Real Achievements In Their Work Experience
Theres a difference between someone who outlines their former job descriptions in their resume and someone who lists real achievements they accomplished in their role.
While thats a big positive on its own, two other questions are raised: How impressive are those achievements and how closely do the achievements match whats needed in the role.
The more closely a candidates achievements match to the goals of the new position, the higher the chance the candidate will excel in your role.
Be Very Careful With Your Spelling And Grammar
Typos can end opportunities very quickly! Carefully proofread your resume, and, if possible, have someone else proofread it, too.
Understanding the typical process on the employers end when reviewing resumes can help you be more strategic in crafting your resume so that it has the best possible chance of being selected.
How To Assess A Resume
Going through a pile of resumes to find your top candidates can be a daunting task. Follow these eight steps to make the process more manageable.
Like people, resumes come in every shape, size, and color. Many of us dread reading a pile of resumes stacked on our desk. We often put off the assignment and tackle it only after we have cleaned out our email box, balanced our checkbook, and entered the office Super Bowl pool. Admit it: Its a painful job for anyone on the hiring ladder.
But the good news is that it doesnt have to be. If you put some structure around the process, it actually can be pretty easy. Ill tell you how.
Start with the job description. You should be working from a formal job description that outlines the positions key elements and the core experience you require from candidates.
You should see a career trajectory on the rise. Are you seeing an elevated title, more responsibility, greater staff oversight, larger budget oversight, or bigger accomplishments with each job?
Now take that job description and develop a quick acid testmeaning list five to 10 things that are critical to success in the position . Now rank the items in your test from one to 10, with 10 being most important. This is your assessment blueprint. Keep it in the back of your mind when reviewing each resume.
Now tackle that pile of resumes. Begin by putting them in alphabetical order, and grab the first one. These eight steps will make the review process manageable:
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Does The Person Have An Online Portfolio
If youre hiring a person to run your social media pages, obviously part of their resume should be links to either their own personal social media pages or social media pages they run. A designer should have their own website or, at the least, a portfolio of their own work.
Studies show that a work sample is one of the best ways to screen candidates, and the most passionate applicants will have some examples of that as part of their application. If they do, thats a plus on its own and if they are brilliant, than they are certainly worth an interview.
How To Assess A Resume Preparation Service
By | Submitted On March 19, 2009
With the economy tanking and U.S. unemployment rising at almost unprecedented rates, resume writing services are popping up all over, trying to cash in on what looks like a great opportunity to make a few bucks. There’s nothing wrong with entrepreneurial individuals knowing where their niche market it and going after it as they provide a solution to the needs at hand.
However, what we are really seeing is not a new group of talented individuals trying to fill a need in a niche market. We are seeing an influx of individuals who, for the most part, have no talent other than finding a way to make some quick money to pay their own bills.
Do you really need to pay to have your resume done? Frankly, in an economy like this, every job hunter out there needs an edge. They need as much professional help as they can afford to beat the competition. Much like an actor needs a good agent to land the coveted roles, a job seeker needs a great marketing tool – a resume – to land the coveted jobs.
Here are some easy tips on how to find the real experts out there and stay clear of anyone who can’t provide you with the talent, expertise and experience you need to help you shine in an economy such as this.
· Do they have a website? Frequently the ones who advertise on boards such as Craigslist or Backpage, etc., don’t have a site to be referred to.
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Why Willingness To Learn Matters To Employers
Hiring employees can be very stressful for employers. Getting it right with new people can be difficult to get right in todays fast-evolving job market. One of the best ways in which an employer can assess a potential employee is to quantify their ability to learn new skills and become acquainted with new technologies and work systems.
Enter what is called the Learnability Quotient , which is defined as, an individuals desire and ability to quickly grow and adapt their skill-set to remain employable throughout their working life. Bottom line: as with emotional intelligence , LQ has become an important metric by which candidates can be assessed for their employability. Flexibility is key – and you need to be able to show that.
This new emphasis on factors such as LQ shouldnt be surprising: the so-called skills gap between needed skills in the job market and what prospective employees can offer continues to grow. This was the finding of the World Economic Forum in its report New Vision for Education: Fostering Social and Emotional Learning Through Technology, released in 2016 and surely even more relevant today. The WEF devised the 16 skills needed for graduates to navigate the modern job market, which boil down to Curiosity, Critical Thinking, and Desire to Learn.
