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Monster and other job sites

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I have a resume on Monster. I’ve gotten a few ‘nibbles’ on the resume, and they always ask me to send my resume.

Question – If they already have it from Monster, why do they ask me to send it? Is it because they’d like it in Word format?

Thanks

Topic

Could Be…

In reply to Monster and other job sites

Could be there way of screwing with your head. You would think that since they already have it why would you need to send it, but maybe they want to see if you send an updated, one, or bother with a cover letter. Hell maybe the guy likes your resume so much he wants a copy in word format so he can cut your name/paste his. ]:)

Could be some technical reason too. Ill ask my wife, she works in the HR field.

There is a reason

In reply to Could Be…

1) A word version of the resume allows it to be posted in corporate H/R databases.

2) A new resume in word format that includes up to date projects and other accomplishments is a good idea. I would note the new accomplishments so they are able to see you are still achieving.

3) The “Team Resume Review” a word document allows them to send your resume to the team and allows each to comment.

Hang in there, at least you are receiving nibbles, I know some who have not heard anything except from the life insurance companies!

Formatting

In reply to Monster and other job sites

Monster usually e-mails your resume in a text format – doesn’t look that good. A nicely formatted resume they can print out on a single page makes a big difference.

Here’s what I’m thinking as the hiring manager

In reply to Monster and other job sites

You put that resume out on Monster hoping to appeal to the maximum number of potential hiring managers. Therefore, you left out all the little details that might be important to only one specific pair of eyes and would bore everyone else.

Now that you know what job you’re applying for, it’s time to put that stuff back in.

The old rule about keeping your resume down to a couple of pages still applies in a milieu like Monster. But when you’re filing for a specific job, tell me everything you can that’s pertinent. You have to differentiate yourself from the pack and make me want to call you in for an interview. I want to sit down with an interesting resume and feel like I’m enjoying reading it. I’ll certainly remember the person who wrote it and want to meet them.

The resume you send me because I ask for it won’t be the same one I pulled off the Monster Board. At least it had better not be! This is a test!

Also, like many managers I am absolutely fed up with techies who have marginal communication and other people skills. You may have paid someone to dress up that Monster resume, but the one you send me you’ll have to write yourself, and it will be a good bit longer. I’ll have more of an opportunity to see if you can write or communicate at all, and also to get a “reading” on you.

Sure, maybe you’ll get your wife to polish it. Mine has an M.A. in English so I always do that on anything important. But if you’re smart and humble enough to ask for that kind of help, I can work with you. At least our wives will get along. ^_^

BTW, beware of resume services. I have yet to see an outsourced resume that didn’t need a good line-edit if not worse. If you spend your hard-earned money to get a resume done professionally and it comes back with bonehead errors that you can catch yourself just by looking in a style manual, I immediately know that you have terrible judgment. Your criteria for trusting people are no good. Do I want you working for me?

I could not agree more

In reply to Here’s what I’m thinking as the hiring manager

Resume never achieves perfect buzz-word match. Position is never as advertised. Tech employees are many times exploited by non-techie managers.

The latter can often be blamed on poor communication skills of the techie, but after 25 years I grew tired of being told to stay in my little box when wanting to make a difference for the corporation. I now run a software company where I have responsibility for how I provide business value to my customers and could not be happier.

This is only a test…

In reply to Here’s what I’m thinking as the hiring manager

Well, you certainly would have been disappointed in my resume, then. I created it myself and am responsible for all edits.
Most who have requested a resume from me wanted a WORD document as all the resume’s I posted online are in ascii format and WORD provides a readable format instead of a format suitable for keyword scanning programs.
Of course, I am probably making the mistake of assuming you are seeking a qualified person and not someone to provide you with a cheap ‘good read’. I also find it mildly pathetic that you use a source with a MA in English to help you when it counts but you are perfectly willing to penalize the poor soul who isn’t married to your spouse and can use her free services.
Of course, you could just be a troll trying to get a rise out of a bunch of geeks.
If you are, in fact, a manager and are laying such traps to separate the chaff from the grain, why are you holding the applicants to a standard you cannot meet? Do you enjoy working for people more intelligent and articulate than yourself?
If you do, then you might wish to see a counselor to determine why you seek power over those who are intellectually superior to you.
What is your department turnover? Are you proud is is less than Wal-Marts or do you enjoy reading all the resume’s looking for a good friend for your wife?
Man, I enjoyed that. I guess because I just came out of a final interview where I was asked some very personal questions, not about my qualifications. PERSONAL, I was between a rock and a hard place. Do I tell the interviewer this is a boundary issue and not at all related to the position and have that kill the interview or do I answer them and risk the interviewers perception that way? It sucked, because when I went in today the only thing we were apart on was salary. I spent the afternoon meeting and greeting the people I would be working with. Then this final interview when the personal stuff was hammered at. (nothing sexual, minds out of gutter, please) Then the interviewer asked that I keep the details of our conversation between us and not mention it to the HR rep.
Frankly, it sucks. Then I read this post from ‘O Imperious One’ and I have to tell you this:

I am quite articulate and I meet or exceed all of the qualifications of the job and that is the only criteria that needs be utilized. Can I perform the job?

