Submitting a resume to a recruiter or hiring manager is often the first step in building a relationship with an employer. Job seekers make decisions about what to add and omit from their resume in an effort to put their best foot forward and land an interview. But frequently, job seekers adopt a writing strategy that leaves their foot in their mouth instead. I talk to recruiters and hiring managers all the time to learn what they like to see on a resume and what drives them crazy.
Here are five strategies you may want to rethink if your current resume is reflective of any of these practices.
1. Submitting a functional resume.
In a functional resume, job seekers showcase their accomplishments by grouping them by competency (i.e. customer service experience, sales experience, etc), rather than by chronology. This may be done to take the focus off of an employment gap or spotty work history or to focus on skills that are less current, but perhaps more relevant for the position. But recruiters generally dislike functional resumes because they have to guess when and where each of your achievements occurred and if the chronology is not intact they may assume you have something to hide. If the preferred chronological format will not work in your situation, an alternative to the pure functional resume is to include an abbreviated chronology up top (company name, job titles, and dates) and reference where each accomplishment occurred within your competency sections.
2. Not including the start and end months for positions with short tenures.
If the chronology on your resume reports that you held a position from 2005 to 2007, the hiring manager is left wondering if you started in December of 2005 and left in January of 2007. If your two year tenure was really only 13 months, be honest about it and include the months.
3. Leaving off graduation dates.
Often people think that by omitting their graduation dates on their resume, an employer is less likely to be able to guess their age and the potential bias will be eliminated. But the reality is that when the graduation date is missing, you are actually calling more attention to the very thing you are trying to hide. When no date is listed, the employer may even assume that you are older than you actually are.
4. Not accounting for a lengthy gap in employment.
Every recruiter I have ever talked to has told me that they want to see any significant gaps in employment addressed right on the resume...not on the cover letter, which many of them (about 45%) never read. If you were taking care of a sick parent, raising a child, or traveling the world, say so right on the resume.
5. Not including a mailing address.
If you are posting your resume to an online job board, it makes sense to leave off the address for privacy reasons. But in any situation where you are sending your resume to a specific person, include your mailing address. When it is missing, an employer may assume that you don't reside in the geography where the position is located and if they are not willing to pay for relocation they may just conclude that your candidacy is not worth pursuing.
While a resume is a marketing tool and I recommend presenting the information in the most favorable way, transparency and accuracy are also important. People want to hire people they feel they can trust and deception isn't a great way to start off a relationship with an employer.. Don't get tossed in the "no" pile because your resume makes employers feel they can't trust you.
Barbara Safani is the owner of Career Solvers, www.careersolvers.com, and author of Happy About My Resume: 50 Tips For Building a Better Document to Secure a Brighter Future and #JOBSEARCHtweet.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jane says: (2:22PM on Jan 2nd 2010) Vote Up Vote DownReport1/3
As an employer, I agree with everything said in this blog post about resumes. I would add that good employers in general are looking for someone who has good references. If you screwed up on a past job and burned your bridges, it may not too late to go back and try to patch things up. We see a lot of people who interview well, but when we talk to their references, it's clear that no one wants them back. We don't want them either. Right now, there are several kinds of people who are out of work: the unlucky, the incompetent, and the ones who think they are better and smarter than their former employers. My job is to weed out people with personality problems and people who cannot do the job.
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Michele says: (8:48AM on Jan 4th 2010) Vote Up Vote DownReport2.5/3
H. R. People act like they're Gods. Same with Recruiters. You people are no different than the average Joe or Jane seeking employment. Do you really believe what an prospective possible job canididate past employer is telling you? Do you know that it is illegal to even ask? Give the person the benefit of the doubt and don't always believe what that past employer tells you. Because if you do, then tell me why should I believe YOU?
badedukation says: (3:09PM on Aug 12th 2010) Vote Up Vote DownReport2/5
Jane: You said you agreed with all of this, but you didn't say why. You simply straight up agree with every one of these items? Interesting.
