Discussion on:

Avoid these five resume killers

One would expect that cast of middle-men has vanished - companies these days can find good candidates without paying the recruiter an arm and a leg.

I am having a hard time with my resume. I got my associates degree in Computer Science here in the U.S and I am 2 semesters away from my bachelor's degree. I have been sending my resume out for like 6 months now, and I have not gotten a single interview. It might have to do with the fact that I am from another country, and I probably don't know how to structure a nice resume for U.S. recruiters. I have around 4 years of experience now as a programmer / web developer, but that doesn't seem to count. Can you guys please take a look at it, and give me some feedback? Any input will be greatly appreciated. All comments welcomed. Please e-mail me at: juanja01@optonline.net
You can see my resume at:
http://www.akaconsulting.com/juan/resume.doc
I am pretty happy with my current job now, but once I graduate if things dont get better here, I will need to get a job that pays what my bachelor's is worth.

Thanks in advance.
Great Article!

My first reaction to your resume was the first part was good with the list of skills etc. But the section on job experience was a little vague. Add some detail and numbers to it. So instead of "Design and maintain websites for customers." - include how many customers. And "Design Databases for programs and websites." - what kind of databases. Use this area to highlight skills and knowledge areas listed in the top of the resume. It gived more credibility to the fact you know MS SQL Server if you say you used it in a particular project. And don't repeat exact same job description for 2 jobs, make it more lively than that. Anyway, just my 2 cents worth, but I'm no expert.

One thing that is a turn-off for me (and likely lots of others) is the typo in the heading "Professional Sumary". That should be "Professional Summary". I don't know why Word isn't highlighting that as a spelling error...

Cheers,

-Roy

I just wanted to say thanks to those of you who answered my posting. I appreciate your input. I will correct all those things in my resume.

Someone read my post and sent a nasty reply through my website asking the staff from my company to tell me how to write a resume . Well, I just wanted to tell you I know who you are, I know you work for the PNC Bank in PA, I have a good friend working there, and I'll make sure you get what you deserve. So next time, make sure you know who you are dealing with. People like you should be banned from this website.
By the way, I am the WEBMASTER, so all e-mail comes through me first, lol, nice try.

I hate people that have nothing better to do than snipe at others. Make others feel small so they can feel big.

Good luck with the search I know how hard it can be.

Keebored,
I feel for you, and J walker was supportive, but I also suggest you do not waste your valuable time and morale on addressing the less helpful side of the PNC worker, and instead try to find some redeeming information -- whether they thought they were being helpful or not, you could choose to take them up on the suggestion that your team members help each other write resumes. When looking to hire new talent, I look for the talent of squeezing out positive energy and direction toward your own goals (even if you have to squeeze very hard!) when others hand you these 'lemons', and an ability to resist this distraction. Again, your time is better spent building toward your better resume, and building better relationships (yes, even with people like this)-- acting unfazed and even asking for more information or help in your goals might more quickly reveal to this person their errors, and your strengths. And above all, thank you for your courage in laying bare your resume for us all to critique. -ttm135

Sending your resume doesn't work. For every job, you get about 100 to 1000 resumes -- a 1% chance at best. Here's how it really works:
A manager has a problem. He calls Human Resources and asks for a short list of prospects. HR takes that stack of resumes and looks for reasons to REJECT 90%. They pass the non-rejected prospects to the manager. He picks a few for an interview. You know how it goes from there.

But somebody else got the job first. Because he studied the problems of the company, met with the manager and pitched himself as the solution to the manager's problem. The manager took him to HR and told them to hire him. HR asked him for a resume, so they'd have one on file. I know this works, because I did it. Took 2days to get hired at the place I wanted to work.

Resumes are a huge joke. I glad you guys keep doing them.

If you want a job, read "What Color is your Parachute". Changed my life...

You just need a better resume if yours leads to rejection You also have to consider that your scenario is missing a step. Usually (these days) manager asks HR and HR goes to a recruiter, sometimes there is no HR so manager goes to recruiter. Mostjobs you see posted, there is no way to know the client..

When you do know the client though I agree with your point to an extent, get in there and be seen, blindly sending a resume is like throwing a dart. It may or may not stick.

Recruiters now play even bigger roles I think. THere are less of them for sure, there were too many before IMO. Most HR departments are not at all qualified to find technical workers (I'm only speaking about tech workers) so they still need someone to weed out the riff raff. The recruiter sends resumes to HR who may or may not screen a little more then forward on to the manager. The manager doesn't have time to review hundreds of resumes.

If you listen to tip #5 then you would be customizing your resume for every job opportunity. Granted by doing this you will have to apply to less jobs because you will land one faster (I am assuming the tip works here). The problem is you will be customizing a resume (Bolding relevant skills, putting relevant skills first, matching job ad terminology) to EVERY SINGLE job opportunity. We are talking job opportunities not job offers. A person can on average apply to 30-40 job offers beforeactually landing one in this market. That's a lot of customizing. One other tip, the interviewer frowns upon receiving a different resume than what you may bring with you (I've been asked to bring a copy along).

Keep in mind that many companies have a Human Resources (HR) department that does its best to forward only relevant resume's to the specific departments of interest. If you do not have any of the skills specifically written as they exist in the job posting, the HR department will dismiss the resume. Remember, the HR department does not know which alternate skills may translate to the ones on the job posting. Ask yourself this question as well: If you get hired for your dream job because you took the time to customize 50 resume's for 50 different job postings, would it have be worth your time?

You are correct. That is a lot of tracking. Bear in mind, there are two types of resume fishing. One is just sending your resume out to anything that moves. That is just using the shotgun effect. Obviously, if you are going to send your resume out to all 500 hits you get on Monster, then customizing each one is probably not an option. The other type applies here...more targeted resume sending. If you hear or find out about a job you really want and that seems a good match for you, then customization is not only prudent, but it will give you an advantage over the other guys that consider this job one of 500. Plus tracking becomes much simpler. The guy that gets the job is not necessarily the one with the best skills. He is often the one that works hardest to get it.

Wade is right - customize your resumes,customize your cover letters, show you care. And carry extra (customized) resumes and make certain to offer them to your interviewer(s) at some point. I liked to do this early on if I saw they were dealing with a photocopy of a resume I mailed in, or with a copy printed from an email. It is extra effort, but the targeted approach works. It also shows planning, initiative and simply that you care about this position (the one that you're interviewing for).

We will pay you 2 rupees per hour because that's all you'll be worth in a couple of years.

I have a lot of friends who were programmers like me. They gave up trying to look for a job as one, so what they did instead is they opted for taking Microsoft Certifications in Network Administration. Almost all of them are now working as administrators making twice as much money as I am, while I am still working in my bachelors on Info systems... Im seriously considering dropping programming for network administration too... any comments?

Well, I went to school for Information Technology, which gave me a grounding in network technologies and administration (which I expanded on with electives), but I concentrated in database development and programming.

The job I got, however, was as an IT man; my official title is System Administrator I, but I handle all computer issues. I'm the help desk, programmer, developer, and administrator rolled into one.

If you enjoy working with networks then switch over; if you enjoy programming, stick with what you got. Money isn't worth sacrificing happiness (contrary to popular belief).

it seems that u r suggesting that donot over expose urself initially