Just damnably tired of dilettantes abusing their position.

Abuse of position?

In reply to This is only a test…

Dear sir,

Give me a break. Your resume is your calling card. If you can’t put time into it to ensure that it’s perfect, then it’s a reflection of the amount of time and effort you’d spend when you aren’t trying to get something important.

Ergo, if you can’t present well when it counts.. (you finish it)

It’s not a matter of who can do the job. I could pull 15 resumes from a submission pool of over 100 and know that I have a bunch of people who are capable. It’s about who is capable and detail-oriented.

Now as far as the standards DCGuy keeps that others can’t.. that’s a low shot. It’s not that he can’t keep his standards. He’s adapted such that he can achieve those standards. It’s not too much to ask that he finds another person who is as adaptable.

On your own issues, it was a mistake to not advise the HR rep of illegal interview practices if they did occur. It’s never a bad idea to be ethical. For all you know they were testing your ethics and not your knowledge.

If you lose the job, then you avoided being in a place that doesn’t respect boundaries. No real loss. If you gained the job you may have made the workplace a better place. Or, you may have been exactly what they were looking for in the first place.

Imagine that.

(BTW.. It takes effort to present well. It takes no effort to decide to avoid thinking negatively.)

Thanks

Why you might be asked for resume in word.

In reply to This is only a test…

I’ve only read about half of the messages in this thread but there has been no mention of one reason a recruiting company may want a resume in word. It’s been my experience that recruiting companies edit my resume to delete all identifying information about me except my name and to list their company contact information prior presenting it to a company — It’s an additional protection for them as procuring cause should employment be offered and to discourage the company from contacting me directly in this instance. I have no problem with that. I suppose they could do the same with the Monster resume but it would be more work and wouldn’t look as nice.

Hard to Read

In reply to Here’s what I’m thinking as the hiring manager

While I agree with DC_Guy, there is an easier answer. Resumes are pulled out of the Monster interface are straight text, and the spacing, fonts, etc. are usually a mess, making the resume hard to read. Depending on how the text was arranged when the candidate posted their resume, it can also be hard to discern which dates and job titles go with which job description, again because of the spacing. That’s why I usually ask someone that I am interested in to forward a Word resume for further consideration. This extra step is also a good way to screen out people who are not really interested in proceeding with the hiring process.

Updates

In reply to Monster and other job sites

I’ve had resumes on Monster for years, I often get people looking for service contracts but they ask for recent references and a recent resume, as they sit there for so long sometimes. A lot of people are employed and leave one online for trolling, so they always ask for something new.

Here’s one for you,

A company was looking for a marketing manager a few months back and had been given my resume by another company that uses me, I sent them a written proposal and they responded asking for a recent resume, which I promptly sent them, to TWO different people.

Upon going to see them, the first thing they asked was ‘got a recent resume and testimonial sheet?” I chuckled and gave them a new one, asking what they do with al the other resumes they have (I saw plastic liners in the garbage cans, no bird cage and the bathroom has enough TP). The operations manager called me the next week for a conference call, before conducting the call I needed to send a recent resue to Toronto, Montreal AND his Vancouver office again(that already had three copies now). A couple of weeks later, I was asked to resend a new propsal to the OM in Toronto, then was called to meet him a week or so later in Vancouver again….’but make sure you bring him a recent resume’. JEEZ how many damn copies do THESE guys need already?

Eventually I didn’t like thier offer, they didn’t like mine and we realized we had both just wasted our time.

No big deal, but I have been in a situation last year where I did actually bill a prospect for my time and charges, which included three copies of a resume.

Some people’s kids!

Did you ever

In reply to Updates

get the payment? Just curious.

Most certainly did

In reply to Did you ever

and with an apology from teh company for wasting my time.

One person had descibed what thier plans were leaning toward and I compiled a proposal for them.

Upon meeting him and spending three hours mulling some ideas over, they then passed it to the powers that be. When I met THOSE guys, they had entirely different ideas and a different focus as to which way they wanted to go.

Hey, I’ve paid people over 7 grand to offer a QUOTATION needed for a proposal, no actual purchases included.

People’s TIME is money, a lawyer charges for his time even when he is not in a courtroom.

Fair’s fair, people call me and pay for my idea and ability, if they just want to waste my time or pick my brain, the meter is always running/

thanks

In reply to Monster and other job sites

thanks for all the information – I’m going to work on it tonight and hope it leads to something – even a face to face interview would be nice.

Job Boards

In reply to Monster and other job sites

If you do a small bit of research, you will discover that most people aren’t hired off of any of the job boards advertisements.

Nick from the Ask The HeadHunter site who used to be a TR columnist’s site had several links to research on his page showing where Monster does a LOUSY job with connecting people to employment.

I got a job off the Monster Board

In reply to Job Boards

A Y2K job in 1999. You wouldn’t think that would have been too hard, but it was the only offer I got. Monster saved my life.

But other than that one experience, networking with colleagues and professional associations has been the only way.

