Reactions

The Resume Experiment (2 of 5) â€" First Impressions/Reactions One of the reasons I wanted to have the two groups participate is because one group prepares resumes for a living, and the other group is a resume gatekeeper. It was interesting to see how the recruiter responses differed from resume writers. Recruiters, the gatekeepers, are accustomed to seeing lots of resumes. How many? Ive had recruiters tell me they get hundreds of resumes a day. Unsolicited resumes. Resumes that dont have anything to do with their niche specialty, or current opportunities. To them this is noise. Wonder why you dont get a reply back? Or the phone call you are waiting for? Because they already have a full-time job where are they going to fit in the time to personally respond to 200+ unsolicited non-matches each day?? (I know, its harsh, and I dont like it either. Maybe there is another way. But its the reality and I first experienced it last year in my job search when I was working with 30 recruiters.) Part I Recruiters So these three recruiters that participated are playing the nice guy friend. That is, they see a resume that needs work and they actually help our John Doe. Reactions where similar by each of them: Carl Chapmans reaction can be read in full on his blog (its quite comprehensive). The title of his post tells you what his initial impression was: Ripping up the most important resume in the world your own from his blog: The first thing that catches me is how dull and unattractive to the eye the resume is. It is just too, too plain. No one is going to spend much time looking at the meat of the resume if the initial presentation doesn’t grab the reader’s attention. I would have filed the thing in the circular file and fired off a can’t help email to the potential candidate. – You must make your resume visually appealing enough that the reader will take time to dig in enough to see if you have a skill set that they need. Daniel Sweet of FRACAT (Free Resume And Career Toolbox) had a similar first impression his title is The Red Ink Flows Like Blood: JibberJobber Resume Massacre regarding how he looks at a new resume: When I first get a resume, I do what I like to call an â€Å"HR Glance† at it. That is, I assume that I don’t know much about the position that I’m recruiting for. Some of you may think that this observation is unkind. And you may be right. However, having my livelihood dependent on HR people from time to time, I also know that it is accurate. So, let me tell you what is going through the average, low-end, not very long out of school, corporate HR type when they look at this resume: â€Å"Uhhhhhhh†¦..dunno† followed by the â€Å"delete† key and the next resume. A more astute HR person or recruiter will see a generic resume that says: â€Å"I Don’t Know What I Want To Do With My Life. Would You Please Figure It Out For Me?† Steve Levy of The Recruiting Edge has similar initial impressions. His post is titled The Great Resume Massacre (Dr. Evil laugh). What I like about Steves feedback is that he walks us through his thought process, and its a little different. Can you assume that all processes are the same? You have one chance to get past the first test do everything right so that you make it through to the next step! From Steves post: Don’t know why but I always read resumes from back to front. Dont assume they follow a how to read resumes book. Your customer may be quirky, but he is still your customer. Contact info at the end? [Jason: Ill talk about formatting in a later post, but this is a good catch you can be creative and break whatever rules you want, but if you arent getting results (aka, interviews) then fall back in line with best practices] The phrases strategic business partner and available upon request do the same thing to me – I wonder if the person uttering these really can walk and chew gum at the same time. Uh oh. Ive had the opportunity to deliver a first impression, and that impression is going to put me right into the garbage can Why are the skills at the end of the resume? Why isn’t there a summary at the top, a place where you highlight your skills and accomplishments in 1-2 short paragraphs? [Jason: Again, Ill talk about formatting later but this is first-impression time and John Doe is blowing it.] Why do I share the recruiter perspective here? Because this is who you send your resume to. I imagine the HR response would be pretty much the same. Know your audience. Write to your audience. Dazzle your audience. DO NOT forget that there is a person on the other end of the e-mail, and part of their routine is to decide what to do with each of the 200+ resumes they get each day. What are you going to do to have your resume pass the smell test? One parting thought One of these three recruiters wrote this to me: By the end of the post, I felt like I had beat up on the guy so much that it was inappropriate. Were not here to tease, or make John Doe feel like crap. Its not about beating you up. Its about helping you understand what the guy on the other end of the e-mail is thinking so that you can move forward. Part II Resume Writers (heres a current post by Louise Fletcher on hiring a professional) Here are Alison Doyles initial thoughts: What type of job is he looking for? Thats my first question, because his experience is a little scattered. As far as the