Stupid Résumé Tricks

Business Issues: Page (1) of 3 - 04/07/06

Stupid Résumé Tricks Is your résumé poisoning your chance for a good IT job? By Esther Schindler When he quit his job, my friend Eric asked for my input on his résumé. I'd worked with him for years, so I knew how good he is in his profession. But his résumé didn't reflect his best skills, so he was unlikely to get a new position that exploited them.

Eric isn't alone. Even when we have good wordsmithing ability, everyone has trouble writing a good résumé, because we aren't used to assessing our accomplishments. Add in the intimidation of looking for a job in a competitive market, and some people do bizarre things to try to get attention. Most of those efforts fail, say professional IT recruiters.

What are you doing wrong? I asked for the horror stories -- and for useful advice beyond the obvious, such as "use a spelling checker." And boy, did I hear some great tales. Listen up, because your next job might depend on this advice.

It's Time To Lose BigPickle
"You'd think it would be obvious in this day of digital communication," said Louise, a recruiter in the Bay area, "but every résumé should have the candidate's e-mail address on it. You'd be amazed at the number of people who leave it off." But be careful with the e-mail ID you use. It shouldn't be your e-mail address at your current employer, even if they're very liberal; "in my experience," says Louise, "Most prefer that their employees don't use the company's servers to do an external job hunt."

Besides, it's so easy to get a hotmail, yahoo or gmail account, there's really no excuse for not using a non-work e-mail address. However, if you use a personal account for your job hunt, she says, "It's time to lose the name they used in college, like bigpickle@hotmail.com, or wildandwet@yahoo.com. I've seen some really unusual e-mail addresses."

It's not just about e-mail. Becki Dunaway, Sr. Recruiter at People Connect Staffing, has to insist that you include at least one contact method actually listed on your résumé. "I can think of many times when I have received a résumé from someone with no contact information on it at all -- no phone number, no e-mail address. If you want to remain private, then why are you looking for a job? I've received résumés and cover letters many times where the contact info is only in the cover letter. What if that is separated from the résumé? You should have your contact info on each page you send in."

Dunaway is also irked by people who send a résumé without any location referenced. "I realize the need to be somewhat private in this age of identity theft," she says, "But it does me no good as a recruiter when I cannot tell where you are located." Some companies are only looking for candidates in their local area, and will not (or cannot) relocate employees. Dunaway used to find the location by looking up someone's area code, but, she says, "That is not working anymore, in this age of Vonage, where you can keep your same area code and number no matter where you live in the U.S."

There are plenty of features you should not include in the document. You would think that avoiding typos, incomplete sentences (usually the result of poor copy-and-paste efforts) and poor grammar would be obvious, but they aren't. (Surely you have one friend who can look over your syntax?) Back when he had an admin agency, said David, a San Francisco-based expat Brit recruiting manager, "I once had a guy wax lyrical to his attention to detail because of his deep 'proofreeding' skills."

Maryam, an HR Manager in Sacramento, is clear about her requirements. List technology expertise first; make it concise. Work experience should be 3-4 bullets. The verbs for the present position should be in the present tense; for previous positions, the verbs should be in the past tense.

One recent oddity is a real no-no. Says Felix Cruz, who was a recruiter in Oklahoma City, "Do not include your social security number in your résumé! I don't know who told them to do that or why, but it's not necessary; a résumé isn't an employment app."

Also, pay attention to formatting. There's no excuse for a rotten looking résumé, since libraries have style samples available at no charge. However, don't indulge in visual overkill. Susan Malakie, a corporate recruiter in San Francisco, was a little blown away by materials submitted to a marketing position she is working on. "The résumé had the candidate's picture, examples of her PhotoShop work; it was a collage of color! And too much of it!" Another example she cites is the sales candidate who incorporated the color logos of all of the companies he worked for. Malakie commented, "I understand that we have many more 'fun' tools to create seemingly eye catching résumés -- but for me, the classic format of name/address, objective, experience, education, well written with clear, concise wording (I love bullet points!) catches my eye every time!"

Some résumé pet peeves of Juli Evans, an HR Consultant in San Diego, are including a photo or personal information and hobbies (married, three children, boy scout leader, scuba diving, jogging, reading poetry, etc.). You might imagine that you're making yourself more human, but it doesn't help her match you with a job. On the other hand, if the position is a creative one, do include links to your web site or to samples of your projects. But examine those links carefully or, better yet, separate business and pleasure. Said one recruiter, "People attach their personal web sites on their resume and in their e-mails. While it may give me a place to get an updated résumé and view their work samples, it also lets me see everything else they have in their life -- including porn vices, etc."

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