Don't let HR people interpret your resume without a translator!

Highlights at the top of your resume. I talk about this all the time. The reason I do is because it’s important. Please don’t send me a generic resume. Send me a customized resume. I want to see that you really took the time to consider our position and company as a serious option.  A job isn’t just a job. It’s about finding a right fit. If you don’t match with the culture you won’t be happy with them, they won’t be happy with you or both. The same goes with a lot of other areas such as salary, career path, direct coworkers, etc.

My point is, finding a job should be taken seriously. If you’re applying for a Marketing position and at the top of your resume it reads you are an experienced physical therapist, you’re not going to get many calls.

Another example: you read a job description and it says we need someone with:

·       5 years of experience in Marketing

·       3 years running social media campaigns

·       2 years of SEO

If you just send your resume over you’re trusting that the HR folks are just going to see how qualified you are. Wrong. They may, but they may not. Do yourself a favor and talk the same language as them. Interpret your resume for them.

At the top of your resume add a few bullet points that say:

·       7 years of experience in Marketing

·       4 years running social media campaigns

·       5 years of SEO

It’s that simple. You’ll save the HR folks some time, you’ll stand out from other candidates and most important, you’ll get more calls.

The goal of your resume is to get calls.

Why you need to be on LinkedIn

 

I follow Forbes Tech on Twitter and came across this article that gives some interesting information on why professionals need to be on linkedIn. I don't completely agree with everything in the article, but the fact is most recruiters prefer to use LinkedIn. Like everyone else we use monster.com and dice.com just to stay competitive, but it is the creative ideas of where to search for the great candidates that sets a recruiter apart from the competition. See the link below and see if you agree.


http://onforb.es/knG4Sm

Hired

The Do NOT put company specific job titles on your resume! guy got hired. I think this is really important to note that sometimes great people miss out on great opportunities because their resume is just a little off target.


Even though this guy was a rockstar, had he and I not collaborated the way we did on his resume it most likely would have been dismissed by the interviewer. It's great to know that our efforts overcame a barrier to get him to the next step so he could get the job.


Moral of the story: even rockstars can use a hand.

He got an Interview!

Hey everybody. One of the gentleman that inspired my last post Do NOT put company specific job titles on your resume!, got an interview!


We customized his resume with job titles and content to match the job description and he got an interview, what do you know. To be honest, this guy has been awesome to work with. He is senior in experience and bordering rockstar in his field of expertise. Yet, he was humble enough to take suggestions based on my knowledge of both my client and my industry. I would love to work with more candidates like him.


It's great when 2 people collaborate and their expertise yields results. In this case an interview. At the end of the day that's the purpose of a resume: to get you an interview.

Here's a great relevant video from Steve Smith at freeresumetips.net: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xW8rDTNQahg#at=398

Do NOT put company specific job titles on your resume!

 I look at a lot of resumes. I find it interesting when I've looked at a resume and it does not scream "perfect match" to me. However, after talking with the person they are obviously a great match for the position.

Why did I not think it was a better match initially?

The job titles did not match up. Maybe they were applying for a project manager position and put their past job titles as IT Manager or Managing Engineer or IT Operations Consultant or... you get the idea. 

None of those ostensibly indicate that you were a project manager even if that's all you did in those positions. Company specific job titles can CONFUSE recruiters (whether in house or 3rd party recruiters) and WEAKEN your resume, which in turn decreases the number of responses you'll get on your resume.

RULE: It doesn't matter what the specific company calls the position, call it what it is.

RULE: Don't lie! If your duties in that position have no relevancy to what you're applying for don't indicate that it does. Leave the lying to the politicians.


EXAMPLE: I am a recruiter. I've been called Career Advisor, Job Specialist, etc. I did not recruit 100% of the time in those positions. News flash: even "Recruiters" don't recruit 100% of the time. Yet, the one was straight recruiting and the other was preparing the candidates to be recruited. Both are recruiting efforts. So, I replace those titles with Recruiter.


RESULT: I received numerous interview requests.

Last example: A gentleman applies for a Network Administrator position. His resume has Engineer as his last job title. It turns out more than 50% of what he did was Network Administration. In politics more than 50% means you win. Yet this resume will be overlooked by many recruiters which means no interview - you do NOT win.