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That happens for 4 reasons:
1. The cost of having someone write it to MATCH what HR is looking for TODAY is too high
Write it yourself. Have a family member or friend assist. Take advantage of various government job training programs.
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2. The fact that there is common knowledge that nobody will bother to answer anyway is #2 discouraging someone from putting more work into it. Why bother if no one will red it anyway; it's succint to match the computer software that will try to match it. What more do you want? nobody gets bonuses for writing a nicer one, and then guess what...someone can have the best written resume ever, but be a complete jerk...who benefits from that?
So why bother applying in the first place? If you are going to do something, put in the effort to do it well. As for the common wisdom on the board that most resumes are eaten by software and are not reviewed by human beings, that is incorrect. Yes, there are probably some systems out there that do that, but HR people do recognize the flaws in that process too. Most resumes do get at least a cursory glance by a real human.
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3. Those in higher levels think it is sufficient for them to fru fru their resume since it is obvious they were in a higher position; they assume naming the position is sufficient to get noticed by the matching software used by HR.
So wrong. Those of us at higher levels know that our experience is ever more specialized, which means the number of jobs we can apply to at our level is ever smaller. Also, because of our higher salary demands we will be scrutinized very carefully.
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4. The fact that nobody knows what HR is "really" looking for, or the fact that the jobs posted might be non existent, is not enough to make someone pay more attention to their resume.
We post exhaustive requirements. One recent job posted was a full two pages. About 25% described the job title, hours, salary range, start date, etc. 25% was what we required or requested in experience/education/credentials. The other 50% was expected duties. If you can't figure out what I am looking for with that info you are hopelessly incompetent.
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Plus, a resume is just a summary of what someone has done prior to that moment...it's not a vastly written autobiography, and usually an interview doesn't last long enough for someone to be fully known by that employer.
So? Is that a reason to omit relevant info? Does that help you in any way? It certainly makes my job more difficult.
Since you started, the definition says that social interactions are emotionally draining for introverts, whereas extroverts gain emotional sustenance frm social interactions. That doesn't mean that introverts cannot be competent and successful in a social setting. I know whereof I speak. I test very strongly as an introvert.
It always amazes me how some of resumes look. It's one thing to have a minor spelling error, but I've seen resumes that literally look like a stream-of-consciousness resume.
I will throw out ANY resume with one small minor spelling error. I don't care how qualified the candidate is. Spelling errors on your resume is unforgiveable. Period. This is your one chance to get noticed and impress. Having a spelling error emans you don't care enough to have multiple people review and critique your resume. And if you don't care enough about that, you won't care enough about doing your job.
if an employer is dumb enough to throw out a resume over spacing and font size, thats there fault.
If a potential employee doesn't care enough to make a document look readable (or use the proper homophone for "their" or use apostrophes correctly), it's a big red flag to the employer. I work in an academic setting where education and presentation are valued.
This, times 5. I've been doing this since I got to graduate school in 1998 (was lucky to have Acrobat Pro back them), and it's always served me well. As someone who occasionally hires now, I appreciate seeing a properly formatted resume in pdf as opposed to a Word document with weird spacing, fonts, etc.
A few months back I applied to a company - a major TECH company at that - which clearly stated that if you planned to upload your resume to the system, you must save it to Word. It was in the fine print and so of course I initially uploaded a pdf. Fortunately there was an option to log back in and change out the uploaded resume. But it was frustrating... I never know how my Word resume will end up appearing, even if I am able to upload the whole thing, rather than cutting and pasting. I'm also never sure whether hiring managers really know what HR requires... and what if some people happen to upload a resume in whatever version the company is using, and some of us don't... will some of us be at a disadvantage?
I will throw out ANY resume with one small minor spelling error. I don't care how qualified the candidate is. Spelling errors on your resume is unforgiveable. Period. This is your one chance to get noticed and impress. Having a spelling error emans you don't care enough to have multiple people review and critique your resume. And if you don't care enough about that, you won't care enough about doing your job.
