HR people, managers, etc...

[Pin Wizard]

Okay...time to clue in the DISers!! What do you look for in a resume and cover letter? Personally, I am sick of sending out resumes and not getting responses! I have plenty of experience in my field and still zilch. I understand there are a ton of people out there looking for jobs, but there has to be something to catch your eye. What makes you call in the applicants you do?

Thanks!

P.S. I should add that I've had a company update the resume with key words and the letter itself.

 

[cats7494]

Obviously - it depends upon the job - but here are some basics that are important:

The cover letter should not be too long, compare your abilities/experience/education to what is needed for the job. Explain why you are the person for the job. "Why should I hire you?"

The cover letter should not be a "canned" letter - it should be directed specifically to the position for which you are applying.

In resumes - I look for several things...including the basics.

1. Are things spelled correctly?
2. Is your resume easy to understand/read?
3. Use bullets points not paragraphs to describe your previous job experience - easier to read and understand.
4. Dates on resume are necessary - like to know how long you usually stay at one job before moving on.
5. Education, training...etc....

Hope this helps some...

 

[PrincessDadx2]

Don't want to offend anyone, but avoid HR. We have a bad department that sends worthless resumes, so I have to find my employees myself. I do not have the time to play HR, so people who contact me directly via associates or friends usually end up with the interviews and jobs. Find someone on the inside of the company you are interested in and make direct contact with the decision maker. It is always easier to backfill the HR paperwork

 

[Maleficent13]

I'm with PrincessDadx2. I avoid hiring through HR. I do all the legwork myself.

As far as cover letters go, I have to be honest: I never read them. I don't. I look at the resume, determine their appropriateness based on past experience, and call from that. Make sure that your resume is spelled correctly, and is in an order that makes sense. I prefer chronological.

Also, leave off the stuff about your personal hobbies, interests, ect. Not to sound harsh, but I really don't need to hear about your interest in cross-stitch or skiing when hiring you for an accounting position.

 

[Microcell]

I am mostly at home but I also circumvented HR when I was in management.

What I looked for was examples of actions that backed up skills.

An example would be:

Instead of :

Good customer service.

I liked to see:

Had a 25 out of 25 score on mystery shopping.

or

Engaged in a high volume of interaction with customers, increasing profits and customer return percentage.

It also helps to use networking. Make connections with everybody and see if a friend knows of an opening at their job if applicable skill wise.

 

[Microcell]

OOOHHHH my DH is always leery of apps that have 3 to 4 month gaps in job history. Years is one thing, like if you were a SAHM for a few years, but being someplace for one year then 3 or 4 months off can look like others may not have wanted to hire you. Also indicates to him instability.

He also disregards apps where they are applying for management but have no management history on their resume. He works in retail and when people apply for management that have never worked retail he disregards too. Even with management experience. You have to work your way up in retail like any other field!

DH also said something interesting to me just yesterday- he usually asks at interviews where else they have applied during this job hunt and if they rattle off a few, he wonders why so many other places that are comparable did not hire!

 

[caitycaity]

The cover letter should not be a "canned" letter - it should be directed specifically to the position for which you are applying.

i agree with this. i think cover letters are really important. when i started actually taking the time to reserach the company and write a personal cover letter was when i started getting calls for interviews.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

I work in HR for a government agency. From an HR prospective, we have to do basic qualifications. On all of our vacancies we have atleast 5 KSA's that an applicant needs to answer. From their answer we verify they have it on their resumes. The applications then go to a panel of subject matter experts to rate the applications. The top candidates get referred to the selecting official and then it is all up to them to interview or not. We have 45 work days to complete this process. We do not read cover letter at all.

 

[LuvTigger]

I am not in HR, but I'm in charge of hiring in my office. I work for the state, and it's non-civil service, so we look for people on our own.

These are some of my comments:
- One applicant had an interesting lead-in on her cover letter...there was a clip art of a car, and it said something about being on the road to something. It seems strange, but honestly, it caught our attention. (We didn't hire her though.)
- Have someone read through your resume before you submit it!!! This is more important than anything else. We've seen resumes with spelling errors, or mistakes in the dates of employment (for example, most recently we have one that said she worked somewhere from December 2000-March 2000).
- We don't care what people's GPA's were. People think we'd be impressed to know they had a 3.8.
- Keep the cover letter short and sweet. Some are way too long and boring. The main thing I want to know is what position they're applying for.
- Which leads me to...say what you're looking for. We had one person submit a resume, and our receptionist asked her what position she was applying for and even listed what we might have available, the applicant just said, "oh, you'll see when you read my resume." When I looked at her resume, it didn't indicate that she would fit into our office at all.
- A lot of people say to keep your resume down to one page, but personally, two is fine with me.
- Cater your resume to the position you're applying for. A lot of people just have a standard resume. Personally, I keep a disk with very detailed position descriptions of the jobs I've had. When I apply for something, I only list the skills that I think would pertain specifically to that particular job.
- I always appreciate it when people list not only their work skills, but their people skills. There are few jobs that don't involve any interaction with people whatsoever. I'd rather pick the person who is willing to learn and has a great attitude, than the person with no personality even if they have more skills. We've had people ONLY list their ability to write, etc. (crucial for my job), but say nothing about their ability to work with others.

I could probably list many more things, but I think that's enough to think about for now! Good luck!

 

[swea_pea1]

I also try to bypass HR when I can and instead rely on a reputable head-hunter we use. He's typically able to find a broader range of candidates than what our HR Department can come up with. If you haven't already, you may want to call a head-hunter to see if s/he can place you.

Once I get the resume, I also look for spelling errors, gaps in employment or too many jobs in a short period of time. I'm looking for experience specific to the position and for results-oriented statements rather than general statements.

The other route we take is to hire a lot of folks that temp in the office. We'll hire a temp and train him/her and if it doesn't work out then we can let them go without any hassle. If we like them, we can hire them and they're already trained. That may be another way for you to go.

Good luck on your search!

 

[Pin Wizard]

Thanks! I'm pretty much aware of all this stuff and do it. One or two things I might try.

How far back are you interested in seeing? I was at my last job 8 years...7 years in one position, 1 year in another. That's a huge amount of time. To see anything else, I'm going back years! If I'm applying for a job working for an executive of any type, I want them to see that I've done that...that takes it back a good 15 years! LOL! Hmmmmmmmm...even working at one company 8 years, I would hope that shows them I can get along with others. I would have been canned long before if I couldn't!

Someone mentioned KSAs. Oy! Tailoring those puppies!! I've applied for a couple federal jobs, recently one with the City, and am submitting one for a state job. With the federal jobs, I was thrilled to be able to talk with someone that explained the process with the first one I applied for. Scoring 91 on my app apparently wasn't enough. I really wonder how anyone on the outside ever gets in!! And I have a reference from an insider!! It's discouraging. For the particular job I was applying for, they told me that there are five or six sources they could choose to use. The source I went through might not even be selected. Then the process of reviewing apps and sending them on to HR and area looking for the position to be filled. Then they call the TOP THREE people! Ack! And I don't have a way to get those extra points some do. Ack! I think I need 10 additional points for being a widow and single parent!!! Oh, well. Keep plugging away.

Any more suggestions are welcome.