Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

Razume: Resume Critique Meets Social Networking

I just received an e-mail from a reader about Razume, a new online community where users can anonymously post, rate and review resumes. The service provides a fast and easy way to collect valuable feedback from knowledgeable sources like recruiters, and it’s free for job seekers.  It’s discreet too: users are encouraged to hide contact information on resumes so that the boss won’t know you’re looking.

While I’m not crazy about the name (I thought Razume meant that other people will make fun of your resume, a la the Razzie Awards, but it actually means “they understand” in Serbian), Razume is a great option for those who have created their resume in a vacuum and want to test it out in the real world. I would caution you, though, against taking feedback too literally or seriously.  You don’t really know who’s on the other end of the feedback chain even if the person claims to be a recruiter or career coach.  In the world of Web 2.0, everyone has an opinion and doesn’t hesitate to share it, but even well-meaning Razume chums might have little credibility or knowledge when it comes to critiquing a resume in your particular field.

I still think that the best person to look at your completed resume and instruct you on how to refine it is someone who is currently working in a similar job, either as a colleague or a hiring manager.  If you can find that person on Razume or another social networking site, great.  But other networking vehicles like third-party associations and informational interviews can work as well. 

5 Personal Qualities Every Resume Should Demonstrate

Employment Digest has an interesting post on the qualities that potential employers want to see, and how these qualities can be translated on a resume.  Among them:

·         Communication Skills: For example, the phrase “Ability to be persuasive when interacting with clients, junior colleagues and CEO both in person and via telephone and e-mail” or  “Wrote clear, informative and effective guidelines to ensure successful project execution.”

·         Motivation/Initiative: For example, the phrase “Set and achieved challenging goals while demonstrating persistence, commitment and dedication” or “Identified and implemented ways to improve and promote quality through accuracy and thoroughness.”

·         Leadership: For example, the phrase “Inspired, motivated and incentivized a team of talented professionals performance” or “Monitored, evaluated and enhanced individual and team performance.”

·         Flexibility/Adaptability: For example, the phrase “Adapted to changing needs of individual business units” or “Followed company guidelines and instructions and adapted rapidly to management directional changes.”

·         Organizational Skills:  For example, the phrase “Planned and prioritized to ensure that set deadlines are met” or “Coordinated and scheduled colleagues’ work.”

I appreciate the spirit of this post, because it’s always important to consider the point of view of the employer when crafting a resume, and these are qualities that most, if not all employers, would look for.  However, I do feel that these examples are a bit vague.  What challenging goals did you set, and how exactly did you achieve them?  What specific things did you do to motivate your team to perform?  What was involved in scheduling your team’s work?

Remember that employers want to see concrete examples of how you were able to contribute to a former company, and how the organization was better off as a result of the work that you performed.  This means that in addition to describing attractive qualities and skills, you will want to use hard numbers and statistics that show quantitative change.

Weighing Two Offers: What Would YOU Do?

One of my friends, Mike, who has been on the job market a while, faced a tough dilemma this week. He received two fairly attractive offers in the same geographic location and had to decide on one of them within a few days. Mike got Job Offer #1, which would have a really steep learning curve, on the strength of his resume, which did a great job highlighting his tangible contributions to this previous employers and clients. Job Offer #1 paid $10K more in salary.  Job Offer #2, on the other hand, was generally a better fit for Mike’s existing experience. Though it paid a little less, he knew he could show up on the first day and be confident that he wouldn’t choke.

The situation highlighted for me why these types of decisions are so personal.  You see, Mike works at a corporate job for a paycheck that will support his lifestyle of eating out, traveling, and going to concerts. He does not derive his life satisfaction from his job, and that doesn’t bother him.  But Mike doesn’t like to be stressed out either.  He’s a mild-mannered guy, and over-achievement isn’t really his thing.  It was for these reasons that I thought he would take Job Offer #2, which was less challenging and where he wouldn’t have to work as hard.

But Mike’s also a risk-taker, and, not overly concerned that the new job might be too much for him, he took Job Offer #1.  I think in the end, it was the money that swayed him.

Mike and I pretty much have opposite personalities.  I would be tempted to take Job Offer #1 precisely because of the opportunities for growth it offered, but I would be worried about screwing up and making a poor impression, so I would probably go with the safer option. What would YOU do?

Do You Know How to Read a Resume?

Most people involved in hiring have read hundreds, maybe even thousands, of resumes.  But is there any method to the madness?  If you want to give every candidate a fair shot while getting through the pile quickly, there should be.  To start, you should have your job analysis and job description in front of you when looking at a resume that pertains to the open position in question.  At the very least, you’ll need to use these materials to ascertain whether the applicant has the requisite education, experience, and hard skills to warrant further consideration.  When assessing education, remember that credentials may be exaggerated or even fabricated. 

Now, you’ll want to look for a pattern of achievement and results.  After all, you want to know if a candidate has a history of making tangible contributions to his employer.  Along with results, you’ll want to determine if the candidate’s career trajectory makes sense.  Does she move up the ladder in a predictable manner, commensurate with her achievements?  Learning starting and leaving dates, titles, and salaries is obviously useful as well.  A pattern of short-term employment or repeated lateral moves may signal trouble. Candidates will probably try to spin – or leave off altogether – unflattering information.  Your job is to read between the lines.

Last but not least, you should look carefully at the format and presentation of the document.  While the one-page rule has generally now fallen out of favor, resumes of any length should still be neat, well-written, and free of any typos or spelling errors.  Managers searching for a candidate in an artistic position might pay more attention to graphics and layout, while IT professionals should be on the lookout for concise explanations regarding how specific technical skills mapped to business objectives.

If you’ve decided not to pursue a candidate based on her resume, make sure it’s for the right reasons.  Be careful of unconscious biases you might be carrying – for example, the person is not the typical age for the position, doesn’t live in a good neighborhood, or got her undergraduate degree from your school’s archrival.  These things are simply not important compared to the candidate’s inherent ability to do the job.