By Sam Baker, KERA Morning Edition Host
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-857476.mp3
Dallas, TX –
Allison Harding: The resume ten or 15 years ago used to read like a small book and people were in the same job for many years and today it's completely different. The summary has to be very short. Resumes have to have key words in them. Many recruiters are looking for key words to be able to find out if the person is qualified for the position.
Sam Baker: So give me an example of key words.
Harding: If you were looking for an accounting position, key words would be analyst, month end-closing, accounts payable, accounts receivable. If you are in technology, it would have to do with the software that they are looking for. It really depends. If you are in human resources, payroll, recruiting, expertise and technical, and technology.
Sam: Specific key words that closely match the job available.
Harding: Exactly. And what we recommend to people Five years ago you had a resume that you sent out to everybody. Today, the resume has to match the job description. So our recommendation is that you read the job description and then put in words from the job description into your resume. From doing that when the recruiter is looking at it, they then can match those words easily.
Sam: You mention that summaries should be brief. It used to be they'd tell you that summaries should maybe indicate what your future goals, something like that today.
Harding: The resume should be brief. Everything should be in bullet points. If your recruiters are looking for 4 or 5 different positions, they are inundated with resumes. Some underqualified, some qualified, some overqualified. So they're really looking for key elements.
Sam: All that said then, what specifically is the purpose of a resume? Is it to get a job or the interview?
Harding: It's to get the interview. You get the job, but the resume gets you in the door and it is very important. Equally important today is the cover letter. Again, five years ago, I barely looked at a cover letter and today it's very important because it's the first thing you are going to look at. And the new cover letter is called a "T letter" where you state the needs on the ad and what your qualifications are that match those needs. So, on the left would be the particular job need and on the right would be your qualification to match that need. And if I can look at that quickly and see two or three of those matching items, I'm going look at the resume and probably have you come in.
Sam: Put it in the "in" pile as opposed to those
Harding: And most recruiters have three piles: the A, the B, and the C. The "A" pile is very important. That's the one that's going to go to the hiring manager who is going to probably have you come in. The "B" pile are the "maybes" and the "C" pile is the "I don't think so."
Sam: Is there such a thing of putting too much information in a resume?
Harding: There is. You don't want to open too many doors that are going to ask too many questions. You really want to have pertinent information so that the person reading that resume can say this is a person we'd like to see.
Sam: Are there "dos and don'ts"?
Harding: There's quite a few dos and don'ts. Don't use words that weaken your resume like contribute, assist, support. But rather words that show you are a leader like you drove the profits of the company; you led your team to whatever the task was.
Sam: The things you do, not the things you help somebody do.
Harding: Exactly. You can be a team player, but you don't always want to be the follower. Be sure to use a clear, concise font. Don't use a fancy, difficult to read font because I'm not going to read it. I'm looking at lots of resumes so I want to be concise and the recruiter wants to just look at it and put at it in one of the three piles.
Sam: Don'ts?
Harding: There's a lot of myths about a resume and some of the don'ts. Your resume can be two pages. Don't try to get everything on one page so you make the font very, very tiny. It's that important. One or two pages is fine. More than that is a don't. Don't ever lie on your resume. A lot of people if you only have one or two courses to get your degree, don't put that you are a graduate. It will be checked out. It's really important that you put your exact job history on there and don't falsify it because if a background check is completed, they are going to find out.
Sam: You don't even make the "C" pile.
Harding: You don't make any pile. Some people think that a resume can't do anything for you. That it's just a piece of paper that a company gets. The resume is really the sales tool. It's very important.