Resume?
I have a hand with the hiring at my company and look over literally hundreds of resumes for listed postions.
What amazes me is that hardly anyone researches anything about our company and the positions we have advertised. How do I know this? By reading their cover letters and resumes.
Most applicants bury the information I need that is directly related to our opening.
And don't get me started about the arcane skills, certifications and industry terms which mean nothing to my company ("I am completely adept with Lower Poobah AMI standards and have completed four levels of my Grand Master Thigamajig License!").
Look, if the position calls for a Senior Level Java programmer with understanding of ecommerce applications on a Linux platform, don't tell me about your MS.Net experience or your FoxPro certifications. This tells me you did not read the job description and you are most likely shotgunning your resume to whoever has a computer on.
Tell me your related experience, what you have done with that experience and if possible, direct me to some example of it.
Unrelated experience
If you do have a lot of unrelated job experience, explain it this way.
"Here is my related experience which I feel will benefit your company right now. And if it has any value to you at all, I also have tremendous experience in other skills/fields/positions which I will list below".
Employers fill needs, their needs, not your need for a paycheck. Give employers a reason to think you might have what they need right now.
Resume for the job
Finally, rather than sending out 4000 copies of the same resume for 4000 positions, tailor your resume for 40 positions you really want.
Study the company to which you are applying, understand the position and make a compelling argument for your immediate employment.
This is a test
If you were in school and the instructor tells you there will be an essay test covering one to four paragraphs of information, you would make it your business to know that information forwards and backwards and incorporate it into your answers.
Most job notices have a description of the job available, the skills and education requirements and possibly a description of the company and benefits all outlined in a few paragraphs.
Why are you not writing your resume for this description?
Read the requirements and job description and tailor your resume, your experience and skills to the job described. Don't try anything vague or general.
Answer the question the employer is asking. That is what a resume is all about.
Friday, September 24, 2004
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Recruiters and Contractors -
I was sitting in a training class for a well known operating system vendor in the spring of 2002. One of the class participants returned to class after lunch and announced that his company laid him off during during the noon break. Over the phone. While he was offsite. Real classy company there.
One of the techies sitting in the class, (I will call him, Mr. Helpful) advises, "Well that's not a problem, call (this well known recruiting/contracting company). That is how I got my job".
The first problem with Mr. Helpful's suggestion was with the recruiter he mentioned. I knew someone who worked at that particular firm and knew on authority they had been receiving sometimes over 500 resumes a day from unemployed IT workers.
The second problem Mr.Helpful forgot to mention is that he had been working at his particular job for over three years. He had been hired during one of the greatest technical hiring booms in recent memory.
Mr. Helpful was not aware of the massive changes that had occurred in the IT world since 2001.
Yes, this famous recruiting and placement firm Mr. Helpful had mentioned had, during the boom years, placed thousands of IT professionals in numerous positions.
Mr.Helpful meant well, I am sure. But consider this as introduction to a lesson about recruiters.
Recruiters are a funny beast.
A recruiter's job is to fill positions based upon a commission paid by the employer.
This fee is either a set amount or a percentage of the candidates first years salary.
When unemployment and the pool of qualified candidates is high, recruiters fees go down and their job is more difficult.
To a recruiter, you, the candidate, are cattle. Cattle to be brought to market, poked, prodded and examined and if found wanting, sold to the first bidder willing to pay the selling price.
Here is the drill.
First a recruiting firm gets a tentative bid to fill a certain position. They have to scramble to get these - a herd of sales people contacts hiring managers and HR departments from dawn to dusk and uses any tactic possible to get a lead.
Often, several competing recruiters work to fill one available spot. Sometimes they are working without authorization or contract from the employer. And they also study the same job board ads you are looking at and contact the hiring company directly when a position opens.
If they find an opening, the position is taken back to the recruiting team. These people search online resumes for as many candidates as possible. They search for matching key words taken from the posted job requirements often time with little regard for the actual job description.
Next, they call candidates and question them about their skills and availability and arrange for a face to face interview. If you have ever received one of these calls when you are unemployed, it is a very uplifting and joyous occasion. "Finally, someone is calling me for an interview!" you exclaim.
Recruiters have the candidates visit the their office for a 15 minute evaluation (walk through). This is not an interview for the position, but actually an interview to represent the recruiting firm. So you get your hair cut, shine your shoes and get dressed up in your interview suit and bolt across town to the recruiters office full of high hopes.