The skills needed for todays markets are hugely different to those a mere generation ago, which is why social and emotional learning has become so important.
Zero In On Soft Skills
The next step in your skills assessment takes you beyond technical know-how. Some of the most important professional skills cant be taught in a classroom or measured on paper. These soft skills include analytical thinking, verbal and written communication, and leadership. In fact, research from the Society for Human Resource Management found that employers actually care more about soft skills than they do technical abilities like reading comprehension and mathematics.
Think about what soft skills are in your repertoire, and focus on how youve applied those skills. How have you proved yourself to be a team player? How have you resolved conflict with co-workers? How do you adapt to unexpected challenges?
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Who This Course Is For:
- This course is for you if you want to improve an existing resume or start one from scratch.
- Learn how to write a resume that will get you an interview if you are a high school or college graduate looking for a job.
- This course will teach you fantastic tips that you can then pass on if you teach others how to write resumes.
- Employers and human resource professionals can learn what to look for in a resume.
- 48,829 Students
- 11 Courses
I am a Sr. UI/UX Designer and Consultant with over 8+ years of experience working with Fortune 500, large enterprises and funded startups. I have been working remotely and recently earning six figures in a year as a designer and entrepreneur while occasionally traveling to different countries.
Design has been my main passion and focus since I was 14 years old and since this field gave soo much to me I believe its now my turn to give back and share my knowledge to become a successful designer who can craft the life and vision that they desire.
Having worked on hundreds upon hundreds of design projects, collaborated with 40+ clients from all around the world and taught design to thousands of students I am very grateful that I have the opportunity to give back to the design community ad help You become a better designer – one step at a time.
Red Flags For Employers
Red flags at this point in your resume review, that are unexplained on the resume or in the cover letter, include employment gaps, evidence of decreasing responsibility, evidence of a career that has reached a plateau or even gone in the wrong direction, short-term employment at several jobs, and multiple shifts in career path.
- Review your selected resumes against your criteria and each other.
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Ready To Start Assessing Cvs
As you can probably tell, there are a LOT of things you need to check, when youre working your way through those CVs
But once you get the hang of it, you should really be spending no more than 2 minutes per CV .
Recruiter Pro Tip.
CVs really are just half of the story so its important not to be mega-judgemental when youre assessing them.
Remember, candidates wont have read a blog post like this and wont necessarily know exactly what you are looking for!
Use the above checklist to structure your assessment process, rather than as an overruling set of standards.
If youre unsure about someone theres no harm in giving them the benefit of the doubt and a chance to prove you wrong in a telephone interview.
If youd like to read more top advice on how to successfully assess CVs, interview candidates and find the perfect new employee for your business, to sign up to this blog.
Four: Thoroughly Review Previous Employment
Next, youll want to delve into the applicants employment history. Consider job titles and primary duties and consider whether these experiences will help the candidate fulfill the responsibilities youve outlined in the job description. Also carefully review dates of employment. Make a note of any gaps in employment or short stints, and consider asking the candidate to expand or explain if you decide to move them on to the next round.
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Third Keep Your Mind Active With Games Of Strategy
You can grow your analytical skills by keeping your mind active with books, puzzle games and brain teasers. Practicing critical thinking and problem-solving outside of a work environment can still improve your skills at work. Dedicating a few minutes each day to playing a strategy game or doing a crossword can help keep your mind sharp and make it easier to apply your skills on the job. Reading books, regardless of the topic, can keep your mind active, grow your communication skills and encourage you to think creatively.
How Often The Candidate Changes Jobs
Whenever you hire someone, theres a substantial investment in onboarding and training, and they often dont get-up-to-speed until about three to six months into the role.
So you want someone who has a history of spending several years at a company and hopefully will grow at yours, not somebody who consistently switches jobs within a year.
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Resumes Longer Than One Page
Carter Cast, a professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and the former CEO of Walmart.com, has vetted a lot of resumes throughout his career and submitting a long document is the quickest way to get rejected by a hiring manager, he says.
“When I receive a seven or eight page resume, I groan,” he says. “If you submit a big document like that, the chances that it’s actually going to be read by someone are very low.”