I agree, and yet don't agree.... I, too, will throw out any resume with even a minor spelling error. It is absolutely important that the applicant make an effort and present him/herself in the best light. I DO think, "if he/she can't do that now, how will he/she operate down the line, settled comfortably into the job?"
And yet... I remember back to one of my first post-college interviews. This was back in the late '90s. I was sitting across from my interviewer at a top publishing house, resume in hand, when my eyes suddenly caught a typo. I remember it was "aquisition" - minus the 'c.' My heart immediately sank. I had just graduated from a top 5 college, I had worked my way through school, won student employee of the year, and I had worked so hard on all my applications, yet somehow had not caught this. I used to have this irrational embarrassment over mock interviewing or even having anyone review my materials. I always submitted everything myself without having people look at it and I didn't usually use spellcheck because it catches too many properly-spelled words. It's weird... I never had a problem with having people review my work in a work setting, and I was comfortable in real interviews, but always felt way too self-conscious performing in a mock situation or having people (not the hiring people) review my application materials. I didn't even have my parents read my college applications! (That was back in 1994 and pre-helicopter parent days, anyway.)
I decided to point out the error... I don't really know how that went over, but I didn't get the job. I don't know if it was because of the error, or not. After all, they had brought me in to interview, despite the error. Although maybe they had not noticed it until I brought it to their attention.
But... as it happens I am incredibly meticulous in my paid work. That one typo was not indicative of a laziness or carelessness. Not wanting people to review my application materials was not an indication that I would not care enough to do my job if hired.
Yet STILL, now, I have no tolerance for an error on a resume, especially from a younger person. To be honest, I think it's because I have a certain idea in my mind of the entitled Millennial constantly texting, over-sharing, easily distracted... that's my idea of what's behind the error and it turns me off. Unfair, I know.
Last edited by cowbell76; 10-11-2013 at 12:21 PM..
Reason: Typo!
A few months back I applied to a company - a major TECH company at that - which clearly stated that if you planned to upload your resume to the system, you must save it to Word. It was in the fine print and so of course I initially uploaded a pdf. Fortunately there was an option to log back in and change out the uploaded resume. But it was frustrating... I never know how my Word resume will end up appearing, even if I am able to upload the whole thing, rather than cutting and pasting. I'm also never sure whether hiring managers really know what HR requires... and what if some people happen to upload a resume in whatever version the company is using, and some of us don't... will some of us be at a disadvantage?
Different fields require different things, I guess. I work in higher ed, and usually at smaller schools where there is no uploading of a resume into a giant system. We have actual hiring committees who read through each resume and cover letter, so I appreciate a well-written cover letter and a well-formatted cv or resume.
LinkedIn is full of profiles littered with run on sentences, bad structure, grammar issues, etc. It's only going to continue to get worse and eventually abysmal writing will be the new norm.
Different fields require different things, I guess. I work in higher ed, and usually at smaller schools where there is no uploading of a resume into a giant system. We have actual hiring committees who read through each resume and cover letter, so I appreciate a well-written cover letter and a well-formatted cv or resume.
(Not sure if you meant to quote the post of mine which you quoted, but I will respond as though you did....)
Well the thing with my situation which I thought was odd was that this company did look at the uploaded resumes... at least after filtering out (presumably) irrelevant ones. So it didn't make a lot of sense for them to want Word-formatted resumes rather than pdfs. Most companies which allow you to upload an actual resume document (versus just cutting and pasting into a text field) will allow or even require pdfs, as an earlier poster recommended. I suspect this company DOES appreciate a well-formatted resume and cover letter, which is why I was a little concerned about my Word-formatted document possibly being compared to another Word doc which might be more compatible with the version they're using. In any case I got multiple rounds of interviews so it did not turn out to be a problem for me, but I suppose it could have been.
I also have spent most of my career in high education, though at larger schools which always use "talent acquisition systems." They still have hiring committees for many positions, but the initial submission is done online.
Again, if the awful resumes are trashed - and the good ones kept - some competition would be eliminated. That's okay.
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