RE: resume fondling -- am I being too picky?

["Rob Domaschuk" <rdomaschuk -at- printable -dot- com>]

As always, it depends...

First, I agree that poorly written sentences and grammar usage are red flags.

If I am comparing two resumes and one is riddled with errors and the other is not, I'll certainly give greater weight to the edited resume. For me, I believe that the resume/interview is where I will (or should) see the "best" that each person can offer. They have time to edit the resume, put together a portfolio of work they think is their best, etc. If a poorly constructed or written resume is their "best", then I will have issues with it.

Yes, I know that my approach may eliminate some good candidates but, in my experience, it also allows excellent candidates to shine and I've never felt "stuck" with a small group of people from which to choose.

That being said, I don't agree with everything that was written.

   > 3) Everything tagged Normal. Or, a hodge-podge of style use. (Which is
   > why I prefer to receive Word files; I look at the structure of the
   > content in the resume and style use and evaluate the author based on
   > the sample.)

Is Word expertise required in these positions? If it is, or if the candidate has listed Word as a strong skill, then this is a fair check. If, however, the candidate lists FrameMaker as the primary tool used and Word is something that (s)he uses once in a while, then I DON'T think it's a fair check.


   > 4) Failure to indicate which tools were used at which jobs.
   > 5) Failure to indicate size of documentation projects at various jobs;

I agree with John P. on this. Why does it matter? UNLESS the description states that you want people who have extensive experience with long documents (400+ pages), then it would be appropriate. If/when I apply for a position and it states a specific requirement, I ensure that that requirement is listed in both resume.
 
   > 8) Poor font choice, manual kerning changes, that combined with
   > run-ons (1.) makes the resume hard to read.

Excellent, we've not had a full-on "Font Fiddling" discussion (oops, I mean 'polarized, emotion-filled, ranting and screaming) on this list for a while. GO ARIAL!!!!! DOWN WITH GARAMOND!!!!

 
   > 10) Document properties that list an author other than the candidate.

Again, it goes back to whether or not the person is claiming a high level of expertise in the tool used to create the resume.



---------------------------------
Rob Domaschuk,
Training and Communications Developer
Printable Technologies, Inc. * 312.853.8337

www.Printable.com


"The compelling force of all times has 
 been the force of originality and creation."
	- Ansel Adams
---------------------------------

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