Due to some very stressful circumstances at work, I am in the process of hiring another staff member. This has been a very interesting experience so far. This isn't the first time I've had to go through the selection process, but for some reason this time around seems to be more involved.
Anyhow, I thought I'd give some quick pointers to people out there who may be looking for a job. Think of this as an opportunity to learn from the stupidity of others. Remember, all these examples are from resume submissions I have received over the course of the last week and have not been embelished. I'll leave out the names to protect the clueless...
1. When you email your resume to your potential employer, don't broadcast it to five different employers at the same time. Ideally, the resume you prepare for a consulting job would be different than one intended for a hospital position, or one in city administration. If you're too lazy to send five individual emails, I'm too lazy to read your resume. Delete.
2. When you email your resume, try to use a common format, such as MS Word, .RTF, or even HTML. Pick something as close to universal as you can find. If your potential employer replies asking for a specific format, don't just resend the attachment in the original format. I can tell that it still won't open. I have to fire staff who can't follow directions, so I am not likely to hire someone who lacks that ability from the onset. Don't think of it as me hitting the delete button, think of it as being pre-emptively fired.
3. For the love of all things pure and holy, do not send your prospective employer one of those "pass-along" emails. You know the ones... you're the 40th person to receive the email, the email is 27 pages long because no one knows how to trim out all the accumulating headers and to just forward the actual content, everyone's email addresses are listed just waiting to be harvested for spam... I'm going to delete it and take my chances that my luck is going to go bad within the next 15 minutes. I'm just crazy that way. Your resume will "accidentally" get deleted with it. Not sure how that works, but it does.
4. Know the position for which you are applying. If you send me a cover letter stating you're perfectly suited for the medical receptionist position, I'm not going to take you seriously for the position of Business Consultant. I suppose I should thank you for saving me the time of actually reading your resume.... Delete.
5. Read the details of the job posting. When it says travel is required, don't ask me if it would be possible to stay in-town so you can watch your child(ren). When it says this is a full-time position, don't tell me you're only available in the evenings because you are in school full-time. Delete. Delete. Delete...
**Added Oct 7** 6. When the posting says travel is required, don't ask if that means during the winter as well. This is Alberta, Princess. Chances are quite high that you'll be driving in snow for most of the year, deal with it. Delete.
Anyhow, we'll see if the actual interview process fairs any better than the resume submissions. On the bright side, a trained chimpanzee would do a better job than the staff I've had to fire...
Anyhow, I thought I'd give some quick pointers to people out there who may be looking for a job. Think of this as an opportunity to learn from the stupidity of others. Remember, all these examples are from resume submissions I have received over the course of the last week and have not been embelished. I'll leave out the names to protect the clueless...
1. When you email your resume to your potential employer, don't broadcast it to five different employers at the same time. Ideally, the resume you prepare for a consulting job would be different than one intended for a hospital position, or one in city administration. If you're too lazy to send five individual emails, I'm too lazy to read your resume. Delete.
2. When you email your resume, try to use a common format, such as MS Word, .RTF, or even HTML. Pick something as close to universal as you can find. If your potential employer replies asking for a specific format, don't just resend the attachment in the original format. I can tell that it still won't open. I have to fire staff who can't follow directions, so I am not likely to hire someone who lacks that ability from the onset. Don't think of it as me hitting the delete button, think of it as being pre-emptively fired.
3. For the love of all things pure and holy, do not send your prospective employer one of those "pass-along" emails. You know the ones... you're the 40th person to receive the email, the email is 27 pages long because no one knows how to trim out all the accumulating headers and to just forward the actual content, everyone's email addresses are listed just waiting to be harvested for spam... I'm going to delete it and take my chances that my luck is going to go bad within the next 15 minutes. I'm just crazy that way. Your resume will "accidentally" get deleted with it. Not sure how that works, but it does.
4. Know the position for which you are applying. If you send me a cover letter stating you're perfectly suited for the medical receptionist position, I'm not going to take you seriously for the position of Business Consultant. I suppose I should thank you for saving me the time of actually reading your resume.... Delete.
5. Read the details of the job posting. When it says travel is required, don't ask me if it would be possible to stay in-town so you can watch your child(ren). When it says this is a full-time position, don't tell me you're only available in the evenings because you are in school full-time. Delete. Delete. Delete...
**Added Oct 7** 6. When the posting says travel is required, don't ask if that means during the winter as well. This is Alberta, Princess. Chances are quite high that you'll be driving in snow for most of the year, deal with it. Delete.
Anyhow, we'll see if the actual interview process fairs any better than the resume submissions. On the bright side, a trained chimpanzee would do a better job than the staff I've had to fire...
5 comments:
Good advice cuz! I will have to keep all that in mind.
If I ever have to send out a resume, I will keep these things duly noted ;) I can only hope to be better than a chumpy chimp
Amen-It is also my job to review resumes and we are hiring right now. Another thing to add-if the posted ad for the job says $10-$20 an hour that does NOT mean that I will ever be willing to pay you $75,000 a year. Oh and one more tidbit-if the job requires a lot of specialized training (in this case it does) and you don't have ANY related experience-don't be surprised when I don't call you and don't be rude when we politely say no thank you.
*I would also add that you should not add your brother's phone number on your resume. LOL.... I can't believe I ever got this job. They must have been desperate. (Apparently I had a similar header when I moved and never updated it)
Attention to detail, that's why I get paid the big bucks. Oh wait...
LOL
Post a Comment