July 23, 2010
By Sandi Vidal
I recently placed an ad for a position I was hiring for. I received many resumes in the short (one week) time I had it up. There were some really good resumes in the group and some that left me just wondering what the person sending it was thinking.
One person titled their resume "fake". My thought was, are they testing the system? Is any of the information in it true? I couldn't tell. Several had titles in their resume on the top for the position they wanted. One said president, another was for customer service. I was hiring for a volunteer coordinator, who is someone who has to have a great attention to detail.
A few of the resumes were tailored toward the position and the cover letters were excellent, with an outline of their experience and skills they could bring to our organization. Others were very generic, and I felt as if they had just sent it to me for the sake of sending it out.
Since we do not have an online system, keywords were not as important as overall content. I needed to see what skills, knowledge and abilities each candidate had, as well as how their experience would be a fit for my position. I ended up with two piles: the resumes to consider, and the ones that did not appear to be a fit. From there I narrowed it down to a select few candidates who looked great on paper and then moved forward in the process.
I hope this gives you an idea of what employers look for. One more note, I did have one resume with no name or contact information, a few with no e-mail, and one that was handed to me at a job fair, and I asked her to e-mail it to me and she told me she preferred not to. I explained that I keep all the resumes in my outlook folder, and by not e-mailing it to me, she risked not being considered. She did not seem to care.
Take care and best wishes-
Please send any questions you have regarding employment to:
sandi@christianhelp.org
Fax: 407-260-2949
Mail: Ask Sandi C/O Christian HELP
450 Seminola Blvd, Casselberry, FL 32707
Our goal is to answer many of the questions you may have about your employment search, resumes, networking, promotion opportunities, and other employment related questions you may have.
Note to employers: If you e-mail your job leads to cfec@cfec.org, we will share your job openings with Christian HELP clients.
Until next time-
Sandi
Sandi Vidal is the Executive Director for Christian HELP and the Central Florida Employment Council. She has over 15 years of Recruiting and Human Resources Experience. Visit the website at www.cfec.org.
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