Help With A Resume

[PhdNPrerunners]

Hey guys I have been applying for a lot of jobs but have barely had any responses from employers so I am thinking my resume needs some work. Does anyone on here work in the HR depart of a company that is willing to help with my resume. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[bofa]

I'm not in HR but I've done a lot of interviewing and hiring over the years. It might just be the job market - it's awful hard to get even a basic conversation going unless you have a connection. If you want, PM it to me and I'll take a look.

 

[Thai]

For me, i keep my resume simple and to the point. Of course, i am not a researcher like yourself (i assume PhD based on screenname)...but, my resume is only 2 pages long in fairly big print.

 

[junr]

I had someone review my resume recently and the feedback was simple for each bullet point I had: why do I care? Meaning, tell them why it was important you did that action, i.e. you saved the company $X and gained X as well. The idea is to let them know why it was important that you did those things.
Write your resume to the posting to show your relevant experience.

I'm in HR but I don't work on the Recruiting/Talent Acquisition side.

Also, do you use LinkedIn? This is a great way to make connections into the company and try another route to get an interview, not just via Recruiting.

junr

 

[zopperman]

I'd be happy to help if you still want it.

 

[Desert Fox]

junr is giving some good advice
the resume should match the requirements of the job posting.

Have a teenager review it. If you have a teenage kid at home they would love to give the old man some greif because he misspelled something.

Linkedin is a great business networking tool. Learn it and use it. You can find ways to get past the gatekeeper and get in contact with the hiring manger and you can find out about the company from the worker bees.

Colorado Springs has a great unemployment office. They offer a lot of free services like resume review, practicing interviews. See what you town has to offer.

Good luck

 

[DexTech]

A couple thoughts. First never forget the point of a cover letter and resume is to get you an interview. That's it's job, anything in there that won't help you get the interview should be removed. If the employer is interested to know more they'll call you and guess what that's an interview. IMHO too much information in the cover letter or resume will only be used to exclude you.

Second, it's 2013 almost all large employers are using online applications and resume uploads. They use an app that searches resumes for KEYWORDS. If you don't have the keywords in your resume a live person will never even see it.

My suggestion is research keywords in your industry and load your resume with those. The cover letter and resume should be written for each job, with an emphasis on what they are looking for, use keywords, keep it short nobody has the time or inclination to read anything long.

 

[Stick Figure]

Once upon a time I worked from home doing resume editing for a company (probably before the software was smart enough to do it on its own) and we hacked peoples resumes down to nothing:

Name
contact info
previous employer
highest level of education

Some of these people had so many other things listed that they had done, and achieved and it all ended up in the virtual recycle bin before anyone that might have cared could read it.

 

[junr]

A couple thoughts. First never forget the point of a cover letter and resume is to get you an interview. That's it's job, anything in there that won't help you get the interview should be removed. If the employer is interested to know more they'll call you and guess what that's an interview. IMHO too much information in the cover letter or resume will only be used to exclude you.

It's funny, I was talking with someone the other day about writing a cover letter and their immediate response was: no one reads those anymore.
I thought for a second and thought they may have a point. As noted already, there are programs that will search resumes and folks will screen/review someone on LinkedIn before they reach out.

Curious, how many of you still write cover letters? I did up until this year. Not sure how many were actually reviewed though.

junr

 

[bofa]

I don't use cover letters and never read them when I interviewed people. Your resume should speak for itself and should be tailored for the exact job for which you are interviewing. If there are questions or a need for discussion, its best saved for the interview imo, assuming you are good at answering questions and providing examples from experience.

That said, there are some people that prefer them, but I think those are far and few between.

 

[BrianSD_42]

I try to keep it to a cover paragraph at best.

I only submit a cover letter when it is required and even then I prefer to keep it relatively short.

Here is some simple advice:

Once you finalize your resume, do a "Save-As PDF" with the PDF-settings set to [x] ISO 19005-1 compliant in MS-Office.

At every chance possible get this PDF into the hands of the recruiter and the people who will be interviewing you.

After you fill out the standard online application form and paste in your resume, try to attach the PDF. When the recruiter calls you and you start trading emails, send her the PDF. When you go to the interview, print 5 copies on resume paper and hand one over to each interviewer.

BTW, be sure to use Monster.com - that is how I got my present job.

Also check Craigslist ... seriously I know for a fact that Fortune 500 Companies sometimes post job ads on CL. Real jobs, not entry level.

If you are a PHD then you may have an uphill road, depending on your degree.

Good luck.

 

[Desert Fox]

I dont use cover letters. When we are interviewing HR only gives us resumes, no cover letter.

I know this thread is about resumes but dont forget to brush up on your interviewing skills.

With help from many sources I got my resume polished and I was getting plenty of phone screens and interviews. I was not getting any followup interviews. I did a video mock interview and boy did I stink. That helped a lot.

 

[DexTech]

Desert Fox is right on when he says to brush up on your interview skills. Interviewing well is a skill like any other, the more you do it the more comfortable and better you'll be at it.

I'd suggest interview for jobs you don't even want just for the experience. that way when the cherry job comes along you are ready.

 

[OzarkRunner]

I recently went through a round of interviews as the interviewer, and the vast majority of applicants did not include a cover letter. I feel that the cover letter is just more well-rounded sentences that state what's on the resume. I skim them, but don't give them a lot of credit.
The size of the company seems to matter a lot in terms of what is reviewed or looked at. Every time I've applied for a job, I've always made an attempt to talk with someone on the phone (search LinkedIn to identify someone in HR or the hiring manager), even if under the guise of "just wanted to see if you had any questions about my resume / application." I really have no idea if it works to gather interest or not, but I couldn't sit around waiting for someone to contact me.

 

[034RUNNER]

If you still need help, I can take a look. Not sure what you need exactly so don't want to go off rambling with advice. Feel free to PM me.