How Jargon Can Help or Hurt a Resume

Jargon is specialized language used in a specific profession or industry. Medical terminology is a common type of jargon. Military jargon is another. Every industry has jargon. Jargon can help or hurt a resume's communication as well as search-ability in a resume database so it's good to know when and how to use it.

How does jargon affect a resume? For recruiters who do not understand the jargon, the resume can read like ancient hieroglyphics with few if any of them understanding what it is being communicated -- not a result a job seeker wants to happen! But for the right audience, jargon can speed communication and make it more effective. In the age of online recruitment, jargon has one more purpose: it is a ripe source of unique keywords; recruiters can use a phrase of jargon to search through hundreds of resumes to find a candidate of interest. In other words, jargon can improve a resume's database visibility.

When job seekers use jargon on a resume, they should seek a balance between the communication of unique skills as expressed by the jargon and the oversimplification of language that would eliminate the jargon altogether in the faux pursuit of clear communication. Let me give an example of the latter case.

In this example, a military veteran placed the following on her resume to describe her military experience:

• Secure classified documents to maintain proper accountability
• Managed receipts of logs, inventories, files
• Prepared military correspondence and documents for superiors
• Delivered personal mail in garrison and tactical environment

Since she removed the military jargon from the description of duties, most people would be able to understand what she did in the Army.  Yet, what remains is uninspiring language that describes skills anyone with a high school student could do. This veteran eliminated the benefits of military jargon so much she destroyed the positive and differentiating value of her military service.

Now, let's look at an example of how to use military jargon to improve a resume:

Example A

• Execute daily requests and track all ASR/AMRs via Secret Internet Protocol Router (SIPR) and Secret Voice over Internet Protocol (SVOIP) requiring access to SECRET classified information.

Example B

• INSPECTIONS / INVESTIGATIONS: Surveyed of mission essential and vulnerable areas (MEVAs) including arms, ammunition and explosives, and material/strategic supplies of US Army installations and activities on mainland Japan.

Example A includes quite a bit of jargon. But this military veteran (i) defined most of the jargon and (ii) crafted the statement in such a way that some readers can determine what he did. For the target audience who knows this jargon, the statement is very clear. Had he reduced it down to "Fulfilled daily requests of classified information" the value of the jargon would have been removed.

Example B improves on example A by providing an inline sub-head (i.e., Inspections/Investigations) that defines the subsequent statement. In essence, this veteran realized he had two audiences to communicate to so he wrote this statement for both the general reader and the target audience who understands the jargon.

Information Technology is another industry that is ripe with jargon. Here are a few examples:

Example 1

• Our team has decomposed the company's Regatta PLM process while embracing the Pragmatic Marketing framework to realign the skills, connections, and talent we have for NPD and Portfolio Management.

Example 2

• Full-blown PPM tools when applied to PML process did not provide the agility needed for rapid cycle, agile development. Evaluated Product Planning Management (PPM) tools but after detailed analysis we adopted a set of in-house tools for product development planning based on Microsoft collaboration and analytic products.

Example 1 contains two types of jargon: acronyms, such as NPD, and intra-industry denotations such as "decomposed" and "embraced." Acronyms are the most common and easiest to deal with -- simply define them. But new meanings or denotations for common terms is more difficult to deal with. As used here, "decomposed" refers to breaking down into its component parts to better understand the process to improve on it. Example 2 contains two sentences. The first sentence is jargonistic on both levels, while the latter sentences explains what they did in everyday language. The best solution for these instances of jargon is to define, preview and explain for both the general reader and the target audience.

Jargon can both help and hurt a resume. But it can also enrich the resume with a deeper level of keywords not on most resumes. Therefore, it can dramatically improve a resume's visibility for those people who use jargon to source candidates. In the end, the management of jargon is understanding that your resume has multiple audiences. Taking the time to write to both the everyday reader and the subject matter expert who knows the jargon can improve the effectiveness of your resume.