mh-z web-log

Here’s what I think about resumes and about applying for jobs. My opinion may be somewhat speculative, because I was lucky enough to never be a frequent resume-submitter and so I can’t tell you how much of a response my resume, in particular, garnered. Nor did I spend as great a deal of time sprucing it up as I would now, given the opinions I’ve formed of late. But I’ve been on the other side of the table a couple times, reviewing resumes for a position, and I base what I say on that.

The bulk of this entry is based on an e-mail I wrote to a friend, who asked me to critique her resume. I wasn’t too impressed, and simply began stating what was on my mind. She called it a harsh criticism, but I say, good! Hopefully this was constructive, but in any case that should be a push to make things better.

I’m also going to revise this at a later point and write a longer article. As you’ll see, I have some strong opinions on this here topic.

Hi ______. I’m going to ramble a bit about resumes in general and then tell you what I think about yours. In general:

Here’s what I think. First of all, design is very important. In a sea of resumes which look all the same, something that stands out because it’s well designed and looks different yet still elegant would get people’s attention. At least, it would get mine. I’ve seen many resumes that look like yours, and I find myself looking for little things which no one really ought to care about, but in the absence of other points to make decisions based on (because like I said, most resumes have almost the same content as far as my knowledge is concerned) that’s what draws my eye. I look for:

1. Grammatical correctness: consistent and correct use of tenses and punctuation.
2. Appearance: fonts, font sizes, and so on.
3. Amount of content. Number of job history positions and my overall impression of the skill involved in each one.
   
   Contrary to what many might think, when you say //less// about each position you’ve held it often conveys more. If you bullet-point a bunch of rather menial tasks you did at each position, it says that you consider these menial skills important and not just incidental. The less you say about each position, the more intelligent and ambitious you seem, because you aren’t concerned with the basics. For example, of course everyone knows Word and Excel, so there’s no point in stating that. But can you “develop complex reports” in Excel? (Even that doesn’t say too much, though.) Can you build PivotTables? (Aha, specifics — now we’re talking.) Do you know how to use array functions and edit (not just record) macros? To repeat, everyone knows how to use Excel but I want to know if you’ve figured out how to use the more advanced features it provides.
   
   …It’s the tone rather than the concise description of a position you held, because why would I care, with regards to the position I’m hiring you for, //exactly// what you did? You’re going to be doing something at least slightly and possibly considerably different now, so why do the specifics of your past positions matter?

Basically, were I looking to fill a position, I would be looking for someone intelligent, adaptable, and pleasant to work with.

This may be just me, but I’m big on grammar and consider good communication skills and writing skills important and therefore indicators of education level and intelligence (again, in the absence of other indicators). So, I find that I judge others based on grammar usage in their resumes. Typos aren’t excusable, because you have plenty of time to put this particular document together and proofread it repeatedly and have others proofread it, ad infinitum. It should be representative of the best you can achieve given all the time in the world, or at least nearly so.

Places to which you apply get a sea of resumes looking all alike. Don’t underestimate how little yours will stand out, and how easy it is for someone reviewing it to put it on the “discard” pile for the pettiest of reasons. They have to.

All that said, here’s what I say about yours. Little points, but were I scanning through resumes for a position, I would consider each one somewhat important and each one would add to my overall impression:

1. You need something between your phone number and e-mail address.
2. The whole top row is shifted too far to the right.
3. You have some sentences ending in periods and some not.
4. The dates after the entries in the “education” section are not a range, so they seem to mean something different from the dates below in the same column, for which there is a range. That’s a little inconsistent.
5. The Tahoma font does not have a “natural” italic version. Windows creates a “fake” italic version by slanting the letters. This looks bad. Verdana is the same thing as Tahoma with more spacing between the letters, and it does have a real italic version.
6. You need to list more skills than just Word, Excel, STATA, and the other two acronyms. (I don’t know what those are.) STATA is good as are the other two, but like I said a couple times, everyone knows Word and Excel (and Powerpoint). What else are you good at? I think you read a lot, maybe there’s a way to incorporate a mention of that. You’re outgoing, easy to work with, and have somewhat of a “tell it like it is” personality. Those are much harder points to incorporate, though, but if you find a way to subtly show them I think that’s worth a lot.

To sum this up: When I, as an employer, have a stack of fifty resumes to look through to fill one position, I look for excuses to eliminate each resume. A small mistake, inconsistency, or typo can be such an excuse. I have no choice but to eliminate resumes for the pettiest of reasons. On the other hand, something unique and interesting about a resume can lead me to put it in a pile of its own. Normally it’s hard to be unique and interesting, but one way to achieve that in a paper document is through the use of elegant and professional design. Colors would be especially helpful in this regard, and I don’t care what is traditionally done. Color printers are ubiquitous, and if black and white is the tradition, I will give you all the more credit for being willing to throw away that dogma.

Here is an article I found a while back which I almost entirely agree with. The author is looking for a programmer, but his points are just as valid when applied to any field: [http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/ResumeRead.html Joel on Software on Resumes].