Dispelling Myths and Urban Legends About Resumes
Yahoo jobs pointed me in the direction of an article entitled “22 Secrets HR Won’t Tell You About Getting a Job.” Usually these are so-called fluff pieces but after reading this one, I decided that it was one of the more informative articles on job searching that has appeared on the Internet. Rather then filling up the page with descriptive prose and insightful comments from HR professionals and prospective employers, the authors of the piece use quotes from various individuals involved in the hiring process to reinforce or dispel ideas and myths about job hunting.
The article is divided into three sections: 1) What You Should Know About Resumes; 2) Secrets About The Interview; and 3) Things to Know About Salary Negotiation. Rather then publish them all at once; I will post them in three separate installments so that people at various stages of the job hunting process can read the sections most relevant to them.
What Jobseekers Should Know About Resumes
1. “Once you’re unemployed more than six months, you’re considered pretty much unemployable. We assume that other people have already passed you over, so we don’t want anything to do with you.” –Cynthia Shapiro, former human resources executive and author of Corporate Confidential: 50 Secrets Your Company Doesn’t Want You to Know
2. “When it comes to getting a job, who you know really does matter. No matter how nice your résumé is or how great your experience may be, it’s all about connections.” –HR director at a health-care facility
3. “If you’re trying to get a job at a specific company, often the best thing to do is to avoid HR entirely. Find someone at the company you know, or go straight to the hiring manager.” –Shauna Moerke, an HR administrator in Alabama who blogs at hrminion.com
4. “People assume someone’s reading their cover letter. I haven’t read one in 11 years.” –HR director at a financial services firm
5. “We will judge you based on your e-mail address. Especially if it’s something inappropriate like kinkyboots101@hotmail.com or johnnylikestodrink@gmail.com.” –Rich DeMatteo, a recruiting consultant in Philadelphia
6. “If you’re in your 50s or 60s, don’t put the year you graduated on your résumé.” –HR professional at a midsize firm in North Carolina
7. “There’s a myth out there that a résumé has to be one page. So people send their résumé in a two-point font. Nobody is going to read that.” –HR director at a financial services firm
8. “I always read résumés from the bottom up. And I have no problem with a two-page résumé, but three pages is pushing it.” –Sharlyn Lauby, HR consultant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida* (see footnote)
9. “Most of us use applicant-tracking systems that scan résumés for key words. The secret to getting your résumé through the system is to pull key words directly from the job description and put them on. The more matches you have, the more likely your résumé will get picked and actually seen by a real person.” –Chris Ferdinandi, HR professional in the Boston area
10. “Résumés don’t need color to stand out. When I see a little color, I smirk. And when I see a ton of color, I cringe. And walking in and dropping off your resume is no longer seen as a good thing. It’s actually a little creepy.” –Rich DeMatteo
*While this may be true for non-scientists, there is no page limit on CVs. That said, the more concise that you are the better off you will be!
Stay tuned for the next installment; Secrets About the Interview
Until next time...
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!
.jpg)
For those of you who want an answer to this age old question, 