Adria offered an interesting comment on our post regarding Resume Enhancements. Here is her comment in whole: I currently teach a Resume class in a Texas Workforce Center. I tell my attendees to never lie on their resumes. I also try to emphasize they should never put something in print about themselves which they cannot prove, or for which they cannot provide a witness if necessary. Will recruiters simply dismiss the truth in the resume style Im teaching as more embelishments or is there a trustworthy means to note integrity on a resume? First off, good news that candidates are being taught a specific manner for maintaining the veracity of… Read More
Continue ReadingCover Email Attention Getter
I’m working through some resume tasks this Monday morning and noticed an amusing line from a cover email: I have excellent customer skills and great work ethic! I do more by 9:00 in the morning that (sic) the marines do all day!! I know, a grammatical error steals some of the thunder, but I still got a kick out of the line. Note: exclamation points should be avoided at all costs. However, it is always – always – valuable to stand out from the crowd in a pile of resumes. Assuming you stand out in a good way.
Continue ReadingResume Errors
Resumes have been a popular topic for us this week. Now I just caught up to this post from Anthony Meaney over at Recruiting.com from last week: Eighty-four percent of executives polled said it takes just one or two typographical errors in a resume to remove a candidate from consideration for a job opening; 47 percent said a single typo could be the deciding factor. First off, “typo” is a bit nondescript so I would argue some typos are worse offenses than others (“alot” instead of the proper “a lot” is forgivable in my opinion). However, one axiom we live by is that the interview process is the best the… Read More
Continue ReadingResume Fodder
I read somewhere recently a suggestion to simply punt the “Objective” section on your resume. I initially scoffed at the idea, but now I am starting to think that is sage advice. This morning I was looking through resumes and came across this objective: To find a position where I can contribute as part of a team that strives to emphasize the importance of effective communication through design. Dump the objective section of your resume. More than likely, it is filled with broad, superfluous statements that may be more detrimental than helpful.
Continue ReadingThe Aesthetics of Resumes
Resumes seem to be getting a lot of air time on the internet lately, including our blog. I just read an interesting article this morning and thought I would share a couple of points that the author brought to my attention. The article is written for the job seeker, but if you would like to read it, you can find it online at the Minneapolis StarTribune website. It is titled – Don’t Sell Yourself Short. One of the author’s sources gives these suggestions: I like to see key words (job titles, degrees) in bold – that way I can immediately see whether the work history and education matches the needs.… Read More
Continue ReadingThe “So What?” Factor
I thought I would tie in to the Rock Star’s post about Attracting the Passive Candidate. Let’s look at it from the other side – what do candidates have to do to “be attractive” to the hiring company. I was catching up to an older post from Guy Kawaski’s blog and something jumped out at me. Guy playfully submitted his email cover and resume for a Yahoo position and allowed these 2 items to be critiqued by a recruiting manager from Yahoo. I thought her analysis was excellent. This part caught my attention: The resume calls out the positions held and a brief description of the responsibilities. What it lacks… Read More
Continue ReadingMore Aggressive Cover Letters
Its Monday and it seems like we need a bit of levity to ease back in to the work week. Nothing like general resume cover letters to lighten the mood. I actually enjoyed this person’s resume – it was eye-catching in its uniqueness. Then I read this: If your company isn’t willing to offer a job with a BASE salary of at least $30,000 then please do not consider me a candidate. I searched the job market 2 years ago for a brief time before I began running my own business on a full time basis and discovered there are a lot of “Bull Crap” jobs out there (i.e. selling… Read More
Continue ReadingFun with Junk Mail
It’s Saturday morning so why not browse through the email junkyard? I receive many junk emails every day but my filters are fairly robust. However, every once and a while I go in there and look at the trapped messages. I suspect you are familiar with many of them too. I was thinking of embellished resumes when I read a junk email that had this (their spacing, not mine): Ha ve you ever thought that the only thing stopping you from a great job and bet ter pay was a few letter s behind you name? Well now you c an get them! BA BSc MA MSc MBA PhD Within… Read More
Continue ReadingResume Enhancements
Nothing new in the fact that resumes are enhanced, but many companies continue to use them as the de facto first-pass filter for candidates. Three points from the article: A recent study by ResumeDoctor.com, a resume advisory service based in South Burlington, Vt., found that nearly 43 percent of more than 1,100 resumes it checked for dates of employment, job titles and education contained at least one significant inaccuracy. Nearly 13 percent of the resumes contained two or more inaccuracies. If 43% of the resumes a company reviews in response to an employment ad contain “one significant inaccuracy,” how reliable is that process for selecting the best candidate? “I think… Read More
Continue ReadingKeywording a Resume
CareerJournal posted an article titled Finding the Right Keywords to Get Your Resume Noticed. As you have probably noticed, we are on a crusade to stop companies from making initial candidate decisions based on resumes only. We go to great lengths to parse a resume for key information. We have our own keywords and, more importantly, key data that supports their claims. Notice this section of the article: Although many keywords are industry specific, Mr. Block says, certain phrases are important to almost all companies. They include “communication skills,” “problem-solving,” “team work,” “leadership,” “resource optimization,” and “image and reputation management.” “Business development” might be one of the most important of… Read More
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