Dear Sam: I appreciate all you have to share in your columns, but I think I am in a unique position that defies much of the standard thinking about applying and interviewing. I am a laid-off school administrator seeking work in my field. As an older white male, I realize it’s time for my ilk to sit down and allow districts to better match their leadership and student demographics.

I am not ready to retire, and I feel I have much more to give in serving others as an educator. The hiring processes are completely unilateral (no discussion, just answering the same questions as every interviewee), confidential (no sharing of feedback afterward), and often observed by in-house referees to prevent bias.

I have had some interviews and made it to the final round several times, but every position I have applied for has either gone to an insider or another candidate. Also, I cannot say I will work for a lower compensation level to gain an edge, as district regulations would steer that.

I am sending you a copy of a recent cover letter and a generic copy of my current resume so you may get an idea of who I am and what I have to offer. If you have any thoughts, I would love to hear them. — K

Dear K: Thank you for sending your resume and cover letter. Undoubtedly, you are a highly qualified school administration candidate with a record of success spanning 30+ years. I enjoyed reading your cover letter as it told a story of where you have been, what you achieved, how you had an impact, and what your beliefs are as an educator. While your letter was dense and filled an entire page, if I were one of half of the hiring managers that read cover letters, I would leave that letter understanding how you could add value to my district. After reading your cover letter, I was excited to learn more about your journey through your resume.

When I opened your resume, I was struck by the sheer brevity with which you described each professional experience. Having just read about the story of your journey, I went into your resume, hoping I would learn more about the environment you worked in, the challenges you faced, the actions you took, and the results you achieved. Instead, I found 1-2 sentences describing each of your positions over the past 30 years, and all crammed onto a single page. Just so readers can visualize your entire presentation, your education, affiliations, and involvement filled a single-spaced second page.

You can only control what you can in your search – you can’t change the hiring process, the industry environment, and the talent preferences a building or district may have. However, you can control the story you communicate to your target audience. Your resume has so much room for improvement. First, I would not present 30 years of experience and instead focus on the last 15 to 20 years. I would go into greater detail about the environments in which you worked, the unique challenges you faced, and the results I know you achieved because I can see them prompted on your cover letter. I would also work on the visual appeal of your documents because currently they lack any visual interest, are very challenging to read based on the single spacing, and through the font treatment bolding school names and titles only, draw my attention to arguably what is some of the least important content.

In order to get a sense of a best practices-based personal branding approach, I recommend you look at recently published books or resume examples online to get a sense of what resumes should look like today. I believe if you create what truly should be a 3-page presentation — entirely acceptable for your field — telling a strong story of your journey, and delivering that story in an appealing package, it will perhaps open additional doors to interviews and hopefully land one of those opportunities. I wish you the best and turning your search around.

Samantha Nolan is an Advanced Personal Branding Strategist and Career Expert, founder and CEO of Nolan Branding. Do you have a resume, career, or job search question for Dear Sam? Reach Samantha at [email protected]. For information on Nolan Branding’s services, visit www.nolanbranding.com or call 888-9-MY-BRAND or 614-570-3442.