What do you look for when reviewing resumes?
Screening resumes, when done effectively, relies upon a list of specific qualifications required to perform the job being filled. As a recruiter I have often found that the qualifications provided by the employer are too vague, irrelevant or simply too numerous. It’s best to boil down the qualifications to the two or three that are truly essential for performing the job and then reject all candidates lacking them.
By looking at the last two or three jobs on a resume, I can quickly judge if a candidate meets the two most important requirements: 1. evidence of job stability; 2. appropriate work experience at the proper level of responsibility. Job stability, in my opinion, is a crucial consideration; the candidate’s resume should be dominated by positions with at least three, and preferably five or more, years of tenure. I reject candidates with a habit of job-hopping.
Appropriate work experience is a critical decision factor; if I need candidates for a nonprofit fundraising position, then nonprofit fundraising experience must be on the resume. Next, I evaluate the level of responsibility and the amount (or, years) of experience. When filling a management position, in addition to appropriate work experience, the resume must show an adequate period of comprehensive, managerial experience.
Don’t reject candidates for reasons not relevant to the job; for example, don’t reject a candidate for spelling or grammar errors. I’ve found blunders in the resumes of successful journalists and authors, so unless I’m hiring someone to write resumes, I don’t use resume mistakes as reason to reject candidates.
The same goes for interviews, only more so; I don’t particularly care how well a candidate interviews, I’m only interested in how well qualified the candidate is.
Does it make sense to reject a candidate having appropriate experience but lacking a college degree? While I’d prefer the candidate have a degree, if the candidate’s experience demonstrates he or she is qualified, potentially even the best qualified, I’m not going to reject based on a preference for a college degree.
If the requirements for the position are not entirely clear, or qualified candidates are likely to be difficult to find, then during my initial review, I may sort resumes into three categories: “unqualified,” “possibly qualified,” and “qualified.” If I have enough “qualified” resumes, I won’t revisit the “possibly qualified” batch. If not, a more extensive reading of the resumes in the “possibly” batch is warranted, combined with online research on those candidates.
Aside from job-hopping as a reason to reject, any misrepresentation, intentional obfuscation, or lie will cause me to reject a resume without hesitation. If a candidate has no reservations about fibbing on the resume, they will fib on the job.
Filed under Recruiting, Resume Writing |
