouldDadSay.com, where I asked readers to create a SIX-WORD résumé for themselves. Given the widespread fascination with Twitter and its 140-character limitation, I thought it would showcase good writing discipline. Not that you have to make your own six-word résumé, but notice how effective some of the (personal or otherwise) entries were:

• “As I live, so does Apple.”—Steve Jobs
• “Solving complex problems efficiently and elegantly.”—A personal entry
• Another personal entry: “I stand alone, next to me.”
• “Fire it up. Ready to go.”—Barack Obama
• From a real estate staging person: “Staging it better. Selling it faster.”
• Here is one of my favorites that combines two movie characters: “Now reverse in aging am I.”—Yoda Button

This may seem to be a worthless exercise—and it is certainly silly—but it’s not worthless if it only makes you realize that a lot can be said in a few well-chosen words.

That last paragraph there really hits it on the head. In my opinion, in the majority of instances- and almost always when you’re talking about web or ad copy- quality trumps quantity.

That said, anybody want to take a crack at their own six word resume?