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Regardless of whether you are beginning your career, changing your career, or looking for advancement, you will need a résumé and a cover letter to get your foot in the door for an interview. As layoffs increase, so do the number of people entering the job market. With competition at an all time high, it’s more important than ever to understand how to position yourself in the job market. Where years ago a simple résumé representing your work experience might have gotten results, significant changes in today’s employment environment have changed all the rules. Although specific traits are needed for targeted positions in any industry, there are also some basic traits that hiring managers in all industries look for in resumes. Surveys conducted with the Society of Human Resource Managers and the Human Resource Management Association, reveal résumé and cover letter preferences that may be helpful to consider when planning a job search. Get to the Point Today’s hiring managers are sophisticated and put a lot of thought into the search process. Glutted each day with more information than they can handle, they appreciate brevity. A résumé that tells them exactly what they need to know in a concise and well-ordered way will be favored over others. § Sixty-two percent of the HR professionals surveyed welcome either one-page or two-page resumes; three or more pages are not generally appreciated. § More than two-thirds prefer a cover letter with each résumé they receive. § More than eight out of ten HR professionals agreed that they spend less than one minute reading a cover letter, but consider it very important and retain it as part of the applicant’s file. Present Information Clearly Most resumes are scanned by managers, recruiters, or machines for relevance before making it to the pile for in-depth review. Managers who routinely read resumes like to simplify their task and often look for reasons to whittle down the pile. If qualifications and keywords are not obvious and clear, the first scan may result in rejection. § Nearly three-fourths of the HR professionals surveyed prefer information about employment in reverse chronological order. (last position first) § Seventy-six percent of survey respondents agreed that they would remove an applicant from the pool of candidates if typos and grammatical errors appeared on the résumé and/or cover letter. § Specific employment dates and detailed job histories are essential to most HR professionals. § An overwhelming majority preferred mailed, printed resumes, but wouldn’t omit a candidate if the résumé was e-mailed or faxed. (I always recommend sending a hard copy as well as the emailed version, if possible. Your name will be seen twice, and a printed document can have a more visually appealing format/presentation). § Eighty percent said graphic appearance is important and prefer a simple format on white or off-white paper. » Continued Page: 1 | 2
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