#JobSearch #Friday – You Graduated from #College – Your Resume

As a Professional Recruiter since 1981 (yeah, I know you were not yet born!), I have read over 400,000 resumes. As a professional coach, I realize that A) Everyone has an opinion on a resume; and, B) For every foot between Bangor, ME to San Diego, CA there has been a book written on how to write a resume.  Therefore, what you will see is my prejudice based on my professional recruiting experience.

How Much Time Do I Spend Reading a Resume?

It is funny to see how much time is claimed online in different articles on resumes.  In 1993, I was on a recruiting contract with MCI Telecommunications Corporation. The Hiring Managers and I had to recruit a minimum of 120 IT Professionals for Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 12 months.  Since there were only 3 IBM mainframe shops in Cedar Rapids at that time, and MCI had the largest shop by 3 times (at that time), it was obvious when I created the Talent Attraction strategy that we would have to recruit IT Professionals from across the US.

The strategy I created was to take a team of 3 to 4 hiring managers during the last 2 weeks of a month on a recruiting trip.  We would visit 2 to 3 cities per week and interview 18 to 24 candidates per day.  Every evening, we would sit down over dinner and decide who, if anyone, would receive offers. Many evenings I extended contingent offers (successful completion of the drug test and background investigation) that evening because we had another 18 to 24 candidates interviewing the next day.

When I returned the first of the month, my assistant, Andrea, was AMAZING!  We are still friends.  She would bring a stack of generally nearly 200 resumes from the cities we targeted for our next 2-week journey recruiting.

On one Monday, Andrea set a stack of resumes on my desk.  Then she leaned on the credenza behind me and timed me as I reviewed the resumes.

What would be your guess on the time I spent on my first pass of the resumes?  Three minutes? Six Seconds? Two minutes? 50 seconds? 30 seconds? Five minutes?

As I reviewed the resumes, I placed them in one of three stacks – definitely interested, definitely not interested, and the painful, “I’ll take another look”.

When I was finished, Andrea asked me what the stacks of resumes were for?  I told her.  Then she said that she timed me as I read each resume.  Keep in mind, that was 1993.  I like to feel I have improved since then, especially since now I am looking at resumes on my computer.  A click is faster than physically moving a paper resume.

Andrea said the I spent as little as two seconds reviewing a resume.  Those went into the definitely interested and definitely not interested file. She said that I spent as much as 12 seconds on a resume.  Those typically went into the definitely not interested pile or the Painful I will take another look stack.  Andrea said I averaged six seconds on a resume.  Remember, I was timed.

You have an average of 6 seconds to get my attention to go to the next round where I will spend more time on your resume.

What Am I Looking For?

In the first 2 seconds, I grab an overall look at your resume. Do you have the right major for this position? What work experience do you have?  Were you an athlete?  Did you have a Captain or Co-Captain title (Leadership)?  What activities were you active?  Did you have a leadership role in those activities?  Do you work in college?  Did you contribute to your cost of attending college? (Work Ethic) Where did you volunteer? (Character) If you did not work, what was your GPA?  One manager told me if you did not work, you should have a 4.0 GPA.

In the last 4 seconds, I look at format (Is your resume easy to read?) and easy to spot grammar errors.  

How To Grab My Attention Immediately

Unless you are seeking a marketing position and want to be very creative with your resume, Keep It Clear and Simple.

Place your name and contact information in the center and bold.  I prefer to see the following:

Name

Worcester, MA 01609

508-555-1212  bsmith@gmail.com

LinkedIn URL

Ensure you place your name and contact information in the body of your resume, not in a Header.  Some text-based applicant tracking systems cannot read a Header.  Therefore, I would see your great skills and experience but not know who you are or how to get in touch.

Then I prefer to see:

SUMMARY: Co-Captain of the Assumption University Cross Country team Junior and Senior years. Vice President of the Assumption University Student Government Association Junior Year.  Paid my way through Assumption University by working multiple part-time jobs.

As you may see, I provided highlights that a Manager hiring an entry-level college graduate may find interesting.

The conventions of writing a resume are to write it in past tense/third person. Drop the pronoun.

Begin sentences in the experience area with an Action verb!  Never begin with a “have” paid or “has” experience.

Do not add any personal information unless it pertains to the job.  For instance, I did not mention that I hitchhiked from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA in five days twice as a student or that I air hitchhiked from Las Vegas, NV to Boston, MA as a Junior.  My goal was 24 hours. I made it in 12.5 hours.  True – and cool stuff – but probably not something you want on your resume.  Watch this television interview where we discussed Proper Goal Setting – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ4M8A3Nu_o&list=PLh2h2wxDbThs1XH4wid8pd7sRZ-PW5igH&index=29

This information will get you started.  If you want to move more quickly in your search or would like more information on resume writing, you may order my book, Employee 5.0: Secrets Of A Successful Job Search In The New World Order – http://amzn.to/2D9w39f  My book contains the 12 Steps to find a new position in a nice, orderly fashion.  It also has the stories of people who did well – and some who did not. You may learn from both sides.

See you on Fridays!

Bill Humbert is available for Speaking, Talent Attraction Consulting, Career Transition Consulting, and Training contracts.

RecruiterGuy@msn.com  435-714-4425

https://www.espeakers.com/marketplace/speaker/profile/23767/Bill-Humbert

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