My what a pretty resume you have…
A good friend of Career Waymark sent the following link and asked what I thought. My first reaction was that I had somehow traveled back to 1988. Back to the days when candidates would try all sorts of ‘unique’ resume formats in the hopes of getting noticed. From different colored paper to crazy fonts to pictures to sending a shoe wrapped with a resume (to get your foot in the door…ugh) recruiters saw it all. Fast forward to the 21st century and it appears there’s a few diehards still out there. This site claims that using these techniques will make your resume ‘memorable’, but in my experience probably not in a good way.
With that said here’s my take of using graphics, pictures, or other techniques to get your resume noticed:
- It doesn’t work. Today’s companies use scanning and data extraction tools to field and parse your resume data into the companies database. All formatting generally is lost. Some systems store a pdf of the original, but recruiters don’t care, they use search tools to identify the best candidates, in most cases your ‘pretty’ resume will never be seen.
- It appears desperate. Getting cute to get noticed is just a tired technique. Recruiters are looking for talent, unless you’re applying in the field of graphic design or advertising, this type of creativity is likely to have a negative impact.
- It makes you look like you’re trying to hide something. Let’s face it, skills and experience are what gets you hired. Resumes with too much flash are distracting and make you appear that that’s all you have.
Having a great looking and properly formatted resume is key to finding your next job. Make sure your resume highlights your achievements, not just lists your experience and if you’ve been promoted while with the same company break out those roles to show your career growth. As for pictures and graphics? Leave those in the closet next to your stonewashed jeans and stirup pants.
Until next time…
Casual Dress Friday: the armpit sniff and other interview gaffes
Good friend of Career Waymark, Cap’n Schwartz sent me a great piece last week. I thought it would make a great topic for today’s post. Below are the highlights, for the full list click here. Enjoy!
- Candidate answered cell phone and asked the interviewer to leave her own office because it was a “private” conversation.
- Candidate told the interviewer he wouldn’t be able to stay with the job long because he thought he might get an inheritance if his uncle died — and his uncle wasn’t “looking too good.”
- Candidate asked the interviewer for a ride home after the interview.
- Candidate smelled his armpits on the way to the interview room.
- Candidate said she could not provide a writing sample because all of her writing had been for the CIA and it was “classified.”
- Candidate told the interviewer he was fired for beating up his last boss.
When an applicant was offered food before the interview, he declined saying he didn’t want to line his stomach with grease before going out drinking.
- A candidate for an accounting position said she was a “people person” not a “numbers person.”
- Candidate flushed the toilet while talking to interviewer during phone interview.
Have a great weekend!
Until next time…
Know your basics
These seem so basic that they shouldn’t even bear mentioning but Jim Kissane at Workforce Development reports that this is not the case. Those skills often found lacking?
- Familiarity with desktop operating systems (Apple OS, Windows)
- Ability to access files - understand the concept of connectivity - storage
- Perform basic word processing
- Operate E-mail, calendar, address book
- Able to perform data entry and chart preparation
- Create a brief informational presentation
- Ability to safeguard confidential information
- High-school graduate (not GED)
- Able to pass a drug test
- Valid active in-state drivers license
Here’s a few other skills that Jim reports are most attractive to employers:
- Communicate well (oral and written)
- Work productively (in teams and in groups)
- Have a customer sensitivity and overall sense of the business
- Listen in communications for meaning and comprehension
- Be resourceful and employ creative problem solving methods
- Prioritize their own work and periodically self evaluate growth areas
- Comprehend meaning and communicate quantitatively
- Develop original solutions to novel problems they encounter
So now you can’t say you didn’t know.
Until next time…
