Um...don't do this ever, and especially not when job hunting!

A few weeks ago, AA-Careers ran a job ad on Craigslist.  When we ran the same ad 3 years ago, we received 48 resumes in a 30 day period.  The November, 2009 result?  This time, we received over 650 resumes in less than a week.

After a couple of follow up questions to my initial post, we decided to go into some more detail on the statistics:

• 29% of applications had at least one spelling mistake.
• 33% had attachments we couldn’t open using either the latest version of Microsoft Word or Acrobat Reader.
• 17% of applications had poorly written, missing, or completely inappropriate cover letters.
• 44% of resumes had a very vague objective unrelated to the job being applied for.

Ouch!  Our initial reaction was a bit of shock at all the work it would take to go through the applications.  Then, after we’d gone through a triage process, we became concerned for all the job hunters.  Hundreds of them made the triage process easy – because they were easy to eliminate.  It’s not like there aren’t many online resources and desktop tools to help, but for whatever reason, people aren’t using them.  There’s a combination of a lack of job hunting skills, a poor use of available tools, and perhaps a bit of self-defeating desperation.

The most important take-away here is that non-executive job hunters can differentiate to a certain extent by doing a solid job with the basics.

It might be helpful to address each of the issues in more detail, and build a bit more on our initial post about this with some additional specific examples.

Missing/Poor Objectives on Resumes

On 44% of resumes received, little time or effort was given to the objective on the resume. In several cases the objective on the resume was totally different from the advertised job. After reading a few resumes, you get very tired of the same old garbage items like ”seeking a rapidly growing company with opportunity for advancement”, “seeking a company that will give me a chance to learn”, “a job that will challenge my skills and education” and “seeking a job in a stable company that doesn’t have lay-offs”. Over 20% of the resumes had no objective at all.  Suggestion: Keep the objective simply the title of the job you are applying for at that time.

Inappropriate or missing Cover Letters

17% had poorly written, missing, or completely inappropriate cover letters.  For example, one letter stated:

“[…] although you may feel I am highly over qualified for the position, I really need a job so as to be able to pay my rent”

Suggestion:  A cover letter to a prospective employer is not a good place to look for sympathy.  Even if the employer is empathetic, they are looking to hire someone who really wants the job, will do well, and will not leave the second they find something else.  Employers don’t want to hire someone who’s desperate, or who doesn’t really want the job.

Another said:

“Although I have had no experience in that field, my friends say I am a quick learner”

Suggestion:  It would have been much better to say, “I feel that I am well qualified for the position and would appreciate having the opportunity to meet with you in person.”

Resumes that Won’t Open

33% had attachments we couldn’t open using either the latest versions of Microsoft Word and Acrobat Reader.  Obviously, this can work to immediately exclude you.  If a prospective employer already has too many resumes to look through, why will they spend extra time if your document doesn’t work on the first try?  Suggestion:  Send a test email to a friend first.  If you have to submit the resume through a website, still double check any attachments with someone.

Typos

Over 29% of applications had at least one spelling mistake or grammatical error.  Um…we’re not even sure where to start here.  A typo is never good form in a professional document.  If you’re not a good speller, use a spelling checker.  Suggestion. If there’s no spell check available on a web page, write your cover letter in a word processor, spell check, and then copy/paste it into the web form.

Showing up at the Interview

Next post…we’ll follow up on our post on interview dress based on our actual experiences from candidates who made it to the in-person round.

Good hunting!

Remember, your resume is a marketing document...it's an ad for you.

A quick Google search comes up with 2,920,000 entries for “resume tips”, with many results linked to even more sites. Some of the suggestions appear good, but many appear to us (and we work with resumes and job hunters day-in and out) as bad advice.  For one thing, you run into many “resume factories” using cookie-cutter templates.  Some of these factories are outside the U.S. and are not attuned to what’s going on in the market.  Also, let’s be clear:  one size does not fit all.  A search for books on Amazon comes up with hundreds of books on resumes and job hunting.  Some of these seem to be from people who never even looked for a job in their lifetime, except maybe in academia.

I have spent over 50 years in the Human Resources field.  I have personally reviewed countless thousands of resumes, and my firm has helped thousands get jobs.  Each year, AA-Careers has a booth at every Job Fair in the Santa Clara-San Jose area and we provide a FREE Resume Critique to thousands of people. The lines sometimes stretch outside of the show, and it is very common for there to be a one hour wait for assistance. After each show, our staff discusses how very few resumes really are done well.

Why read on?  Our clients are having good success with job hunting campaigns, even in this economy.  Here’s my perspective: different styles of resumes work in different areas of the country, and vary by career type and years of experience. But several things really help.

First of all you need to understand that a resume is not a life story, it’s a marketing piece, and it’s your ad to get a hiring manager’s attention. Companies hire people if they feel they can either “make them money” or “save them money”, so naturally they want to know what skills you bring to the work place and how it will impact their business. We are firm believers in one page functional resumes.  If necessary or required, use an addendum to provide an old-style historical resume.

