We’re in full-fledge sourcing mode here at Select Metrix and I am taking up the task of resume mining.  I am aghast at what I am finding.  A new trend that I have seen before, but not to this level, is writing without capitalization.  I know this is an offshoot of texting.  My dislike of this improper writing format probably reveals my lack of appreciation for text messaging.  I don’t do it - email is fine with me.

Online resumes are difficult to manage in that the formatting is often truncated and oddly spaced due to the job board’s coding.  Yet, capitalization is not affected.  I just read through a resume in which the person did not even use capital letters in their name!  Good grief.

I’m sourcing for a complex sale that involves a definite aesthetic ability.  This person’s presentation of their skills left me lacking.  You know, I think I am bumping up against the Gen Y style of communication.  However, hiring is a formal process that requires candidates to adjust their approach to the proper level of formality.

There are some restaurants where you simply cannot get in without a coat and tie.  If you want to eat there, you have to adjust your normal attire to the proper formality.  Call me old fashioned, but I view resumes and job searches in the same light.

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One question we would love to hear more often from our customers is this, “What factors make this candidate a strong fit for our sales position?” This is the best question to ask when first viewing a candidate’s information. Unfortunately, we hear many customers resort to their old method for measuring a candidate - what does their resume contain?

I often wonder if hiring would improve if resumes were removed from the process. I know it will never happen, but it would force hiring managers to take a more comprehensive approach to their decision-making. The focus would move from prejudging viability based solely on a sheet of paper to interviewing the candidates…truly interviewing them. How do they communicate? Are they articulate? Persuasive? Conversational? What questions do they ask? Is there a patter to their qualifying and what is it? Could you see your prospects buying from them?

These questions are not answered by reading a resume.

We preach this approach often, but it bears repeating - the more objectivity you can insert into your hiring process, the more reliable the process will become. Subjectivity, when unchecked, is detrimental to the hiring process.

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The latest update to Cover Letters From Hell is out and it is quite entertaining. The cover letter errors will make you laugh along with the snarky commentary from Killian’s people.

One of my personal favorites this time (Killian’s comments in italics):

“i am a freeelance writer and have worked with a magazine for almost three years before. i came across ur advertisement in [name of magazine]. if you wish i can send you my cv along with some sample writings.”

“To seek career in a dynamic & well Organization which offer Good oppertunities & challenging revelant exposure, self enchancement & growth…”

While we have no idea what this means, we’re pretty sure “self-enchancement” is illegal in at least twelve states, even in the privacy of your own oppertunity.

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If you have read The Hire Sense for any period of time, you know we have some strong feelings about using resumes to filter sales candidates.  This approach is ripe with problems.  However, we know it occurs and until we change the world on this topic, we’ll have to make the best of it.

In that light, here are the items we look for when reading through resumes:

Performance.  Has the person succeeded by what you can see in their work history?  Is this success supported by specific numbers?

Progression.  Has their sales career shown overall  growth through their different positions?  Have they been with only 1 company or have they worked in multiple cultures?

Punctuation.  Fine, I need another “p” word.  Does the document contain proper grammar and punctuation?  The reason is that this document is the showcase of their abilities.  You have to consider their attention to detail if the document has composition errors.

For sales, it is far more valuable to interact with the candidate via phone conversations and email.  These are the mediums in which they work so our focus is on their abilities there.  When hiring salespeople, I would recommend you put your focus there as opposed to drawing too many conclusions from a resume.

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I came across this quick info from The Career News newsletter (sorry, no link):

Job site CareerBuilder.com recently asked pollsters Harris Interactive to survey hiring managers and find out the wackiest resume items they’ve seen lately. Out of 2,627 responses, here are the top ten resume blunders made by job candidates:

1. Attached a letter from her mother.
2. Used pale blue paper with teddy bears printed around the border.
3. Explained a three-month gap in employment by saying that he was getting over the death of his cat.
4. Specified that his availability to work Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays is limited because the weekends are “drinking time.”
5. Included a picture of herself in a cheerleading uniform.
6. Drew a picture of a car on the outside of the envelope and said the car would be a gift to the hiring manager.
7. Listed hobbies that included sitting on a levee at night watching alligators.
8. Mentioned the fact that her sister had once won a strawberry-eating contest.
9. Stated that he works well in the nude.
10. Explained an arrest record by stating, “We stole a pig, but it was a really small pig.”

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From the title of an online resume:

Not the best…but NOT the worst…

I would describe that title as inspiring.

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The resume discussion rages on. Today’s ERE article by Dr. Williams is an excellent discussion about why skills are important in hiring. Resumes cannot clearly display a candidate’s skills so you have to do more digging. Here are a couple of excellent excerpts from the article (emphasis mine):

Once you get past an executive’s glowing resume, dig for details. Most important, try to understand the skills and motivations he or she will bring to the job. Often these will not be evident in the resume, nor will they be evident in the interview. Both usually address results, but “results” are often not the same as skills. Think of results as the score at the end of the game and skills as how the game was played. You need to know skills.

And this one:

Always remember first-line managers are cited as employees’ greatest source of stress. And stress can be a significant reason for turnover. Incoming and first-line management promotion decisions are the easiest to tackle. Simply forget about “promotions as a reward” and focus on “promotions based on job skills.”

As they say, read the whole thing.

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I’ve run into this resume issue many times and have realized I may be missing the boat here. When I look at a resume, here is what I believe I can learn:

-Work History - Obviously, where they have worked, positions they have held, successes they have achieved, how long they have earned a paycheck in an industry. Oh, and it is probably embellished. And next-to-impossible to completely verify.

-Education - I can find out where they attended college, what degrees they earned and whether they graduated magna or summa cum laude. And this is the section that contains the most falsehoods on any given resume. The information must be verified.

-Organization of Thoughts - I like to see how the candidate presents their employment information. Structure is well-defined here. They may have paid for resume-writing services so I cannot assume it is their creation.

I suppose if I wanted to be snarky, I could mention that I can learn their contact information too. But what else?

By now, you probably get my point. A hiring manager can assume many aspects of a candidate from their resume. But the actual data that you collect to support your assumptions about that person is minimal. And that is the trap of overreaching on pre-interview decisions based primarily on an applicant’s resume.

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From my junk mail:

Stop writing cover letters the hard way. _____________ helps you quickly and easily crank out a killer cover letter that is guaranteed-to keep your phone ringing. With just a click-of-a-button, fill in the blanks and in just 3.5 minutes out pops a brilliantly worded and perfectly crafted cover letter - 100% customized for you.

I think “customized for you” needs further clarification. We are receiving a handful of cover letters with the exact same wording in each of them.

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From a resume received by a VP of HR:

Here are my qualifications for you to overlook.

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