Pay attention to the quality of those resumes

In our business, we see literally hundreds of new resumes every day. It never ceases to amaze me how people who obviously are interested in career change pay so little attention to the one thing that can eliminate them from consideration before the candidate is even considered. As many have said, the resume won’t get you the job, but it sure can eliminate you before you even get a start.

Thought I would jot down some pointers from things we see on a daily basis. Maybe you can look at your resume in a new light.

Misspelled words and typos - Why someone can send out their calling card (the resume) without doing spell check is beyond me. I would guess that 25% of the resumes we see have misspelled words in the content. One or two errors isn’t so obvious but when the misspell count hits more than five, it’s pretty obvious that the candidate has little regard for attention to detail. What is the message you are sending to the hiring authority – pure and simple it’s that you don’t care enough to pay attention to the details; the hiring authority translates that to inattention to the details on the job.

Content – We see so many resumes that are just not very interesting. Put yourself at the desk of the recruiter or the hiring authority and realize that person is sifting through hundreds of resumes. If yours isn’t exciting or doesn’t stand out, your resume may be put in the “C’ pile instead of the ‘A” pile. And the irony of it is you may actually be a great candidate! So how do you make your resume come to life? First and foremost, you will get the attention of the reader if you’ll portray why you would make a great candidate. And how do you do that? Well, it’s for sure not simply listing the activities you’ve done in your previous job. If you’re a Regional Property Manager, pretty much everybody in the industry knows what you do. What they don’t know is what you’ve been able to accomplish for previous employers. In other words, list three or four accomplishments that have brought your employers increased profits, reduced expenses, improved delinquencies, etc etc. etc. Now the reader of your resume becomes a lot more interested and you may get to the next step.

Formats – Most recruiting firms as well as larger companies have systems where resumes are filed. These systems have the ability to do key word searches in order to find previously filed resumes quickly for new searches. For best results, you should create your resume using one of the popular word processing systems such as Microsoft Word or Word Perfect. In addition, use a simple format. We’ve seen some that were based on Microsoft Excel that produced a very nice layout when printed but when filed in the resume system was unable to be duplicated in the nice format. When the resume is forwarded to a prospective employer, the format is lost. Stay with the simple format and you can be assured you won’t have a problem.

Be realistic - Be realistic in your job search. We see so many resumes where the candidate could not have read the job posting or they would have realized their experiences did not come close to matching the job requirements. These resumes get rejected immediately. We’ve seen situations where an Assistant Property Manager applies for a Vice President of Property Management. Why bother sending the resume in a situation similar to that. For best results, read the job posting and then come up with 5 or 6 key areas in which your background meshes well with the requirements and then when you submit the resume, list those key areas in the email body. Or even better, create a section on the resume to highlight the match. Don’t always assume that your reader will make the connection between your background experiences and the requirements.

These are but a few tips on resumes. Our suggestion, if you really want to spiff up your calling card (the resume), is a visit to your favorite bookstore to buy a book on professional resume writing. Send us a note if you want some book recommendations.