Recently, an individual sent me a resume for a management position that I was trying to fill (for the few of you that have not read this blogg before, I am a third party recruiter) but I did not respond very quickly because the resume was so poorly written I saw no reason to send it to my client company. The candidate followed up with a telephone call (always a good idea) and wanted to know why I had not contacted him. I told him his resume needed to be rewritten because the resume did not provide any compelling reason for my client company to be interested in hiring him. The candidate agreed to update his resume but instead, sent an addendum, which provided little more insight into his qualifications for the position. When the candidate called again and I told him he still had not not done an adequate job of presenting his skills and accomplishments. He demanded that I give him the name of the company or call the company and get them to call him because once the owner of my client company talked to him they would be so dazzled by his qualifications and his oratory abilities. He went on to say that his background was so complicated that he could not write it down (he also said he had paid someone to write the original resume). At this point in the telephone conversation, I had to let potential candidate know:
- I work for the client company not the candidate.
- One of the reason I am paid by a client company is to screen candidates and not just throw resumes at my client company.
- It is unethical to provide my client company’s contact information to anyone who demands it.
- Client companies still want to see resumes. If everyone that saw an add for a position at Ford called Ford, the Human Resources Department would
soon be overwhelmed. - If you cannot write down your career qualifications and achievements as they relate to a position you probably should not be applying for the position.
I realize there are some people who have writer’s block when they try to write a resume. If you are one of those individuals who feels you can articulate better than you can write, I recommend buying a tape recorder, get someone to role play being the hiring manager, and record the conversation. Then you can take the salient points off the tape and place them on the resume. After all, writing started as a means of recording information that had been handed down in the spoken form for hundreds or thousands of years.
The main point I want to make with this particular article is that the resume is not dead and you do need a well written resume that relates work experience, qualifications and accomplishments to the particular position you want. The talking part comes after the resume peeks someone in the company’s interest in you