THE JOB MARKET IS GETTING BETTER BUT RESUMES ARE NOT It has been some time since I posted a job seeker blog and my readership has been suffering (they will probably be suffering more after they read this) so here goes.
I have been getting many resumes Emailed to me with nothing in the "SUBJECT" line. I guess the candidates are too busy to fill that out. Later when they call to find out why I have not called them about their job search, they are shocked to find out it went in the trash with some of the 300 spam messages I get each day. Candidates really need to at least put their name and a message such as "here is my resume" in the SUBJECT line. A few introductory statements in the body of the Email is also a good idea so the recruiter does not think the attached document contains a virus.
With the rapid proliferation of viruses, zipping up a resume and sending it as an attachment is also a bad idea. If the resume is so long in needs to be zipped, don't bother sending it. Go back and edit it down to two pages, and then send it as a Word document.
It is hard to believe but I receive many resumes attached to the Email in a picture format. Sometimes if I feel brave I will open them but most of the time they go straight to the trash can. Not worth the risk. The same goes for text file attachments. Even if you do not like Microsoft, Word is the defacto word processor standard for business. I am sure the Japanese do not like speaking English but you gotta do what you gotta do.
There is a new resume format that I am receiving that I will call the "ransom note" resume. It looks like it was put together from clippings from several magazines. The format using five or more fonts, several types of bullets, and bold or not bold every other line is being used by many high level executive types. This might be an attempt to think "outside the box", be hip, or cool but if no one is willing to take time to read this mess it don't mean shit. I do not even try to read the "ransom note" resumes because it gives me a headache and no amount of money is worth that. If a third party recruiter such as myself is throwing these resumes out, what is the HR Manager at your target company doing with them?
Another bad idea is using all capital letters in a resume. Years of research have shown that all capital letters are harder to read than standard capitalization. READ THE WALLSTREET JOURNAL AND COUNT THE ARTICLES THAT CONTAIN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. I DO NOT THINK YOU WILL FIND MANY! Most of the resumes I received that contain all capital letters are from people who often do not have a High School or any College education. Is that the candidate pool you want to be lumped into?
And finally, leave at least a half inch boarder all around the resume. Many printers will not print out to the edge of a piece of paper.
In summary, put yourself in the shoes of the individual who will be reading your resume and look at your resume objectively. If you were reading several hundred resumes a day, would you want to read your resume?
1:03:01 PM 
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