Resumes, Cast explains, are important documents to start a conversation between a hiring manager and a candidate, so keep bullet points succinct and only highlight what Cast calls “the good stuff”: big projects, accomplishments and results from past work experiences.
“Don’t be windy,” he says. “If you’ve been working for less than five years, your resume should only be one page, and if you’ve worked for 10 years, it shouldn’t be longer than two pages.”
Have a friend or mentor edit your resume and read your bullet points out loud a few times to make sure the wording flows, Carter suggests.
The career expert has even taken his own advice. “I’ve been working for 30 years and cut my resume down to three pages,” he shares. “It really makes a difference.”
Check Out Job Postings In Your Industry
Once you have a comprehensive list of your skills and some anecdotes of them in action, its time to apply them to the needs of companies hiring. You can do that by looking at job postings, specifically from companies and organizations that are at the forefront of your industry.
You can find postings in your career field by searching for jobs on Monster. Note which skills frequently show up in ads and see where your own professional skills overlap. This will give you a good indication of which of your skills you should highlight on your resume and in your cover letter. Customize your resumes and cover letters for each new job ad you apply to, making sure to use the same keywords that the companies do.
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Are They Ripping Off Old Clichs
Are the attributes they mention even remotely interesting?
Hard-working, passionate and results-driven are just meaningless clichés, ripped off from hundreds of other candidates.
Yes, if a candidate were all of the above, theyd be a damn great candidate, but because the phrases are SO generic and used SO often, they dont really mean anything anymore.
What Our Resume Checker Looks For
Here are some of the things the checker examines your resume for: – ATS resume compatibility: Score My Resume analyzes your resume’s template and checks whether it is compatible with ATS . – Resume and bullet point length: Brevity is key when it comes to a resume. – Resume action verbs: Recruiters and resume reviewers are looking for evidence of impact on your resume. Score My Resume checks to make sure that you’ve used strong action verbs as well as other indicators of a strong impact-oriented resume. – Plus over 25 additional free resume checks. See our resume checklist for examples of additional checks recruiters look for.
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Find The Tool That Works For You
Whether its a resume screening tool, an online skills assessment platform, or something else entirely, finding the best tools for your hiring process is an important step for any company.
Its essential to understand what systems and tools will propel your team to greater success. Set yourself and the team up for success by conducting thoughtful research and examining the costs associated with your current and prospective hiring process. That way youll be sure to make the right decision for your organization.
The Advantages Of Using Resume Screening Software
It saves time. Time is precious for a recruiter. It is reported that they spend an average of six seconds scanning a resume before rejecting it or deciding to give it a closer look. With the average open position garnering 250 applicants, a recruiter could have thousands of resumes to sift through depending on the number of open roles the company has.
That can quickly amount to several days spent on the resume screening process alone. And thats just the beginning of the hiring process. Recruiters and hiring teams ultimately dedicate an average of 42 days per job post, if not longer. Considering research that shows that 88% of said applicants are unqualified for the role, it can be draining and counterproductive for a recruiter to give specialized attention to each resume.
As Hire Right explains, Elements like resume screening, online job posting, and interview scheduling can help relieve much of the manual work associated with finding ideal candidates, allocating more of your time to other pertinent hiring efforts.
It can help manage a large volume of candidates. As we stated, the average job posting attracts the attention of approximately 250 applicants. This can often result in an increased risk of human error and carelessness. A recruiter may overlook key qualifications when scanning resumes due to a high volume and a deadline to hire. This can result in missing out on great talent.
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Is It Tweaked To The Job You Are Applying For
- If your last jobs involved both marketing and sales, but you are applying for a sales role, make sure sales appears in your job titles and is listed in your responsibilities. Use sales examples of achievements such as hitting targets. Vice-versa for marketing if you are applying for a marketing role.
- If you know 10 types of graphic design software, but the job advert specifically asks for GiMP, then make sure you specifically mention GiMP
Is The Cover Letter Bespoke
Have a quick read does the language in the cover letter sound generic?
Im interested in THE ROLE because Id love to work in THE INDUSTRY
If so, then theyve probably sent the same cover letter to a few different companies.
This isnt necessarily a bad thing of course, in a competitive job market many jobseekers will apply for as many roles as possible to increase their odds.
But, if you have to choose between them and a candidate who personalises their entire application with your business, role and industry in mind who do you think is going to be more committed, determined and passionate?
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