The most important word on your resume is OBJECTIVE.   It should be one that has a definite SIC code.  Forget all the garbage about “A growth oriented company” or “One that will help me expand my knowledge” (go to school for that), or “offering opportunity for advancement” (not a lot of people will hire someone after their job).

Keep in mind that according to the Wall Street Journal, on any given day their are over 25,000,000 resumes out there in the ether, floating around looking for a place to settle. Today, because companies are so swamped with resumes, they often purchase software and scan your resume with an optical scanner, which “reads” your resume.

After the scanner – whether a person or machine – picks up the Objective, they then look for action words, or as colloquially referred, to, BUZZ WORDS. These buzzwords should be contained in an area called “Accomplishments”.  Use them.  Talk about your complete career – you are selling yourself, not a specific company or job.  If possible after each accomplishment include “RESULTS” such as “received company award of 5000 shares of stock”, or “increased companies share of the market by 37%”, or “developed a product that increased the company’s one year gross by over $7,750,000”. You have to make sure that your buzzwords cover all the areas of responsibility of that job (you can check the standard responsibilities for any job through the job’s SIC code).

The next area of your resume should be WORK HISTORY.  Just include company name, your title, and years at the company. Usually 10 years are enough; never exceed 20 years.

Now finish off the resume with EDUCATION, school, degree. You might include additional training or certifications. Our suggestion: there should be nothing on your resume that is not aimed at the objective.  Extraneous information can create a reason not to have you in for an interview.

The resume serves another role, too.  Besides being your ad (to create interviews), it also sets the ground rules of what you will be asked at the job interview.  Be prepared with the answers!  Practice, practice and practice some more until you feel comfortable with your responses.

Lastly, a resume should not be set in stone.  It continually needs to be tweaked, adjusted to each job you apply for, based on the company’s need and your accomplishments.  And last but not least, don’t forget to use SPELL CHECK!

Good hunting!

Searching for a job in the Great Recession...

In a recent article by Dan Burrows in Daily Finance, the lead on the story is “Bernanke between the lines: We’re in for the mother of all jobless recoveries”.  The government’s “bail out” and “stimulus” programs seem to be working.   The “too large to allow to fail” mantra and policies have saved many companies, which now – after huge layoffs – are beginning to show a profit and the stock market is on its way to complete recovery.

But, what happened to the second part of the government program to develop new jobs?  So far, that is a failure.   Unemployment has risen nationally to 10.2%, and it’s more like 17.5% if you count the people who have given up looking for a job. Over the last two years, 8 million people have seen their jobs in the private sector just disappear and in some cases they re-appeared in some distant country.

A few weeks ago, AA-Careers ran a job ad on Craigslist.  When we ran the same ad 3 years ago, we received 48 resumes in a 30 day period.  The November, 2009 result?  This time, we received over 650 resumes in less than a week.  We learned a few things from that ad – and these are the most commonly made mistakes:

1. Over 70 resumes could not be recovered, the attachments would not open.  Suggestion:  Send your resume to a few friends and see if they can open it up, before you send it to companies.
2. Over 15% of the cover letters had statements that eliminated them from consideration, and we never looked for the resume. 
   Suggestion:  Keep the cover letter simple and short, don’t put in statements such as, “although it may seem that I am over qualified for this job, I really need a job”, or “I don’t have any real experience in that area, but I am a quick learner” and a sad one said, “since my husband is sick, and I don’t know when he will get better, I have to return to the job market after not having worked for many years”. Suggestion: don’t provide too much information. The ONLY purpose of the cover letter is to get them to read the resume. Keep it short and to the point.
3. Far too many spelling and grammar mistakes in both the cover letter and resume.   If a person is having problems with a prepared letter and document, how can they answer the phone and carry on a conversation with someone?  How will they write while on the job? Suggestion: Use spell check on your resume and cover letter.
4. If the ratio of resumes to jobs, 650 to 1 continues in the job market, then maybe answering job listings is the hard way to go in Job Hunting.  Government figures show 100,000 new people per month trying to find a job. Based on those numbers, plus the unemployed, and the expected GDP growth for 2010 of 2.9% (Wall Street Journal’s economic  forecasting survey) then it isn’t going to get much better in 2010.  Suggestion:  Do not base your job search on job postings.  Read on…

The majority of job hunters, for at least the next 18 months, must learn and use, the method of “contacts and networking” if they want to increase their odds of finding a job.  There are several good articles on CareerBuilder on how to develop and use a network.  Learn them, practice them with a friend and then apply them. Always keep in mind that about 90% of the labor force is working.  Join the majority, don’t stay with the minority.   Looking for a job is a full time job, and it takes a lot of effort and time.

Good hunting!