Monster – 1 job offer in 4 years

In reply to I got a job off the Monster Board

I have posted my CV on Monster 4 years ago and have applied to many jobs – none of these applications lead to an interview.

However, I got contacted by a recruting agency who found my CV on Monster and I must admit their offer was quite interesting, so I’ve finally landed a job abroad (due to the Monster site).

I think it always pays to have an up-to-date CV on Monster, just don’t rely too much on it …

I got hired off Monster…

In reply to Job Boards

but I did something other than just applying for a job and leaving it at that. I followed up with the recruiter (her contact info except her name wasn’t listed, but I tracked her down by calling the company), followed up for 2 weeks and kept calling. Finally she pre screened me and submitted my resume to the company, every week I followed up until I heard from the company (which was another 2 weeks) and after 5 interviews I was hired.

This isn’t the first time I was hired off a job board either….computerjobs.com, Hotjobs.com were two other job boards I found positions off…The key is to be resourseful and follow up constantly until they tell you NO or YES. Even if THEY say “we will keep in touch” follow up a week later…be a pain in the ass…lol…until they either hate you or hire you.

resume didn’ get to the employer

In reply to Job Boards

This is actualy something I experienced today.
I thought of following up with a few jobs I applied for, through monster, and I wrote a short message to the e-mail address provided in the posting. To my surprise, 2 (out of 6) actualy replied almost immediately and directly (that is something on its own) saying that they did not receive my Resume at all.
I know for sure, in the future I’ll e-mail directly rather that through monster. (Of course now I think I should’ve done that in the first place :-))

Even better still

In reply to resume didn’ get to the employer

Take the email address, track down the phone mnumber and PHONE them, pitch them and offer to bring your resume to the interview.

Always worked for me.

Wow

In reply to Even better still

really ? Now that I’m thinking it wouldn’t be such a bad idea. I thought people get anoyed if you call them, as long as they don’t provide a phone number in the posting.
My experience though is that HR never answers the phone (as a common practice), you can eventualy leave a message, taht never get a reply.
I guess it doesn’t hurt trying :-). Or maybe it does ? 🙂

Anyway, thanks, it’s an idea worth considering.

I’ve been employedv off Jobserve several times

In reply to Job Boards

Planet Recruit and TechJobs got me more than a few hits as well. Never had a lot of luck with Monster though.
I’ve always been asked for an up to date resume and a couple of times to re target it. I keep these, saves a bit of work later on when you get some one who wants you to emphsises leadership of project management skills or some such.

Reply To: Monster and other job sites

In reply to Monster and other job sites

You can upload your resume to Monster.com in two ways. The first is how it is imputted into Monster’s format which is difficult for employers to read, and secondly, it can be uploaded as a Word file.

Perhaps, if you upload your Word.doc resume, employers won’t ask you to send another.

MaryC
vplearning@yahoo.com
http://www.videoprofessor.com

Does anyone know of sites that actually work?

In reply to Monster and other job sites

My resume has been posted on just about every job site I found. I know I haven’t been in the industry that long and that I don’t have the most experience, but I think in 7 months I should have had something. And it’s not that I don’t know how to write a resume. My resume is good. People don’t even bother to look at it.

Many tech boards out there

In reply to Does anyone know of sites that actually work?

Computerjobs.com, Dice.com, and Hotjobs.com. Again the key is not to wait for them to call you, you should be searching for jobs atleast once a day, apply to the ones you are interested in…and FOLLOW UP! Follow up, follow up, until you get a DEFINITE NO! Good luck!

Keep at it

In reply to Does anyone know of sites that actually work?

In addition to the big job sites like Dice and Monster there are also a number of local ones. For example, JobCircle, which serves New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Connecticut. I got my highest paying position from JobCircle, so don?t count out the smaller sites. Other possibilities are applying the corporations themselves; this has the advantage that they aren?t paying an outsider to get your resume. However, the important thing is to search daily, if only for an hour at a time. Don?t wait for them to find you or for the e-mail alerts, because the job is already twenty-four hours old by the time you get the e-mail.

Another possibility is to search for an unusual combination of skills. This may make the difference; after all, how many people know COBOL and JavaScript or XSLT and C#. Finally learn something new, buy a book or read articles on-line. Want to learn C++, then download Blooshed?s free version and get started. Don?t despair, we?ve all been there, in fact I was there myself a couple of weeks ago.

No, we work

In reply to Does anyone know of sites that actually work?

they get a commission for having a phone and an email address.
Check the adverts, make sure the key words they are using are in your cv (where relevant of course). The other tip depending on the board is to put in a broad salary expectation, always say you’ll work anywhere. They use both of them to chop people out before they start mass hitting potential candidates.
You will of course get a lot of hits for totally unsuitable opportunities, but you are far more capable of deciding what you are suitable for than they. In fact Max my german shepherd could do a better job of it than them.

Just another tool

In reply to Monster and other job sites

In this market, you need to use every tool you can. If someone want more info, give it to them. Try to find out as much information as you can from the person who wants your resume. Tailor your resume to meet the needs he/she mentioned and expand upon other assets you can offer them. A fresh clean resume is better than no nibbles at all.

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