You sit down in an office and wait along with a half dozen or so other candidates. "Surely these people must be here for other positions" you try to convince yourself. After filling out a cursory form handed to you by a receptionist, you sit in a waiting room and read People magazine and Arizona Highways and wait for your name to be called.
After a half hour or so, a ex-cheerleader named Tiffany or Chad summons you from Waiting Room Purgatory and takes you to what can best be described as an interrogation room.
Chad or Tiffany look over your resume and gush about your experience and skills. They ask a few "technical" questions about your experience (they generally have about zero technical experience or knowledge, incidentally). They cannot tell you what is good or bad about your resume or how you present yourself. What they can do is identify buzzwords on your resume and connect them however remotely to the position they have open.
Then they take you into their confidence and in hushed tones describe the position and the company. You agree to the vow of silence and sit in stunned reverence as they go on about your perfect fit for the job at hand.
"Could you come in on Thursday for an interview with the hiring manager?"
"Of course!" you say.
Times are arranged, hands are shook and you float away on a cloud to the waiting room, where Chad or Tiffany summon one of the other people who were waiting with you earlier.
You head to your car and call your spouse with the good news.
Meanwhile back at the recruiters office, the boiler room goes to work. If you and the other candidates do not smell bad or have green hair and show up on time, they are ready for the block.
The recruiters scramble to schedule the following Thursday's schedule. A back to back roster of candidates is arranged with the interviewer. All are "pre-qualified" for the open position and all are available for a 15 minute meeting.
The following Thursday, you arrive, again in your freshly pressed interview suit accompanied by a fresh stack of resumes, this time printed on high quality linen paper in an off white shade. You are mentally prepared to be questioned thoroughly and are already paying off your debts with the big offer you are sure to receive.
Then you see the lineup. There must be a mistake! There are no fewer than twenty five other people at "your" interview!
Stunned, you line up and wait with the other candidates. if you are lucky you will be first. The interviewer will be fresh and ready to pepper you with questions about your job history and experience. Woe be tide, however,if you are number 18 or so. By then, the interviewer only can think of escaping this mindless merry-go-round.
After your exit, the recruiter conducts a five minute "panic post-interview".
"What happened? How did it feel in there? Did you answer his questions? Was he interested in seeing you again?" followed by the standard "Okay buddy, we will call you".
Dejected and demoralized you head home.
Following the interviews, if the employer shows any interest in a candidate, the recruiter will call the candidate immediately and break the good news. Arrangements are made for followup interviews, Advice is given on dress, demeanor and demands.
On the other hand, if there is no interest, the recruiter drops the candidate like a hot potato. No phone calls. No words of encouragement. Nothing.
Remember if just one of their candidates gets a job, the recruiting company gets 10, 15 or 20% (sometimes more) of the candidates first year's salary from the employer.
So the recruiter strategy is to shotgun as many candidates as possible. The more candidates the better the odds of getting that commission.
Let me put in a disclaimer.
Not all recruiters are this way. I know several that are decent, hardworking entrepreneurs. Real business people who take their work serious. They care about their clients and customers and treat both well.
Just remember this: Take recruiters with a grain of salt. A recruiter's call is not a guarantee of a job, it is nothing more than a sales call.
You and only you are responsible for getting your next job no matter what the source.
I was sitting in a training class for a well known operating system vendor in the spring of 2002. One of the class participants returned to class after lunch and announced that his company laid him off during during the noon break. Over the phone. While he was offsite. Real classy company there.
One of the techies sitting in the class, (I will call him, Mr. Helpful) advises, "Well that's not a problem, call (this well known recruiting/contracting company). That is how I got my job".
The first problem with Mr. Helpful's suggestion was with the recruiter he mentioned. I knew someone who worked at that particular firm and knew on authority they had been receiving sometimes over 500 resumes a day from unemployed IT workers.
The second problem Mr.Helpful forgot to mention is that he had been working at his particular job for over three years. He had been hired during one of the greatest technical hiring booms in recent memory.
Mr. Helpful was not aware of the massive changes that had occurred in the IT world since 2001.
Yes, this famous recruiting and placement firm Mr. Helpful had mentioned had, during the boom years, placed thousands of IT professionals in numerous positions.
Mr.Helpful meant well, I am sure. But consider this as introduction to a lesson about recruiters.
Recruiters are a funny beast.
A recruiter's job is to fill positions based upon a commission paid by the employer.
This fee is either a set amount or a percentage of the candidates first years salary.
When unemployment and the pool of qualified candidates is high, recruiters fees go down and their job is more difficult.
