Want to tick employers off quick? Try this.

Dear Coach:


I think you’re going overboard by harping on getting skills and training before I leave school. Can’t employers see I have skills that are transferable? Shouldn’t they be training me?

Overwhelmed in Ottawa

Dear Over:

Maybe you’ve been watching those decorating shows that are all over TV lately. (Or maybe not if you have an active social life). Anyway there’s a lesson to be learned here. Again and again the designers say “No, prospective buyers can’t imagine how your chartreuse bedroom with the disco ball will make a nice office. You have to show them what the room can be used for by making it into an office.”

Employers aren’t that much different from prospective homebuyers. They don’t want to guess whether you have the credentials and transferable skills they need. You have to show them.

One of the biggest complaints I hear from employers is that they often receive hundreds of resumes that do not meet even one of their qualifications. “What are these applicants thinking?” the employers ask, outraged. “Why are they wasting my time?” Not having the qualifications that are the standard in a field of work is like placing a heading on your resume in bold letters that screams:

“I didn’t bother to get the credentials you need. Maybe you can figure out how you can use me.”

You may have read articles that said you don’t have to have every qualification -- employers will be able to see you have transferable skills from another course of study or a job. This may be true if you have the major qualifications the employer needs and are missing a less critical skill or an easy to learn skill. You might get hired, for example, if you are an architect who knows how to use architectural software but not the particular software product an employer has. But if you’re saying that you’ve written a lot of term papers so you should have the qualifications to be a book editor, your resume is likely to get thrown in the reject pile without even being considered.

Employers today have an idea of the training, skills and experience they expect from potential employees. It is up to you to make sure that you have the credentials they want.