Persons in highly technical professions possess much-need skills and belong to exclusive circles. Today’s business cannot function without these talented individuals, despite that many of us may not be able to hold our own in a professional conversation with them. But don’t just think of these positions in terms of rocket scientists or chemical engineers; there are many specialized jobs that pervade the everyday workforce that we take for granted. We know these as database designers, statisticians, or derivatives traders, to name a few. Employees in these functions change jobs just like everyone else, but when they job hunt they sometimes submit resumes that are incomprehensible to anyone outside their niche and in the process end up thwarting their search.

These individuals face a unique challenge when writing a resume — they must obviously convey their specialized knowledge, but do so in a way that is understandable to others. Most times, resumes filter through search firms and Human Resource recruiters who are charged with short-listing hundreds of candidates to a mere handful for the hiring manager. These gatekeepers will be generally familiar with the technical lingo, but the resume must not give them an excuse for being filtered out. It must communicate the candidate’s skills and experiences in a way that the recruiter could recognize a potential match for the position without difficulty. Make the reader work too hard and your application is headed for the shredder.

Take for example the popular Six Sigma methodology (1) used to improve processes at many Fortune 500 companies. Already this sentence may have lost some readers. For the non-project management audience, the term “Six Sigma” refers to the ability of processes to produce output within a targeted measurement. Processes operating with six sigma level quality yield fault levels below 3.4 defects per million opportunities, otherwise known as DPMO. Six Sigma encompasses two key methodologies — DMAIC and DMADV — but also has spawned an alphabet of others, including tongue-twisters like CDOC, DMADOV, VCPCIA, DCCDI, IDOV, D-IDOV-M, and lots more, plus it uses a separate toolbox of techniques like Chi-Square Tests, FMEA, histograms, pick charts, stratification, and others.

So let’s presume you’re a Black Belt looking to change jobs (yes, Six Sigma takes its certified hierarchy from martial arts). Before drafting your resume consider exactly how much alphabet soup is necessary to convey your level of skill and accomplishment. For some targeted searches the answer may be to include the whole lot, so tailor your resume accordingly, but writing too detailed of a resume could eliminate you from project management opportunities on a broader scale. For one, it pigeonholes you into a fixed specialty and second, it could leave the reader with the impression that you cannot convey complex topics in clear and understandable terms. You will have ample opportunity to discuss the intricacies of your profession with the right people, but you have to get past the screener.

So unless you are purposely targeting jobs that require a precise skill set, consider how to convey your technical expertise in broader language. Start by writing all the idiosyncrasies of your job in terms with which you are most comfortable. Put it aside for a few days, and then start scrubbing. Try to replace some (not all) technical lingo with translations that would be clear to a reader on the perimeter of your line of work. Ask acquaintances from different lines of work to critique your resume, and if all else fails, consider a professional resume-writing service.

Remember, the objective of your resume is to get it past the gatekeeper.

(1) Six Sigma is a registered trademark of Motorola, Inc.

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