Pass the "So What" Test

EP 3146 Most resumes are ignored because they read like boring job descriptions instead of high-impact marketing documents. Learn the "So What" test to strip away the fluff, prove your value with tangible data, and finally get the interview call. ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTERPeople hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS job search coaching and career advice globally because he makes job search and succeeding in your career easier. Schedule a discovery call to speak with me about one-on-one or group coaching during your job search at ⁠www. TheBigGameHunter.us. You will also find great info and job search coaching to help with your job search at ⁠⁠JobSearch. Community⁠⁠ You can get free copies of 25 Interview Questions and Answers, How to Craft a Compelling Elevator Pitch in 20 Seconds or Less, Get Ready for the Job Jungle, Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems, No BS Resume Advice, and Prove Your Worth First, Then Negotiate. Receive free weekly suggestions and more. Subscribe to No BS Job Search Advice Radio, the #1 podcast in Apple Podcasts for job search with more than 3100 episodes. Connect on LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/T⁠⁠heBigGameHunter⁠ We grant permission for this post and others to be used on your website as long as a backlink is included to ⁠www. TheBigGameHunter.us⁠ and notice is provided that it is provided by Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter as an author or creator. Not acknowledging his work or providing a backlink to ⁠www. TheBigGameHunter.us⁠ makes you subject to a $1000 penalty which you proactively agree to pay. Please contact us to negotiate the use of our content as training data.

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  Okay, today, we're going to talk about a super simple, but incredibly powerful test that can take your resume from just another document in the pile to, wow, we need to call this person right now. So, let me ask you something. Does this sound familiar? You've sent out what feels like 100 resumes and you're hearing absolutely nothing back. It's so frustrating, isn't it? You know you've got the skills, you know you can do the job, but for some reason, you just can't seem to get noticed. So what is going on? Well, more often than not, this is the culprit right here. Your resume reads less like a highlight reel and more like a, well, a boring job description. It's just a long list of all the things you did. But here's the thing, companies don't really hire you for the tasks you've done, they hire you for the results you can get them.

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  To get us thinking the right way, we're going to borrow a brilliant idea from job search coach Jeff Allen, who you might know as The Big Game Hunter. He came up with this fantastic little quality control test you can apply to every single line on your resume. He calls it the "So What" test, and it is literally that simple. It's just one little question that's designed to slice right through all the fluff and get to the heart of what actually matters, the value you bring to an employer. And using it couldn't be easier. You just pull up your resume and go through it, one bullet point at a time. Read the line, and then, out loud, ask yourself, "So what?" And if you kind of stumble, or if you don't have a really solid answer, that's a huge red flag. It means that line needs a rewrite.

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  See, this whole test is really about forcing a change in your perspective. Asking "so what?" is just a more direct way of asking the only question that a hiring manager is thinking, which is, "Why should I care about this?" If a bullet point on your resume doesn't answer that question, it's honestly just wasting space. Alright, so, theory is great, but let's see how this works in the real world. We're gonna take a super common resume line and see what happens when we run it through the "so what?" test. Okay, check this out. The before says, "Manage the company's social media accounts." You read that and ask, "So what?" Well, I guess you posted some stuff. It's pretty weak, right? Now, look at the after. "Increased social media engagement by 35% in one quarter." Now that answers the "so what?" question, doesn't it?

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  The "so what?" is a number, a real tangible result that's actually impressive. And that's the whole game right there. The after version passes the test with flying colors because it shows your impact. It proves you didn't just show up and do the job, you actually made a positive difference. You got results, and that is what makes a recruiter pick up the phone. This all comes back to Jeff Allen's core idea. You have to remember, companies hire people to solve their problems. So your resume needs to position you not as a task-doer, but as a problem solver. It's all about the solutions you've provided in the past. Now, why is this small shift so important? Well, for three big reasons. First, it instantly highlights your actual value.

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  Second, it proves that you're a results-oriented person, which is what every company wants. And maybe most importantly, it immediately lifts you out of the pile and separates you from all the other candidates who are still just listing their old job duties. I want you to start thinking about your resume in a completely new way. It is not a historical record of your job duties. It is a marketing document, plain and simple, and the product it's selling is you. Its only job is to be so compelling that it gets you in the door for that interview. So I'm gonna leave you with a challenge. Go open up your resume, right now, and start applying the "so what?" test to every single line. I promise you, there are amazing valuable solutions hiding in there, just buried under a bunch of boring tasks, waiting for you to uncover them.

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