Brilliant Job Search

Resume layout

As a recruiter, almost nothing bothers me more than an overly clever or creatively formatted resume. It's not that I don't appreciate the work and thoughtfulness put into it, it's that it's a pain-in-the-ass to store it in a way that makes it easy to find. (And when you get more than 100 resumes a day, resumes have to be easy to find via keyword searches.)

Yes, yes, yes, I know, someone told you (or you've read) that you need to make your resume stand out. Maybe they've suggested using a fancy template or fancy graphics, making an audio or video CV, using Adobe or the Microsoft resume template...and so on. Well unless you're a creative (professionally speaking- meaning that you earn your living by being a creative in creative industry) they've given you bad advice. After all, the first thing I do when I download a resume is give it a quick read and then upload it into a tool that "grabs" the pertinent content and stores it.

If your resume is not in MS Word or html, the grabber might miss tagging the very piece of information that would lead me to you when I do a search for your skill set. If you're an exceptional candidate this is very sad; we all lose.

Words matter!

I got a resume today from someone who described himself as a "seasoned" professional. He was responding to a job-posting that called for someone with 2-4 years experience. Now because I was reading my mail on a Sunday when my Inbox  isn't nearly as jammed, I read past his somewhat objectionable OBJECTIVE. But on another day, I may not have.

Why? Because the posting called for someone who is eager-to learn. How does that align with seasoned which, according to Webster's means, usable, competent, or tempered. Does it sound like someone who's excited about creating the new? I imagine that a "seasoned" professional's strengths lie in protecting the processes that are already there.

Now don't get me wrong, seasoned isn't a bad word. A seasoned manager would make a good candidate for taking over a collections department in disarray or a busy deli-counter; but  that's not what I was looking for.

My point is, if you're replying to a job ad, READ IT, and customize your resume accordingly. Your grandpa or grandma might have been able to score interviews with a boiler plate resume, but you'll have a harder time. It's simply too easy to customize according to the job description. If you don't bother, then sorry, most recruiters won't bother to learn more about you.