How do you tailor a resume without lying?

October 17, 2007 8:14 AM

How do you tailor a resume without lying? I'm branching my job search into other fields, and my most recent education/experience isn't relevant at all. So how do I leave it off (or do I) without looking like I'm lying?

I have a Master's degree that is not proving very useful right now. I need a job, period, and I'm willing to go back to the field I was in before I attended grad school. (My experience there isn't very strong either, but whatever.)

Here's my trajectory:

1. Miscellaneous retail jobs for a few years after high school
2. bachelor's in sociology
3. 3 years in large marketing department
4. Master's in field unrelated to marketing
5. ????????

For a variety of reasons, I have had trouble finding a job in my field, so I'm fine with going back to marketing. But I'm having trouble with answering the question "Why did you get a Master's in X if you really want to be in marketing?" I can't leave my Master's degree off the resume because then I can't explain the 2 years absence from the workforce (my "job" was teaching assistant). Do I even list my teaching assistant position, or put my last job as the marketing position?

Another reason I'm tempted to leave off the Master's degree is that I'm honestly at the point where I will take anything right now, even retail, but I'm concerned that I will be viewed as way too overqualified.

posted by desjardins to work & money (19 comments total)

There is no way you can tie the 2 together?
Masters in Gardening + Marketing = Marketing specific to the landscape business.

Good luck searching!
posted by doorsfan at 8:27 AM on October 17, 2007

I think you could answer "Why did you get a Master's in X if you really want to be in marketing?" with...

I was and am really interested in X but the reality is that is not very marketable.

Its the truth. The only drawback I see is that they might think to themselves...well this person will quit in a heart beat if they ever get a job doing X.
posted by ian1977 at 8:28 AM on October 17, 2007

You should probably create a functional resume, and then very carefully tailor your cover letters as you apply to specific jobs, emphasizing skills from your past experiences that will be useful in the target job.
posted by Miko at 8:34 AM on October 17, 2007

I have an MA in a relatively obscure field--and although I'm teaching right now, what I teach is rarely related to my that degree. However, when I was applying for non-teaching jobs, I didn't find the weird MA to be a deterrent to employers--quite the opposite. I think a Master's degree can show that you are capable of getting through grad school, which in itself means you possess a certain number of qualities that ought to be attractive to an employer: self-discipline, goal-setting, and persistence, along with good organization, writing, and research skills. So, combine all this with your previous marketing experience and it should make you a strong candidate.

Caveat: I have no experience in marketing, so I don't know how true this would be in that field.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 8:37 AM on October 17, 2007

I would not leave the Master's degree off your resume. As mentioned before, grad school is not just about gaining knowledge in an obscure field. I don't know what your degree is in, but I'm sure you learned/practiced valuable skills that could apply to marketing - i.e. I learned a lot about group dynamics and working with lots of different kinds of people, I gained leadership skills when I chaired this committee, etc.

On a possibly unrelated note, if you really want to do work pertaining to your Master's, I wouldn't give up quite yet. Does your department have a career development office that can help you with make contacts, polish your resume, or find internships to give you experience and make you a better job candidate?

Good luck!
posted by kookaburra at 8:47 AM on October 17, 2007

I think it utterly depends on what the salaries are like in the field you are trying to get into. A lot of employers will see that Masters (in whatever field) on your resume and put you in the "probably asking for too much money" group.

Sure, it's lazy shorthand on their part, but it happens.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:53 AM on October 17, 2007

Why did you get a Master's in X if you really want to be in marketing?"

"I wanted to extend my education and was drawn to the field of x because I was interested in the x of the xx x. I enjoyed the challenge of my studies, but my professional experience and practical knowledge is in Marketing. Working as a teaching assistant required me to hone my skills in communicating complex concepts to a specialized audience (i.e. students) which is, after all, what marketing is all about."

Diversity of background and experience is a good thing. You just have to explain it in the right language.
posted by desuetude at 8:54 AM on October 17, 2007 [3 favorites]

Thanks, you guys are making me feel better. I'm having one of those awful OMGWTF did I do days.
posted by desjardins at 8:56 AM on October 17, 2007

I have no advice, but I can offer +1 encouragement. Hang in there. My wife is trying to transition from Pharmacy to anything-but-Pharmacy and having many of the same issues.
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:10 AM on October 17, 2007

I had a similar situation a few years ago, and a recruiter changed my resume so that I had a category for "experience" and one for "other experience," so that way, my oddball job (teaching English abroad as opposed to working in a law firm) was not the first thing potential employers saw, but they had an explanation for the gap in time.
posted by Shebear at 9:18 AM on October 17, 2007

And don't aim too low, desjardins. That Master's Degree can help you compete for mid-level jobs in smaller organizations or companies where you'll have more responsibility. In the non-profit world, this would be titles like associate, coordinator, administrator, officer.

