Re: For those who hire... what makes a resume stand out?
To those list members who hire writers: would you mind sharing your
thoughts on what makes a resume stand out? (In a good way OR a bad way.
The former would be more useful; the latter, more entertaining.)
Besides the obvious (a layout that allows quick scanning, no spelling errors), I look at how the information is structured.
For example, does the applicant list what might be relevant? The worst resumes are simply a collection of dates and companies, with no indication of what skills the applicant might have learned. Others list irrelevancies - or, worse, reasons that might make any employer think twice. The worst example I can think of is a resume which mentioned that
the applicant had taken two employers to labour relations.
Similarly, has the applicant taken the time to reorganize the resume for the general category of job? Or is the resume simply an unedited job history? Many, if not most people, have two or three different career paths in their lives these days. Unless a career path is relevant to the job category, it should be de-emphasized - perhaps even reduced to a single line at the end - if it is mentioned at all. The same is true for someone with lots of different experience in the job category. Probably, all of it doesn't need to mentioned at length, or, possibly, the resume needs to be organized around skills,instead of being a chronological history.
Especially if an applicant doesn't have much experience, I look for signs that they know how to present the experience they have in the best possible light without misrepresenting themselves. I've never hired a marketing writer, but I figure that anyone who present themselves effectively has some agility of mind.
I also look for echoes of phrases from books about how to write resumes or cover letters. Read a few of these books, and you'll have no trouble recognizing the stilted, exaggerated claims that most of them suggest. Anyone who copies these books without modifying and adapting their suggestions probably doesn't have the agility of mind needed to be agood writer.
Everything I've heard lately indicates that it's a lousy job market, and
recruiters/employers have more candidates to sort through for the few
positions that are available.
Largest tip: don't depend entirely on the recruiters. At least in Vancouver, companies are not going to the headhunters as often as they did a year and a half ago. I've been looking around just in case, spending a few hours a week for the last few weeks. Despite this casual approach, I've located five jobs and mailed my on-line portfolio to another three companies - and none of these possibilities have shown up anywhere on the job boards or among the headhunters. Several of the possibilities are even interesting enough that I might follow them up if I find that I need to. It's almost as if companies are weeding out those who lack the initiative to conduct their own job search.
Of course, the situation is very likely different in other parts of North America. Still, a do-it-yourself approach is probably worth trying.
--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com
"What you don't ponder in your life
You'll ponder when you're dead."
- The Mollys, "Yer Drunk Again/Polka del Diablo"
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