Jane says: (10:23AM on Jan 4th 2010) Vote Up Vote DownReport2/5
In reply to Michele, Jan 4, 2010, 8:48 am
No, we don't always believe what we are told when we do reference checks, but we want to hear it anyway and make our own decision. I've seen situations where a vengeful boss gave a bad reference for an outstanding employee. We hired the employee anyway and that person did a great job. Because of that incident, I always check several references. One bad reference won't hurt a candidate if everything else is excellent.
By the way, there are all kinds of questions that are legal to ask (and a few that are illegal, such as race and marital status). It may not be the company's policy to give answers to the questions. That's a different thing.
Look at it from my perspective: I work very hard. I am diplomatic and polite. We have a gossip-free company. We want wonderful people here, not ill-tempered, irresponsible, lazy people. We hate firing people. So we'd rather be cautious up front. Our employees genuinely like each other. That's a corporate culture worth protecting.
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Kenya says: (10:46AM on Jan 6th 2010) Vote Up Vote DownReport2/5
My question concerns the rule about explaining gaps in your work history. Where exactly on the resume should that be included? Also, how long a gap, in terms of weeks, months, or years, requires an explanation?
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Barbara safani says: (10:48AM on Jan 6th 2010) Vote Up Vote DownReport2/5
Kenya,
It can be included right after the dates of employment or in the body of the paragraph describing your job responsibilities. Thanks for reading!
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Dick Jordan says: (4:22PM on Jan 13th 2010) Vote Up Vote DownReport2/5
There is some excellent information on this site. We have just started a new site to help people with their job search. It's called www.mybigjobsearch.com and we are looking for articles to be submitted which will ultimately be posted on the site. If you have written an article pretaining to Resume Preparation, Interviewing, or where and how to find a job, please submit it to me at djordan@srijobs.com.
Thanks,
Dick Jordan
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John Brown says: (9:16AM on Nov 17th 2010) Vote Up Vote DownReport2/5
No matter what's happening in the economy, something that never changes when it comes to getting a job is the importance of having a smart resume. I can't but agree with Neil Lebovits, CPA, president and COO of Ajilon Finance whose article I recently read found by http://filecraft.com SE saying that a solid resume is much more than a summary of your professional experience, it is a tool to market yourself and can be the difference between landing an interview and being thrown into the 'no' pile. Really, resumes are job seekers' calling cards. We only get one chance to make a first impression with a potential employer, so we should make it count with our cover letter and resume.
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alex says: (12:34AM on Dec 9th 2010) Vote Up Vote DownReport2/5
I will try to scraps a very detailed letter instead of the classic resume format. What do you think??
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anna says: (12:38AM on Dec 9th 2010) Vote Up Vote DownReport2/5
Lately, I've been seeing so many hackneyed phrases curricula at all professional levels. Here are the six best phrases I see from http://paraorkut9.org/ job seekers use to describe themselves over and over that are sure to get your resume tossed in the pile.
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perra-st says: (10:29AM on Jan 21st 2011) Vote Up Vote DownReport2/5
Thanx for this useful information.
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Orkut Scraps says: (9:21AM on Mar 9th 2011) Vote Up Vote DownReport2/5
If the chronology on your resume reports that you held a position from 2005 to 2007, the hiring manager is left wondering if you started in December of 2005 and left in January of 2007. If your two year tenure was really only 13 months, be honest about it and include the months.
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zagam2 says: (5:31PM on Mar 15th 2011) Vote Up Vote DownReport2/5
I've seen in the case of retaliation to the good work boss bad reference. In any http://www.iphoneappsreviews.net case, we employ staff, which the person has done a lot of work. Since this incident, I often check multiple references. Link will not hurt a bad candidate, if all is well. By the way, have a question for a variety of law (and a few are illegal, such as race and marital status). It may not be given to the Company's strategy to answer the question. That is another matter.Look at it from my point of view: I work very hard. I am diplomatic and polite. We have no company gossip. We hope that the great people here, not evil, irresponsible, lazy people...thanks
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Hidden Jobs Finder says: (12:14PM on Sep 25th 2011) Vote Up Vote DownReport2/5
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