resume, from my perspective it needs a total overhaul. If theres a way to work in some strategic level responsibilities and up it a notch, that would help billing support, copy writing, etc. sound like a lower level position. Also, Im wondering if there is a way to merge the company Y/Z lists to address the perspective (at first glance) that hes job hopping. What he needs to do is focus on customer service i.e. in his position descriptions. My first thought in looking at the resume, was that it wasnt clear to me what type of position the resume writer was seeking. He has lots of good experience, but its in a lot of different areas. The resume needs to be targeted and focused on the career field/positions that he is interested. From Barbara Safani: The candidate is communicating tasks rather than accomplishments. The candidate’s current resume does nothing to distinguish him from his competition. Lots of people have skill sets similar to this candidate. What makes him different? Imagine you are buying a new product†¦let’s say it’s a dishwasher†¦every brand has its own pitch†¦some dishwashers save water, some are better for the environment, some are faster, some are quieter†¦you get the picture. The consumer buys one of the dishwashers based on the product benefits, not its features†¦they all wash the dishes†¦the consumer needs to decide which dishwasher provides the most benefits to them. It’s hard for the audience to get a quick read on all this candidate has to offer. Most people look at the top third of the first page of the resume. This candidate has a lot of great information on page two that needs to be incorporated into page one to give the reader a more comprehensive view of his competencies. I have no doubt that this candidate is great at what he does. But he needs to find ways to showcase his value over and over again throughout the document in order to get the phone to ring. From Billie Sucher: This resume does not need a tune-up; it needs a major overhaul. I would not be doing your friend / contact any favors by saying his resume was great; the workplace will teach him differently. I am all about helping someone get what they want, need, etc. in a fair, reasonable, professional, and caring manner†¦ From Louise Kursmark: His resume is completely lacking in the details and specific accomplishments that are essential to attract attention. From Jason, regarding professional resume writers. The comments from the last post were interesting, including those that have absolutely no faith in resume writers. I understand Ive heard this from recruiters, regular people, etc. I think a real, qualified resume expert is worth their weight in gold especially considering their entire focus is to develop a professional document that helps you get into interviews. Ive said it before, if I had professional resume help I would have had a job a long time ago (alas, JibberJobber would not have gotten this far, so thank goodness my resume sucked)! Jasons Final Thoughts You can ignore the first impressions, but Ive heard the person looking at your resume will spend less than 10 seconds before they make a decision (save/toss). Please think about what 10-second impression your resume is giving the decision-maker if you dont get past them you dont get to see the hiring manager (yes, there are exceptions to this thats for another series!). The Resume Experiment Series Post I Introduction Post II First Impressions/Reactions (todays post) Post III Formatting (Wednesday) Post IV Content (Thursday) Post V Wrap-Up (Friday) Checkout the job searchJobCentral. The Resume Experiment (2 of 5) â€" First Impressions/Reactions One of the reasons I wanted to have the two groups participate is because one group prepares resumes for a living, and the other group is a resume gatekeeper. It was interesting to see how the recruiter responses differed from resume writers. Recruiters, the gatekeepers, are accustomed to seeing lots of resumes. How many? Ive had recruiters tell me they get hundreds of resumes a day. Unsolicited resumes. Resumes that dont have anything to do with their niche specialty, or current opportunities. To them this is noise. Wonder why you dont get a reply back? Or the phone call you are waiting for? Because they already have a full-time job where are they going to fit in the time to personally respond to 200+ unsolicited non-matches each day?? (I know, its harsh, and I dont like it either. Maybe there is another way. But its the reality and I first experienced it last year in my job search when I was working with 30 recruiters.) Part I Recruiters So these three recruiters that participated are playing the nice guy friend. That is, they see a resume that needs work and they actually help our John Doe. Reactions where similar by each of them: Carl Chapmans reaction can be read in full on his blog (its quite comprehensive). The title of his post tells you what his initial impression was: Ripping up the most important resume in the world your own from his blog: The first thing that catches me is how dull and unattractive to the eye the resume is. It is just too, too plain. No one is going to spend much time looking at the meat of the resume if the initial presentation doesn’t grab the reader’s attention. I would have filed the thing in the circular file and fired off a can’t help email to the potential