To a recruiter, you, the candidate, are cattle. Cattle to be brought to market, poked, prodded and examined and if found wanting, sold to the first bidder willing to pay the selling price.
Here is the drill.
First a recruiting firm gets a tentative bid to fill a certain position. They have to scramble to get these - a herd of sales people contacts hiring managers and HR departments from dawn to dusk and uses any tactic possible to get a lead.
Often, several competing recruiters work to fill one available spot. Sometimes they are working without authorization or contract from the employer. And they also study the same job board ads you are looking at and contact the hiring company directly when a position opens.
If they find an opening, the position is taken back to the recruiting team. These people search online resumes for as many candidates as possible. They search for matching key words taken from the posted job requirements often time with little regard for the actual job description.
Next, they call candidates and question them about their skills and availability and arrange for a face to face interview. If you have ever received one of these calls when you are unemployed, it is a very uplifting and joyous occasion. "Finally, someone is calling me for an interview!" you exclaim.
Recruiters have the candidates visit the their office for a 15 minute evaluation (walk through). This is not an interview for the position, but actually an interview to represent the recruiting firm. So you get your hair cut, shine your shoes and get dressed up in your interview suit and bolt across town to the recruiters office full of high hopes.
You sit down in an office and wait along with a half dozen or so other candidates. "Surely these people must be here for other positions" you try to convince yourself. After filling out a cursory form handed to you by a receptionist, you sit in a waiting room and read People magazine and Arizona Highways and wait for your name to be called.
After a half hour or so, a ex-cheerleader named Tiffany or Chad summons you from Waiting Room Purgatory and takes you to what can best be described as an interrogation room.
Chad or Tiffany look over your resume and gush about your experience and skills. They ask a few "technical" questions about your experience (they generally have about zero technical experience or knowledge, incidentally). They cannot tell you what is good or bad about your resume or how you present yourself. What they can do is identify buzzwords on your resume and connect them however remotely to the position they have open.
Then they take you into their confidence and in hushed tones describe the position and the company. You agree to the vow of silence and sit in stunned reverence as they go on about your perfect fit for the job at hand.
"Could you come in on Thursday for an interview with the hiring manager?"
"Of course!" you say.
Times are arranged, hands are shook and you float away on a cloud to the waiting room, where Chad or Tiffany summon one of the other people who were waiting with you earlier.
You head to your car and call your spouse with the good news.
Meanwhile back at the recruiters office, the boiler room goes to work. If you and the other candidates do not smell bad or have green hair and show up on time, they are ready for the block.
The recruiters scramble to schedule the following Thursday's schedule. A back to back roster of candidates is arranged with the interviewer. All are "pre-qualified" for the open position and all are available for a 15 minute meeting.
The following Thursday, you arrive, again in your freshly pressed interview suit accompanied by a fresh stack of resumes, this time printed on high quality linen paper in an off white shade. You are mentally prepared to be questioned thoroughly and are already paying off your debts with the big offer you are sure to receive.
Then you see the lineup. There must be a mistake! There are no fewer than twenty five other people at "your" interview!
Stunned, you line up and wait with the other candidates. if you are lucky you will be first. The interviewer will be fresh and ready to pepper you with questions about your job history and experience. Woe be tide, however,if you are number 18 or so. By then, the interviewer only can think of escaping this mindless merry-go-round.
After your exit, the recruiter conducts a five minute "panic post-interview".
"What happened? How did it feel in there? Did you answer his questions? Was he interested in seeing you again?" followed by the standard "Okay buddy, we will call you".
Dejected and demoralized you head home.
Following the interviews, if the employer shows any interest in a candidate, the recruiter will call the candidate immediately and break the good news. Arrangements are made for followup interviews, Advice is given on dress, demeanor and demands.
On the other hand, if there is no interest, the recruiter drops the candidate like a hot potato. No phone calls. No words of encouragement. Nothing.
Remember if just one of their candidates gets a job, the recruiting company gets 10, 15 or 20% (sometimes more) of the candidates first year's salary from the employer.
So the recruiter strategy is to shotgun as many candidates as possible. The more candidates the better the odds of getting that commission.
Let me put in a disclaimer.
Not all recruiters are this way. I know several that are decent, hardworking entrepreneurs. Real business people who take their work serious. They care about their clients and customers and treat both well.
Just remember this: Take recruiters with a grain of salt. A recruiter's call is not a guarantee of a job, it is nothing more than a sales call.
You and only you are responsible for getting your next job no matter what the source.