Resume Analysis by comparing three different types of resume

Sebin Yang | June 4th

The main menu of Netflix, the internet streaming media for movies and TV shows, is divided into genres such as action, comedy, romance, documentary, and so on. These genres might be identified by the subjective point of view from some movie officials based on its contents. On the other hand, these genres might be forcefully assorted into a group by marketing strategy which has its own purpose and direction. Some movies are sometimes classified to two or more genres. Thus, genre boundaries are very blurred and it is difficult to draw a clear line between two different genres. In this sense, the term of genre is no more restricted into the traditional meaning which was a classification system. According to genre theories which newly defined, a genre connects purposes, participants, and themes, which derives from the notion of genre as a response to recurring rhetorical situation. (Amy J. Devitt, 1993) Also, a genre represent all sorts of interactions (some textual and some not), are defined more by situation than form. (Dean Deborah, 2008) Nevertheless, the resume seems to fulfill both traditional and new genre definitions among the various genres because the resume can be easily classified by its contents alone and it also contains social purposes, audiences, and interactions between people seeking jobs and people looking for workers. Even though this genre is clear about what to write, most college students are having difficulty completing their resume. Therefore, it will be meaningful to analyze the resume by comparing three types of resume, which are 1) the basic typed resume, 2) the typical Korean resume, and 3) multimodal resumes because it can provide how to write the resume in order to impress the audience in different situations. Moreover, the analysis will help in choosing the appropriate resume depending on the type of job. 

A basic typed resume has the longest history and it is still the most common form of resume for the recruitment process. The first professional resume was written by Leonardo De Vinci in 1482, which was a type of self-introduction. (Dona Collins, 2011 from Creditloan) After the typewriter was invented, people could pursue the neatness of their resume and the development of Microsoft Word software in the late 20 century allowed people to freely adjust their resume in both design aspects such as font, size, color, and functional aspects like dividing the content by drawing lines.  Therefore, most resume writers are shaping their resume and presenting it in a paper form or PDF file by using the MS word program. Also many recruiters, who are the audience of the resume, are expecting to receive this type of resume from their candidates because of the affordances of this resume, where the resume writers can display their educational background, career history, and work skills in detail. However, this genre has constraints as well. Even though the candidate's experiences are very attractive for the recruiter, the recruiter couldn’t ensure whether or not the person really had the described level of skills on the resume. Therefore, the recruiters are focusing on the facts and statistical information in the contents of the resume. Suppose there are two people who worked in a call center. One wrote his or her resume as ‘Received many complaint calls and responded kindly.’ Another person wrote ‘Received an average of 40% complaint calls among 80 calls per day and resolved 80% of complaint calls.’ In this case, the recruiters couldn’t help selecting the latter person because that person’s logos rhetorical appeal is more dependable and clear in representing the candidate’s capability. Besides the logos appeal, the language used in this type of resume has to be very simple but powerful due to the limitation of the number of pages. Since recruiters do not have time to go over a long lengthy resume, they skim the resume very rapidly. Therefore, people usually use some keywords that implies significant meanings such as team player, Leadership, multitasker etc. According to the website ‘TG Adventures in Education”, they recommend to use vivid language that captures what you do and why you do it well. Based on these features, the resume has a value in connecting job seekers to the job market. Therefore, writing a resume became a crucial course in order to go to the next recruitment step which is the interview. Nowadays, college students are trying very hard to fill up their resume. As a result, they are participating in volunteer, internship, and part-time jobs to compete against other candidates. Even though these activities are conducted because of their intention to add one more line to their resume, it sometimes functions as a driving force for people to take care of their community and gain experience. 

