So you’ve created a job advertisement, put it out there for the world to see, and the next thing you know your desk has been taken over by resumes. It’s starting to seem like an endless task to sort through all those applications. This economic climate is favorable is one aspect: it’s made it an employer’s market. The upside is that there is no shortage of applications, whereas the downside of course is that it also means there’s more time taken to sort through and search resumes and cover letters.
Thankfully today we will look at various ways to analyze a resume, how to give each application a fair and comprehensive consideration, and how to read between the lines to discover the person behind the resume. Besides using our patented hiring tool to do the job for you, with these strategies you can speed up the resume reviewing process and become better at choosing the right applicants with which to move forward.
Know What You Want
Before you start, it will be very useful to sit down and review the job description and advertisement. Think about exactly who it is that you are looking for and jot down a list of attributes, the personality traits you are seeking, and the minimal experience that is needed for the position. This will help you further on when you have applicants that you feel unsure about, who may be underqualified, or overqualified, or just not quite right. Refer back to the list and then make a decision.
The First Look
Now that you are clear about what you want, it’s time to start sorting. A little organization will help at this point. When you go to search resumes, collect all the resumes into one pile or folder. If you are working paperless, getting them into one place will help you keep organized and it’s a good starting base for the task.
The first time you look at the resumes, it will be just a quick view — looking at appearance only. Sort through the pile and look for resumes that are not up to scratch, resumes that look sloppy, hard to read, ones with too much information squeezed onto one page, etc. Put these resumes into another pile — it will be the discard pile — and you can send a reply to them later. Unless you really can’t find anything afterwards or one of these jumps out at you, you generally don’t have time to go through absolutely everything, so may as well discard those that couldn’t be bothered to make their resume presentable and easy-to-read for you.
The Second Look
On the second round you can spend more time looking through the resumes. The first section to review is the “objective.” The applicant should have an objective that matches the position advertised — if they do place these in a separate pile. If the objective is just not what you are looking for, place them in the discard pile. The objective is a good indication of how committed and focused the applicant is. Choose those that have taken the time to compile an objective for the position over the standard generic objectives.
Skills
By now you should have a pile of resumes that are well organized, look professional, and are tailored to the position advertised. It’s time to find candidates that can move forward to the interviews. You want to find relevant skills, and here you will notice the candidates that have really put consideration into their application. They should have tailored the skills to match the job description or provided a highlighted skills section that matched the position.
Check too for any technical skills that are required. The applicant should have provided details on their skills — gauge how much detail they have disclosed. For example, did the applicant simply list Adobe Photoshop or did they provide more information such as which version, what they used it for, courses completed, etc. Those extra details that they have provided can make you feel more comfortable that they possess the right skills.
Experience and Career History
The experience or career history section of the resume will tell a lot about the applicant. Here we can see how they have used their time, what they have learnt, and the choices they have made. Have the following questions in mind when looking over experience:
Dates — have they had any gaps in their work history? This is not necessarily negative, as for many reasons people will take a break from work to travel, study, take care of children, and more. They may explain gaps in their cover letter, and if not, you can always ask the applicant about it in the interview.
Does their experience fit with the skills they listed? Did the applicant actually apply the skills that they listed, and how much experience have they demonstrated with these skills? A mismatch of skills and experience can be a bad sign. You want an employee that is able to do what they say and that shows initiative, rather than someone who simply goes through the motions.
Red Flags
Do look at their writing skills — even if the job does not involve writing — as all jobs still need good communication skills. Of course don’t expect works on the level of Shakespeare, but just notice to see if the applicant has made any spelling or grammatical errors, if they used language that is easy to understand and which gets their information across clearly, and so on.
Dates that are hard to follow are a red flag. If after reviewing the resume you still don’t know where the applicant worked, when they worked there, and what they did before and after this, it could be a sign the applicant is covering up multiple positions or a long work history gap.
If you get stuck on a resume at any point, you can place it in the second chance pile or consult the list that you made in the beginning. Just keep in mind that you don’t need to settle, especially with the amount of current job seekers around. Keep looking until you find the employee that ticks all the right boxes. It will be well worth it in the end.
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