candidate. – You must make your resume visually appealing enough that the reader will take time to dig in enough to see if you have a skill set that they need. Daniel Sweet of FRACAT (Free Resume And Career Toolbox) had a similar first impression his title is The Red Ink Flows Like Blood: JibberJobber Resume Massacre regarding how he looks at a new resume: When I first get a resume, I do what I like to call an â€Å"HR Glance† at it. That is, I assume that I don’t know much about the position that I’m recruiting for. Some of you may think that this observation is unkind. And you may be right. However, having my livelihood dependent on HR people from time to time, I also know that it is accurate. So, let me tell you what is going through the average, low-end, not very long out of school, corporate HR type when they look at this resume: â€Å"Uhhhhhhh†¦..dunno† followed by the â€Å"delete† key and the next resume. A more astute HR person or recruiter will see a generic resume that says: â€Å"I Don’t Know What I Want To Do With My Life. Would You Please Figure It Out For Me?† Steve Levy of The Recruiting Edge has similar initial impressions. His post is titled The Great Resume Massacre (Dr. Evil laugh). What I like about Steves feedback is that he walks us through his thought process, and its a little different. Can you assume that all processes are the same? You have one chance to get past the first test do everything right so that you make it through to the next step! From Steves post: Don’t know why but I always read resumes from back to front. Dont assume they follow a how to read resumes book. Your customer may be quirky, but he is still your customer. Contact info at the end? [Jason: Ill talk about formatting in a later post, but this is a good catch you can be creative and break whatever rules you want, but if you arent getting results (aka, interviews) then fall back in line with best practices] The phrases strategic business partner and available upon request do the same thing to me – I wonder if the person uttering these really can walk and chew gum at the same time. Uh oh. Ive had the opportunity to deliver a first impression, and that impression is going to put me right into the garbage can Why are the skills at the end of the resume? Why isn’t there a summary at the top, a place where you highlight your skills and accomplishments in 1-2 short paragraphs? [Jason: Again, Ill talk about formatting later but this is first-impression time and John Doe is blowing it.] Why do I share the recruiter perspective here? Because this is who you send your resume to. I imagine the HR response would be pretty much the same. Know your audience. Write to your audience. Dazzle your audience. DO NOT forget that there is a person on the other end of the e-mail, and part of their routine is to decide what to do with each of the 200+ resumes they get each day. What are you going to do to have your resume pass the smell test? One parting thought One of these three recruiters wrote this to me: By the end of the post, I felt like I had beat up on the guy so much that it was inappropriate. Were not here to tease, or make John Doe feel like crap. Its not about beating you up. Its about helping you understand what the guy on the other end of the e-mail is thinking so that you can move forward. Part II Resume Writers (heres a current post by Louise Fletcher on hiring a professional) Here are Alison Doyles initial thoughts: What type of job is he looking for? Thats my first question, because his experience is a little scattered. As far as the resume, from my perspective it needs a total overhaul. If theres a way to work in some strategic level responsibilities and up it a notch, that would help billing support, copy writing, etc. sound like a lower level position. Also, Im wondering if there is a way to merge the company Y/Z lists to address the perspective (at first glance) that hes job hopping. What he needs to do is focus on customer service i.e. in his position descriptions. My first thought in looking at the resume, was that it wasnt clear to me what type of position the resume writer was seeking. He has lots of good experience, but its in a lot of different areas. The resume needs to be targeted and focused on the career field/positions that he is interested. From Barbara Safani: The candidate is communicating tasks rather than accomplishments. The candidate’s current resume does nothing to distinguish him from his competition. Lots of people have skill sets similar to this candidate. What makes him different? Imagine you are buying a new product†¦let’s say it’s a dishwasher†¦every brand has its own pitch†¦some dishwashers save water, some are better for the environment, some are faster, some are quieter†¦you get the picture. The consumer buys one of the dishwashers based on the product benefits, not its features†¦they all wash the dishes†¦the consumer needs to decide which dishwasher provides the most benefits to them. It’s hard for the audience to get a quick read on all this candidate has to offer. Most people look at the top third of the first page of the resume. This candidate has a lot of great information on page two that needs to be incorporated into page one to give the reader a more comprehensive view of his competencies. I have no doubt that this candidate is great at what he does. But he needs