Earlier this week I spoke a little bit about social media and your job search...and someone asked me “Does your resume matter anymore?” Which seemed like a great follow up to my earlier post.
So....with all the stuff in the world now between profile pages, LinkedIn profiles and other social networks...does your resume matter? In a word, yes....but not as much as you’d think.
The Ladders recently did a study that talked about how most recruiters can review a resume in about 6 seconds. Crazy right? I mean, I can’t believe it takes that long.....kidding! But the point is, your resume matters and you HAVE to get to the point. Long, rambling resumes just aren’t read anymore. Take some time and look at the study above, pretty cool stuff. A few other quick take aways from this data:
- Recruiters focus what they think is important....education, current experience and location. Not rocket science if you think about it. Recruiters are basically asking 1) Does this person meet my educational requirements 2) Does their current experience map to the role I’m looking to fill and 3) How realistic is it for them to work in my office from a location perspective.
- You’ve got 6 seconds...........when people are writing resumes or doing “elevator pitches” the golden rule should be “Short and Sweet”
- Employee Referrals are REALLY the way to get hired now....recruiters are swamped and screening people in seconds. Your best way into a great new gig.....finding a friend or former colleague who can get your resume to a hiring manager.
That’s it for now....hope you are all having a great week!
hi Jeff!
ReplyDeleteHow about product managers? David Meerman Scott thinks marketers should rely on on-line rep:
http://www.webinknow.com/2012/03/tough-love-for-marketing-and-pr-job-seekers.html
Thoughts?
-- Colin
It feels like a lot of third-party headhunters don't even spend 6 seconds! I get all kinds of messages (as a fresh college graduate) for things outside of the field my resume clearly states I'm looking for, requiring far more experience than I could have without violating child labor laws, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think they do a keyword search for a common programming language or something and just fire off a message to everyone that comes up (in quadruplicate, without capitalization).
I feel bad seeing you actually care about your job while all of these clowns make your profession look like a joke!
Hey Mr. Moore!
ReplyDeleteI really like all the posts you put up, really helpful.
I was wondering, since you mentioned about Employee referrals, that how important are they for admissions for Graduate studies such as a MS in Computer Science?
Recruiters cant grade candidates in equal grounds just by looking at the resumes as they are from different background, countries, universities, companies worked with...
ReplyDeleteBest way I believe is to use common tests(or test that are available to everyone to participate) and grade. This way everyone will be equally tested and if they are capable they will emerge. Companies can easily test what they want from there.
Is that 1, 2, 3 in order of importance only I'd place education at the bottom of the pile; it could be decades ago and what they've done in the last few years is of more import.
ReplyDeleteI'm a high school junior. I have no work experience, other than volunteering and clubs like FBLA. Im also an IB student. I have been seeking a job, but no one seems to like my stuff. do you have any advice?
ReplyDeletemr.rungaroon@gmail.com
Hi Jeff,
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about this article?
http://blogs.hbr.org/schrage/2012/05/projects-are-the-new-job-inter.html
Are the hours we spent on our resumes going to trashes? xD