    Image: http://www.thomasbradley.net/bonus/resume.jpg

Resumes developed in other cultures have somewhat different features. In Korea, China, and Japan, the typical resume has a space for the person’s facial photograph. Even though the purpose, audience, and the language used are the same as the basic typed resume mentioned above, the way of presenting this type of resume is differentiated by showing the writer’s appearance on the resume. This tendency seems to be reflected in the society, which has an old custom of people believing in physiognomy. Still some old HR managers in Korea are considering the candidates’ looks (i.e. if the person looks “diligent” or “smart”). By showing the photograph, the audience deals with their emotions felt from the candidates and it may have an effect on the recruiter’s judgement on selecting the person. In this sense, the resume which has a photograph attached has both a logos and pathos rhetorical appeal. The more interesting point is this type of resume has changed a society into lookism. There is no doubt about why Korea was disgraced to be the country with the most cosmetic surgeries carried out according to 2010 data of International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Also, there are many studios that are taking professional face photographs for job seekers. The worst part is some companies even ask about the candidates’ height, weight, and family member’s information. Often foreigners who are applying to work for a company located in Korea get shocked and they do not know why they have to add a photograph and their age on their resume because they couldn’t understand the culture background. Recently, people started recognizing that there was much discrimination due to applicants’ looks and ages, resulting in the Ministry of Employment and Labor in S. Korea to start distributing a standard resume format which does not have a space for a photograph. However, many companies are still requesting their candidates to submit the photograph along with their resume. In this case, it would not be wrong to say that this type of resume has the power to cause many problems related with human rights.

                                          image: http://www.soompi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/resume.jpg

The last type of resume is the multimodal resume. By adapting technology into the resume, its format became varied; a video resume, a designed paper resume, or social media resume such as a LinkedIn profile. The audience of this type of resume is more specified. For example, designers who want to show their creativity and art work are using a portfolio type of resume which is becoming more commonplace than the traditional typed resume. An IT specialist sometimes makes his or her resume with a video in order to show the fact that they can manipulate computer programs, such as video editing programs. By showing the actual work through the resume, the resume writers in this genre can build credibility with the recruiter because the recruiter can indeed see the person’s skill level. This trust between the resume writer and the audience is the ethos appeal. This rhetorical appeal can be explained by the following case. Suppose a person received a prize from a dance competition. The person can directly show the trophy through the video resume which can persuade the audience to trust the person. This fact can also be considered as an affordance of multimodal resume. Unlike the basic typed resume, the multimodal resume does not require the use of vivid language because the audience is more focused on the entire flow and content of the multimodal resume having audiovisual property. However, the multimodal resume also has constraints. Some companies can measure the person’s organizational skills of documents and creativity from the restricted situation of the typed resume form. Furthermore, some conservative companies do not allow this genre to be a resume because they want their candidates to comply with traditional societal expectations. People who pursue new challenges argue with them and insist their resumes are still inherent to the basic elements such as education, career history, and their back ground. The value of this genre is not only connecting people to a job market but also creating a new genre by mixing two different genres. Also, they are inspiring people to challenge norms in a new attempt to advertise their experience by uploading their designed resume or video resume to YouTube and social media.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2L9DGEUtNg

People’s effort to improve their skills and abilities within the competitive job market are shown through a resume. Since a person’s occupation is directly related to their quality of life, a resume as a genre is vital. Therefore, the change of the resume is always reflecting and accompanied with human history. In other words, as people are influenced by the environment around them, their resume is also affected by culture and society. The Korean resume which requires a photograph is one of these examples. The resume is also experiencing a genre mix or genre fusion with certain technology while inheriting its main content. Compared with some technological genres such as the floppy diskette which is extinct, the evolution of resume is relatively slow. As a result, the purpose of the resume, which is advertising the applicant in the job market, remains intact in any resume.  This is why the resume is considered to be a genre that people can clearly draw the boundary among many genres in accordance with the traditional definition of genre.

Reference

1. Amy J. Devitt (Dec, 1993). Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an old Concept, College Composition and Communication, Vol. 44, No. 4

2. Dona Collins (Feb, 2011). The 500-Year Evolution of the Resume, Creditloan (http://www.businessinsider.com/how-resumes-have-evolved-since-their-first-creation-in-1482-2011-2?op=1#ixzz3c5nn0EqE)

3. Mikaela Conley (April, 2012). Nip/Tuck Nations: 7 Countries With Most Cosmetic Surgery, abc news

4. Hee-Kuk Song (Nov, 2007). The standard resume (Application form) and standard interview guide line, in the Ministry of Employment and Labor in S. Korea