Don't be dismissive of the area of your master's either. It's a serious turn-off to a manager to hear a potential employee getting apologetic regarding a degree for which they had worked hard. You didn't do anything wrong...you got more learnin'. That's a good thing.
posted by desuetude at 9:24 AM on October 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

You might also look at marketing jobs in education-related companies. There's usually a high value for higher education in those corporate cultures.
posted by ejaned8 at 9:38 AM on October 17, 2007

I've spent my career in marketing. If you were applying to work for me, I'd value the skills and experience you could bring to my team. So use a combination or functional resume. Put the emphasis on your skills, experience and accomplishments. Include the real skills you gained during your masters -- public speaking, research, time management, analysis, numeracy, writing, etc. Shift your education to the back page. If you do this well, employers will call you after reading the first page.

In the meantime, work out an elevator pitch for yourself. And come up with something similar to explain why you pursued a masters.

I have an MBA and an English degree. Few people question my education now that I have an MBA. But, when I had only the English degree, I had to defend myself every step of the way. The reality is that an English degree is an excellent foundation for research, analysis, pattern recognition, critical thinking, writing, public speaking, positioning and even marketing. What is your degree in? I'm sure you could spin it.
posted by acoutu at 9:46 AM on October 17, 2007

My GF switched from a career in chemistry to one as a marketing analyst. It was a long slog rewriting and (even more) rethinking her "action items". She didn't leave any positions or skills off, but completely refocused all her responsibilities and skills to translatable for the position.

More precisely, she changed stuff like "Ran big-machine and created reports" to stuff that was ancillary but more valuable and business-minded, like "Worked directly with clients to create goals"... you get the idea.

Try breaking down the work and skills you've gained, the skills you'd use on a day to day basis in the position you want, and try to draw clear lines between them. Ignore any technical experience or specialized knowledge you have, but anything broad (like an M.A.) should be utilized to the fullest. Don't shy away from any of your history; embrace it, but move forward from it. Remember that the resume's only job is to get you an interview, at that point you can try to sell yourself.
posted by lubujackson at 10:19 AM on October 17, 2007

Four years ago, before I got my graduate degree, I payed a professional resume write $175 to do my resume, which was all over the map. He did a BRILLIANT job, and I'm still working off the same resume with mods. It was the best $175 I've ever spent. Those people can make you look dynamic instead of flaky. If you want a reference to one in the D.C. area, post your email and I'll dig out the guy's contact information.
posted by letahl at 10:31 AM on October 17, 2007

Nthing the master's degree = A Good Thing posts. One of my best friends has a master's in English - what many people think of as a "useless" degree - and this has helped her get several really, really good corporate jobs over her career. Completing a master's shows employers that you have self-discipline, persistence, and good organizational, communicative and analytical abilities.

Does your alma mater have a career center or job placement department? I know mine does, and they assist alumni with resume writing and job placement for free. Yours might charge a nominal fee, but it's still worth every penny, IMO. They would be able to help you write a great resume and point you to places you might not have thought of in your job search. Good luck! Lots and lots of people are in your shoes.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 11:03 AM on October 17, 2007

I think I'm the only one in my (large, respected) marketing organization with any degree even close to marketing (besides graphic design for designers).

Leave it on there. Have a great cover letter that talks about why your degree makes you more suited for a marketing position (doing research, understanding markets, proving you can learn a client's business fast, etc).

Having broad interests and focused enough to venture far afield would be seen as a bonus.

Side note: In my advertising undergrad, we had a maximum number of hours we could take within our college for credit. We were forced to take classes in other schools to develop a breadth of knowledge that would help us understand our clients better. So, you're likely as qualified as me on a class basis. (I have yet to have a client remotely related to Film as Literature, The Psychology of Happiness or The Physiology of the Senses.)
posted by Gucky at 11:26 AM on October 17, 2007

Campus resume services are usually better suited to people with very little experience. Whenever I tried them, they'd say, "Gosh! Golly! Great resume! Can we use it as a sample?" and then they were unable to make suggestions. If you're not rewriting it yourself, you may want to work with a professional.
posted by acoutu at 11:35 AM on October 17, 2007

Don't do it. I've interviewed hundreds of people. You can't fool an interviewer, even one as generally unaware of the world as me. Interviewers never ask you a question unless they know the range of acceptable answers. It's always better to say "I don't know" rather than to try to talk around them. My resume has a section on some work I did 20 years ago. One of the interviewers in my current company went straight to the end, to find out the oldest thing on the resume, and grilled me on it. It turns out that I actually remembered more about it than he knew, so that was ok. But if I was trying to pump it up at all I would have been in trouble. FWIW, this particular interviewer has quite literally reduced grown men to tears. So, the fact that I didn't run screaming from the building was a net positive.

In fact, there's nothing wrong with saying "I tried it out, but it didn't work for me." I went from teaching at college to being an ordinary hokey hacker. I always told people that I found I hated teaching, and nobody seemed to take it amiss.
posted by vilcxjo_BLANKA at 12:51 PM on October 17, 2007