It was no simple resume, to be filled out in a few minutes that finally emerged. Nor did I want the boys to get simple jobs in which they might be trapped for weeks, months, or years before they discovered they were getting nowhere. A few hours of work at the start could make the difference between "taking what you can get" and tens of thousands of dollars in habit-forming success.
It began by asking the boys to analyze their achievements to discover their Dynamic Success Factors (the description hadn't yet been coined, but the effect was the same) and..followed through with Functional Self-Analysis according to the procedures already described in previous chapters. Now the boys knew what they could do well. The next step was to use this knowledge in setting future goals. More study, of course, of the industries where one could function best, as per Chapter Five, but again far better a few hours spent in a library reading trade journals and company histories than painful time wasted on a dead-end job.
For the thousands interested enough in their success to follow through on the instructions, the results were so spectacular that we were moved to develop the Functional Resume to assist civilians faced with similar problems. These included war workers whose jobs no longer existed, but who had had no previous experience in other lines of work; men reluctant to pull up family roots when factories began to migrate to the South and West; men who had remained-rutted on a single job while their families were growing up, but were now anxious to take "one last flier at success"; and young men with plenty of achievements but no practical experience in business and industry.
First to attract the eye is Gary's name, phone number and address in the upper right hand corner of the page, the traditional space allotted by a newspaper to its most important story. It will also be top-most and instantly readable to anyone thumbing through the job application folder or file cabinet. (Why put your name in the middle or left hand corner of the page where it can be half or completely buried in the file?)
In a less conspicuous but still top-of-the-page or headline spot is his age, marital status, military service, and education.
And then, right into the future with his goal-"Objective-Selling or Sales Promotional Work". No guessing about where he wants to go or his confidence in getting there. With his objective thus firmly planted' in his prospective employer's mind, that worthy is bound to read the smaller print to see what the young man can do for him. Thirty-seven words tell him that in seven seconds, and then his eye jumps to the large type in the left margin, again the use of news paper headline technique. These are the functional words based on previous achievements: "Salesmanship Qualities, Leadership, Management, Ideas, Writing, Manual Skills and Employment". Powerful words that make a powerful first impression.
Then back to "Some indications of potential value" Had Gary written instead, "A record of past experiences" the prospective employer would end up by saying, "And not one worth a cent in this high-pressure office." But indications of potential value they certainly were, even to his job as a laborer which indicated he could take it when the going was tough even though he was a Yale man. (Employers from Midwestern and Western colleges are not always impressed by Ivy League men and vice, versa.)
In brief, what Gary had done in his resume was substitute related functions for his lack of practical business experience, and by using the Functional Resume Form, he had done it so effectively that out of 20 resumes sent out, he received 17 responses. Nine announced with seemingly genuine regret that there were no openings now or in the foreseeable future. One advised him to check back in six months. Seven invited him in for interviews that led to three job offers, the last of which he took at $9,600 a year, somewhat less than the previous two, but with bonus possibilities that he found challenging and enticing.
