Posted by
dankeller on Oct 16, 2010 in
Your Career |
62 comments I have been in the recruiting business for over a decade now and it never ceases to amaze me how many job seekers just don’t get it.
There is a ton of career advice and resume advice online and in my opinion there is no excuse for making some of the stupid mistakes that I will highlight below. Let me start by saying that the reason I am writing this post is to help job seekers by explaining what not to do during the job search.
- Crappy resume – I am averaging over 100 resumes for every requisition I am working on. At least half of the resumes I view are down right awful. It is as if the candidate did not even care enough to spend time putting a decent resume together. With all the resources available for job seekers, having a bad resume is unacceptable to me.
- No email address – Come on people – it is 2010. Put your email address on your resume. There are times when I want to email you to initiate contact instead of calling you. When I have your resume printed out I do not want to get back to my ATS or search my inbox for your email. And for god’s sake, put your cell phone number on your resume not your home number.
- Lack of knowledge – When you apply for a job it is expected that you have done your homework and have a general idea about what the company is all about and what the position entails. Not being prepared is just wasting the recruiters time and not a good way to put your best foot forward.
- Functional resumes- I HATE functional resumes and whenever I see one a red flag is raised. The impression that job seekers give when using a functional resume is that they must be trying to hide something.
- Chronic posters – Every recruiter has come across this character. If you have 20 jobs open you can expect that person to apply to all 20 jobs whether they are qualified or not. Very annoying!!
- Resume sent in Works or Word Perfect format. Microsoft Word is the preferred format, we do not have time to convert your file. Yes, PDF is gaining in popularity but Word format is still the best bet.
I will stop there but believe me I can go on. I think I will save some more of my pet peeves for a later post. Let me know what pisses you off the most. Leave me a comment below.
I do agree with Lori. I got 3-4 times experiences with headhunters trying to oversell a poition that didn’t much my profile, they didn’t care to read my profile at all!
My biggest petpeeve are candidate’s who send their resume to a job posting, but do not add their matching skills and experience. No joke…this happens EVERYDAY and it completely perplexes me. The job posting reflects the job requirements, the candidate has the skills, but he/she doesn’t take the time to make sure they’ve added them to their “generic” one-resume-fits-all version before forwarding their resume.
I do contact some of the candidates that may have a good chance of matching the requirements in case they may have the skills, but there are countless times I just call the candidate who listed all the needed skills and ignore the candidate who couldn’t be bothered with editing their resume to add their matching skills.
Reminder to Candidates: People will not know that you have the skills for the job you’re applying for unless you put them on your resume, and, someone just got the job you wanted because they DID add their skills which match the job.
Nice Tips for the lazy Seekers, Might it help them to do something this time!!!!
I disagree with the comments that the job seeker is not the client? I think ghat the recruiter should treat the jobs seekers like their clients az they are the potential candidates for the open requisitions. I am floored to see how many recruiters don’t have the common courtesy to call back and give a follow up after an interview.
Understandable however there are two sides to every story.
Things that recruiters do that piss off jobhunters…
1. Post jobs that don’t exist
2. Try to fill jobs that they don’t understand
3. Oversell the position
4. Don’t get back to you (jobhunters like to hear feedback, good or bad)
5. Try to put you in the running for a position that they don’t have the listing for yet.
6. Lack of compassion – its tough out there and the jobhunter might be out of work, treat them like a client, not a number or a dollar sign
Don’t get me wrong, there are recruiters that are good at what they do. There are also jobhunters that try to do everything right and still can’t get a break. Honesty and communication can go a long way for both groups.
great laugh and true on many points. I dont care if I get a home phone but if you have a cell phone, list it. I dont need both. Just your preferred contact number where I have the best chance of getting to you.
If you dont list an email on your resume. You likely wont hear from me unless your resume is by far the best. Not that I dont want to call you, but as you said, its 2011. An email takes 2 seconds to create.
And on email…. create a professional one! I never want to email 2cute4u@stupidemail.com for a mid level or even entry level marketing position.
Last point on being prepared – Its one thing if your searching and I call you and it takes you a minute to remember (still not good though) but if YOU call me to get a status update and then forget which position you applied for – you were just immediately disqualified… this happened today.
Ok. Done with my rant
Hi Dan,
I absolutely agree with your petpeeves albeit not a recruiter hve seen my share of CV’s over the past 35 years – one thing though – could you elaborate on “functional resume” as hve not come across that description before. Presume along lines where applicant list jobs by jobtype and thus can have only a few types but many companies… is that it?
tks
Claus
I completely agree! For those who don’t have cell phones and email addresses will lose opportunities. Email addresses are free and nearly all libraries or friends will have a computer. A pre-paid cell phone is dirt cheap.
Recruiters don’t have a lot time… as time to fill is mission critical.
As a recruiter for more than 15 years, I can tell you that the first things I look for in a resume are skills and experience to math the skills set on the requisition. I prefer a targeted resume with matching keywords. However, I have received chronological and functional resumes and have asked job seeker to re-submit a resume for the job posting.
Hiram
This is amazing list like the previous one..
Can you write more about “”6 things that job hunters do that piss off recruiters”..?
I am making a list of the “6 things that job hunters do that piss off recruiters”..
John..
Good article, except for the functional resume part (not only because I have one, honest!) Of course as a good recruiter, you know that there are many good situations for a functional resume, one key one being when a candidate has performed virtually the same duties and responsibilities at multiple companies; due to resume length constraints and the desire to not repeat the same several lines over and over, the functional resume can be more appropriate in this case. There are other compelling reasons as well.
As for one additional pet peeve, one of mine is when candidates don’t get back to you in a timely fashion, or not at all. “I want a job, I want a job!,” they claim – then once you start working with them, getting a return call is like pulling teeth…this is so hard to comprehend!
Lastly, how about resumes written in the third person? This is not a huge pet peeve, mostly just SO comical!
nice article but some people can’t afford a cell phone please be considerate in this