to find ways to showcase his value over and over again throughout the document in order to get the phone to ring. From Billie Sucher: This resume does not need a tune-up; it needs a major overhaul. I would not be doing your friend / contact any favors by saying his resume was great; the workplace will teach him differently. I am all about helping someone get what they want, need, etc. in a fair, reasonable, professional, and caring manner†¦ From Louise Kursmark: His resume is completely lacking in the details and specific accomplishments that are essential to attract attention. From Jason, regarding professional resume writers. The comments from the last post were interesting, including those that have absolutely no faith in resume writers. I understand Ive heard this from recruiters, regular people, etc. I think a real, qualified resume expert is worth their weight in gold especially considering their entire focus is to develop a professional document that helps you get into interviews. Ive said it before, if I had professional resume help I would have had a job a long time ago (alas, JibberJobber would not have gotten this far, so thank goodness my resume sucked)! Jasons Final Thoughts You can ignore the first impressions, but Ive heard the person looking at your resume will spend less than 10 seconds before they make a decision (save/toss). Please think about what 10-second impression your resume is giving the decision-maker if you dont get past them you dont get to see the hiring manager (yes, there are exceptions to this thats for another series!). The Resume Experiment Series Post I Introduction Post II First Impressions/Reactions (todays post) Post III Formatting (Wednesday) Post IV Content (Thursday) Post V Wrap-Up (Friday) Checkout the job searchJobCentral. The Resume Experiment (2 of 5) â€" First Impressions/Reactions One of the reasons I wanted to have the two groups participate is because one group prepares resumes for a living, and the other group is a resume gatekeeper. It was interesting to see how the recruiter responses differed from resume writers. Recruiters, the gatekeepers, are accustomed to seeing lots of resumes. How many? Ive had recruiters tell me they get hundreds of resumes a day. Unsolicited resumes. Resumes that dont have anything to do with their niche specialty, or current opportunities. To them this is noise. Wonder why you dont get a reply back? Or the phone call you are waiting for? Because they already have a full-time job where are they going to fit in the time to personally respond to 200+ unsolicited non-matches each day?? (I know, its harsh, and I dont like it either. Maybe there is another way. But its the reality and I first experienced it last year in my job search when I was working with 30 recruiters.) Part I Recruiters So these three recruiters that participated are playing the nice guy friend. That is, they see a resume that needs work and they actually help our John Doe. Reactions where similar by each of them: Carl Chapmans reaction can be read in full on his blog (its quite comprehensive). The title of his post tells you what his initial impression was: Ripping up the most important resume in the world your own from his blog: The first thing that catches me is how dull and unattractive to the eye the resume is. It is just too, too plain. No one is going to spend much time looking at the meat of the resume if the initial presentation doesn’t grab the reader’s attention. I would have filed the thing in the circular file and fired off a can’t help email to the potential candidate. – You must make your resume visually appealing enough that the reader will take time to dig in enough to see if you have a skill set that they need. Daniel Sweet of FRACAT (Free Resume And Career Toolbox) had a similar first impression his title is The Red Ink Flows Like Blood: JibberJobber Resume Massacre regarding how he looks at a new resume: When I first get a resume, I do what I like to call an â€Å"HR Glance† at it. That is, I assume that I don’t know much about the position that I’m recruiting for. Some of you may think that this observation is unkind. And you may be right. However, having my livelihood dependent on HR people from time to time, I also know that it is accurate. So, let me tell you what is going through the average, low-end, not very long out of school, corporate HR type when they look at this resume: â€Å"Uhhhhhhh†¦..dunno† followed by the â€Å"delete† key and the next resume. A more astute HR person or recruiter will see a generic resume that says: â€Å"I Don’t Know What I Want To Do With My Life. Would You Please Figure It Out For Me?