Beware of Using Unfamiliar Terms and Brands On Your Resume

Résumés are supposed to communicate what you do and what you have accomplished.  As I have written before, in advertising, when seeing your résumé the first time, all anyone wants to know is where you worked, what you worked on, how long you were there and whether you were promoted.  

I see résumés all the time with what I call “client speak” in them.  People use terms which are meaningful within the context of their own company or client but which have little relevance on the outside.  You must be aware of these terms and the fact that people don't necessarily know what you are talking about.

People from abroad often list unfamiliar brand names in résumés; they may be big and important in their country, but are unknown here and therefore meaningless in terms of a US job. You cannot assume that people who will see your résumé will automatically know what you are talking about.

One of the best examples of this actually happened to me. When I was an account person, I was telling a commuter friend that I was in the process of launching a new product.  He asked me what kind of “module” I was using.  I immediately replied that I didn’t think I should discuss it.  However, the truth was, I didn’t know what a module was. I had never heard the term. I called everyone I knew in the business and no one else seemed to know what a module was.  I finally called a friend at this person’s agency and asked him and he didn’t know either.  He researched it and called me back to tell me that it was a term used on this person’s account – in those days Coca-Cola at McCann-Erickson. It was client-speak.  A module was Coke’s way of describing a marketing roll-out plan; it was a term only used at McCann on Coca-Cola.

This kind of client speak is meaningless outside of that particular client, especially out of context. It does not belong on a résumé. When creating your résumé, you must be sure that it is understood by anyone reading it.

People who have worked abroad should not assume that everyone outside their markets knows their brands.  A lot of educated and sophisticated people do not know that Ariel is Tide in Europe.  I saw a résumé of someone who worked in England on BskyB.  I haven’t a clue what that is.  A small parenthesis explaining it would have been useful.  

That also  goes for smaller companies.  A small hot advertising agency in, say, Seattle, may be unknown outside of the market.  A parenthesis saying, “Seattle’s hottest digital ad agency” could go a long way towards getting you an interview.

In addition to unknown brands or companies, I see initials all the time which have no relevance.

Here are some terms and expressions I commonly see (all picked out of recent résumés I have received).  If you know what they all mean, you are better than I am. I can often figure out the initials in the context of the résumé, but sometimes not.

ATL, BTL, BAL, OCH, LOB, ITDM, SOV, 3BL, LOHAS, SME, ARPU, SOX, LATAM, APAC, Leveraged Marketing, Orgullosa.

I got an email recently from a CEO asking for an NED job.  I had to ask her what that was and when I was told, I am still not sure I know what it really means!

The issue here is that these terms and words are so familiar at work that everyone assumes everyone else knows them.  The best thing you can do is show your résumé to a friend or neighbor who is not in your business and ask them if they understand every term you have used.