Resume revamping

Yeah, I think intuitively we all know this to be true. An African-American CEO of a major entertainment company actually called me out on doing that once... not in a mean way. But he said "you know, I had a hard time figuring you out..." He told me that the only way he figured out I was Black was due to my affilation with one organization. I debated including that blurb on my resume, but it was really a huge accomplishment, so I decided to keep it. All of this is to say, people/hiring managers really do look to answer the question of race. I should add I did NOT get the job, but I doubt seriously if it was race related. On the flip side, I kept the blurb and recently accepted a position at another company.

For sure experience will usually get that position, especially if one has an excellent resume. I am thinking more so of a starter resume,where one cannot eliminate organization or school affiliations and not have a flimsy resume. Funny that you mentioned that one org fe2002.I do wonder if *mainstream* organizations and schools are better for my kids in regards to how the resume can be viewed. I also wonder if there will be any differences in such scenarios with my boys vs DD. Maybe I am biased, but Black women have achieved more. Apparently females in general.

I read somewhere once that the hierarchy in corporate America is White men, Black women, White women (The women were nearly equal, but I believe the edge went to Black women due to them more likely to work outside the home) and then Black men. I read this many years ago (10+), and I can believe there has been a bit of a shift among the women. Based on my own experiences, I see Black women achieving more in corp American than Black men. I gave my DD a variation of a family name that I believe is race neutral. I will encourage her to attend a mainstream college as opposed to an HBCU. Also, I don't care for any of the black sororities and such, and would hope she steers clear of them.

We're going through a reorg at work and they have been really pushing everyone to take company sponsored classes on resume writing and interviewing skills. I took both and boy have things changed since I first started working. They want you to pretty much remove anything within reason that could target you for discrimination. They didn't want you to even put what year you graduated from college. If your college name changed or they no longer offer that degree change it to the current name and to a degree that is comparable to your original one. It was really odd hearing an HR person giving tips on hiding certain information from them. Educated black women are doing much better black men. Are we less threatening or just more determined? I don't know... This disparity in employment really drives a wedge between black men and women. I can write a book on that mess. My resume is very race neutral. They won't know I'm black till I walk in the door for an interview. I'm working off qualifications and dumb luck because I don't have any connections.

IDK maybe its a bit of both? men may be deemed more of a threat? Hopefully the older people will go out with those old perceptions. As a Black man Dh had to really navigate in his field, and became pretty "neutral" personality wise. Now he is well respected..but this took a while. It goes with another thread.. you make sure to get the right "schooling" in. I always kept my resume neutral too. Thank goodness my dad was not allowed to get too 60's with my name. lol Wow, I may need a career coach with my resume re-write.

Under things to leave out... Mention of Age, Race, Religion, Sex and National Origin

I find the website LinkedIn to be helpful. Some folks use it to simply get their numbers (connections) up, but I only have people on my LinkedIn that I would have some level of comfort in calling or emailing directly. Also, I did "informational meetings" at companies I was interested in... I would say upfront that I realize there wasn't a job on the table, but I wanted to meet them and also to introduce myself. It was non-threatening, because I wasn't necessarily pitching for a job, but just wanted to say "hello". I meet some really GREAT people doing this... folks that really looked out for me later. It helped that I had a ton of FF points, since the companies I were interested in were primarily in LA and NYC. For one info mtg, I drove 3 hrs for a 30 minute mtg and turned around and drove home. That guy will remember me... Connections are so important, if only to have your name in the "consideration set" when openings do occur. Prior to getting serious about finding a new gig, I was sorely lacking in this department. If you decide on the info mtgs as a tactic, I suggest going high level - its easier for them to trickle your resume down than for a lower level employee to push it up.

The company I work for has affinity groups... Women, Asian, AA, Gay and Lesbian, Hispanic... you name it we got it and each group has a high level sponsor as a champion. In this company that's the fastest way to make connections that the members of the affinity groups traditionally don't have access to. I haven't really been active with my affinity groups because I've been focusing on my home life. I haven't set foot in one of their meeting offsite but will attend a lunch and learn periodically. I'm planning on going back to school when the kids turn 7. It may be for a career change or just an grad degree. There's a degree in International Conflict Management that is calling my name.