† Steve Levy of The Recruiting Edge has similar initial impressions. His post is titled The Great Resume Massacre (Dr. Evil laugh). What I like about Steves feedback is that he walks us through his thought process, and its a little different. Can you assume that all processes are the same? You have one chance to get past the first test do everything right so that you make it through to the next step! From Steves post: Don’t know why but I always read resumes from back to front. Dont assume they follow a how to read resumes book. Your customer may be quirky, but he is still your customer. Contact info at the end? [Jason: Ill talk about formatting in a later post, but this is a good catch you can be creative and break whatever rules you want, but if you arent getting results (aka, interviews) then fall back in line with best practices] The phrases strategic business partner and available upon request do the same thing to me – I wonder if the person uttering these really can walk and chew gum at the same time. Uh oh. Ive had the opportunity to deliver a first impression, and that impression is going to put me right into the garbage can Why are the skills at the end of the resume? Why isn’t there a summary at the top, a place where you highlight your skills and accomplishments in 1-2 short paragraphs? [Jason: Again, Ill talk about formatting later but this is first-impression time and John Doe is blowing it.] Why do I share the recruiter perspective here? Because this is who you send your resume to. I imagine the HR response would be pretty much the same. Know your audience. Write to your audience. Dazzle your audience. DO NOT forget that there is a person on the other end of the e-mail, and part of their routine is to decide what to do with each of the 200+ resumes they get each day. What are you going to do to have your resume pass the smell test? One parting thought One of these three recruiters wrote this to me: By the end of the post, I felt like I had beat up on the guy so much that it was inappropriate. Were not here to tease, or make John Doe feel like crap. Its not about beating you up. Its about helping you understand what the guy on the other end of the e-mail is thinking so that you can move forward. Part II Resume Writers (heres a current post by Louise Fletcher on hiring a professional) Here are Alison Doyles initial thoughts: What type of job is he looking for? Thats my first question, because his experience is a little scattered. As far as the resume, from my perspective it needs a total overhaul. If theres a way to work in some strategic level responsibilities and up it a notch, that would help billing support, copy writing, etc. sound like a lower level position. Also, Im wondering if there is a way to merge the company Y/Z lists to address the perspective (at first glance) that hes job hopping. What he needs to do is focus on customer service i.e. in his position descriptions. My first thought in looking at the resume, was that it wasnt clear to me what type of position the resume writer was seeking. He has lots of good experience, but its in a lot of different areas. The resume needs to be targeted and focused on the career field/positions that he is interested. From Barbara Safani: The candidate is communicating tasks rather than accomplishments. The candidate’s current resume does nothing to distinguish him from his competition. Lots of people have skill sets similar to this candidate. What makes him different? Imagine you are buying a new product†¦let’s say it’s a dishwasher†¦every brand has its own pitch†¦some dishwashers save water, some are better for the environment, some are faster, some are quieter†¦you get the picture. The consumer buys one of the dishwashers based on the product benefits, not its features†¦they all wash the dishes†¦the consumer needs to decide which dishwasher provides the most benefits to them. It’s hard for the audience to get a quick read on all this candidate has to offer. Most people look at the top third of the first page of the resume. This candidate has a lot of great information on page two that needs to be incorporated into page one to give the reader a more comprehensive view of his competencies. I have no doubt that this candidate is great at what he does. But he needs to find ways to showcase his value over and over again throughout the document in order to get the phone to ring. From Billie Sucher: This resume does not need a tune-up; it needs a major overhaul. I would not be doing your friend / contact any favors by saying his resume was great; the workplace will teach him differently. I am all about helping someone get what they want, need, etc. in a fair, reasonable, professional, and caring manner†¦ From Louise Kursmark: His resume is completely lacking in the details and specific accomplishments that are essential to attract attention. From Jason, regarding professional resume writers. The comments from the last post were interesting, including those that have absolutely no faith in resume writers. I understand Ive heard this from recruiters, regular people, etc. I think a real, qualified resume expert is worth their weight in gold especially considering their entire focus is to develop a professional document that helps you get into interviews. Ive said it before, if I had professional resume help I would have had a job a long time ago (alas, JibberJobber would not have gotten this far, so thank goodness my resume sucked)! Jasons Final Thoughts You can ignore the first impressions, but Ive heard the person looking at your resume will spend less than 10 seconds before they make a decision (save/toss). Please think about what 10-second impression your resume is giving the decision-maker if you dont get past them you dont get to see the hiring manager (yes, there are exceptions to this thats for another series!). The Resume Experiment Series Post I Introduction Post II First Impressions/Reactions (todays post) Post III Formatting (Wednesday) Post IV Content (Thursday) Post V Wrap-Up (Friday) Checkout the job searchJobCentral.