Keeping your resume short and “to the point” is recommended if you want to land that all-important interview. Your potential employer is candidate-heavy and time-short, with longer resumes – think those over two pages – getting thrown onto the scrap heap.
However, there’s a major difference between writing a great resume with professional help and creating something so short and generic that it doesn’t make an impact. And trust us – generic is the enemy of good resume writing, with 36% of resume rejections coming as a result of a lack of detail.
That brings us to the concept of skeleton resumes.
Generic may as well be the middle name for these types of resumes, which is why it’s so important that you know what they are, as well as the signs you may have one.
The Pros (and Pitfalls) of a Skeleton Resume
Skeleton resumes are barebones documents – hence the name – that cover the absolute basics of your work and educational history without going into specific detail. In many ways, they resemble resume templates, as they cover the bases that have to be in the document. The problem is simple:
They lack personalization, vital keywords, and substance.
A skeleton resume may tell an employer a little about your history, but it won’t dig deeper enough into your skills and work experience to show why you’re a good candidate. It’s simply too generic, with the resume being something that you might send to anybody without making a single tweak or change.
Therein lies the problem, as that approach results in a generic resume that is likely to be rejected. If you don’t believe that statement, just remember that 63% of employers want to see that you’ve personalized the information you share in your work history to the role for which you apply. Going too basic means no personalization – and thus no substance – sending your resume straight to the dustbin.
So, a skeleton resume serves a function.
It can be a useful template for the resume you eventually send out. Just don’t make it the resume itself or you’ll be in for more rejections than callbacks.
The Signs You Have a Skeleton Resume
Now you know what a skeleton resume is, the next question is obvious:
What signs can you look for that suggest you may have one?
There are several – each of which can be resume killers on their own – that combine to make employers reject a skeleton resume outright.
Sign 1 – The Resume Is a Little… Skimpy
“Skimpy” doesn’t mean you’re sending a resume out in its underwear, though you may as well have done so given how little the document covers what’s important. In other words, a skimpy resume is one that doesn’t say anything. It’s short, lacks detail, and, frankly, it isn’t worth an employer’s time because it barely tells them anything about you as a potential employee.
For instance, a poorly written skeleton resume might look like this:
IT Manager – December 2020 to December 2023
Managed the company's IT infrastructure to support business operations.
Led IT team for system maintenance and software updates.
Negotiated with vendors for cost-effective IT equipment purchases.
Established IT policies for security and compliance.
That’s as skimpy as a job description can get because it’s a watered-down description of an IT manager’s role that could apply to any company in the world. Where are the descriptions of what you actually did in managing the IT infrastructure? Or, the numbers and figures, such as how your efforts boosted productivity or generated revenue.
There’s nothing of value in the above description.
An employer will see that and learn absolutely nothing about you other than that you work in IT, which will be obvious because you’ll likely be applying for an IT role with this sort of experience on your resume. Hiring resume writers in Information Technology (IT) who actually specialize in this industry might be worth consulting with as they understand the field and can expand on your roles and responsibilities.
A better example of what a professionally written IT resume might say:
IT Manager – December 2020 to December 2023
Directed the company’s IT infrastructure management, ensuring high availability and optimal performance of network systems and services to support business operations.
Led a team of IT professionals in the deployment, maintenance, and enhancement of IT systems, including servers, workstations, and software applications.
Oversaw the strategic purchasing of new IT equipment, negotiating with vendors to secure cost-effective deals and implementing technologies that drove operational efficiencies.
Developed and implemented IT policies and procedures to ensure compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements, enhancing security and data protection measures.
Sign 2 – All Fluff and No Substance
“Okay, so my resume is skimpy,” you might think. “I’ll just pad it out with a bunch of sentences to make it look longer.”
That won’t work either because padding doesn’t hide the fact that you’re not saying anything of substance. At best, the fluff that surrounds your key statements obscures them, forcing an employee to wade through a ton of meaningless words before they get to anything that matters.
What’s fluff in a resume?
Packing sentences with terms like “visionary,” “team player,” or “problem-solver” is fluffy writing because you’re not saying anything of substance. Employers want to see the results of your teamwork skills, not just a blank statement about having them.
Sign 3 – The Resume Is All Vegetables and No Meat
In a resume writing context, vegetables are the things that are good for your resume and have to be there. Think past jobs and educational institutions and you have examples of what the vegetables in your resume look like.
But you need to add some real meat to make those vegetables easier to swallow. That meat comes down to three things:
Scope, reach, and impact.
In other words, every past job you list must be accompanied by a description of its scope, how far-reaching the role was, and what impact you made in that role. Without that information, your potential employer only knows what roles you’ve worked, and not what you actually did or achieved in those roles.
Sign 4 – No Hard Skills Listed
Despite many claims to the contrary, hard skills are still what most hiring managers look for ahead of soft skills. The data backs that point up, too, with 88% of 800 managers surveyed saying that they place a much higher value on hard skills than soft ones.
How does this apply to skeleton resumes?
A skeleton resume won’t cover your hard skills – such as foreign languages or knowledge of specific programming languages – but instead focuses on soft skills like communication and teamwork. You may recognize those as the sort of “fluffy” terms that we touched on earlier, so the advice is simple:
Replace every soft skill in your resume with a hard skill that’s relevant to the role and your resume will be skeletal no longer.
Put Some Meat on Your Resume’s Bones
A barebones resume results in no interview offers, which is why so many choose a professional or local technical resume writing services in Colorado to help them succeed in getting interviews. Even if that’s not the choice you want to make, keep these signs of a skeleton resume in mind as you write.
Each could be enough to make a hiring manager discard your resume.
Having all four in combination is practically a guarantee that you’re not getting a call, no matter how qualified you may be.