Should You Accept Resume Advice from Your Friends?

When you’re working on your resume, it’s probably pretty tempting to ask for help from everyone you can think of, including your friends. However, when it comes to asking your friends, it’s a good idea to make sure that the advice you receive is sound before acting on it.

Sometimes, even when your friends have the best intentions, the feedback they offer can be less than helpful, to say the least. So let’s take a look at instances that you may or may not want to consider the feedback of well-intended friends.

Listen When Advice is Obviously Correct

When there are glaring errors pointed out to you, don’t turn down your friend’s advice. For instance, if you are missing words, have used the wrong grammar or have typos, you definitely want to make those corrections. Sometimes when you’re writing, you can overlook the obvious. So if your friend points out what’s in your "blind spot," be grateful that they saw what you couldn’t.

"Rules of Thumb" Don’t Always Apply

You may have a friend who is a great resume writer and expert when it comes to the "rules of thumb" in resumes. However, not all "rules of thumb" apply to all circumstances. For example, if you have a major gap in employment, most people with resume knowledge will tell you to veer away from any mention of this gap, and instead opt for the functional resume. However, if you’re not afraid of what the gap shows, or you’re proud of what the gap in employment means to your personal character (i.e. you took time to raise your family or spent time as a missionary overseas), giving attention to it isn’t a bad thing.

Don’t Get Caught up in Your Friend’s Personal Hang Ups

Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. There’s definitely nothing wrong with that. However, if you have taken time to work through your resume then show it to your friend only to have that friend say, "Oh no … I wouldn’t do it like that," you’re probably dealing with a personal hang up. This doesn’t have anything to do with how well you wrote your resume, or its probability of getting you a job. Some people just don’t like things handled a certain way - nothing that reflects professionally on your resume.

An example of this might be if your friend doesn’t agree adding dates next to your college degrees because it might reveal your age. In many cases, adding the degrees can be very helpful in determining how much experience you may have - or even who you studied under at your university. So don’t allow a personal hang up to influence your decision. Consider it, of course, but don’t use it as your final choice if it doesn’t apply.

There’s nothing like getting an opinion - especially your friend’s - to help you create the best resume you can. As long as you don’t allow your friend’s opinion to shadow your own, you’ll be able to make this collaborate effort one that works in your best interest.

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