Resume writing has changed a lot over the years.  Originally resumes were crafted  on a typewriter and it was a time consuming process to produce multiple versions of a resume.  Back then people actually handled a resume. They touched it, marked it up and  wrote notes all over it and passed it on to other readers with recommendations. Today, depending on the organization size and process, your resume is most likely to be forwarded through email from one person to another without human contact – no finger prints,   no scribbles, no mark ups, no coffee stains, minimal verbiage! Just a paper clip icon in email with the hope that it is marked as urgent or distinguished in some way.

Today your paper resume has morphed into a paper clip icon / 'attachment' that sometimes might not be seen cause it is one of many. There is nothing you can do to make that paper clip icon distinguish you as the one that must be opened.  IF you do get opened and freed, it usually doesn't get printed off, now that we're all saving trees!

But the lack of human contact and coffee stains is only one of the problems your resume faces as it tries to reach the hiring manager on your behalf. There's a high chance it could be buried forever amongst hundreds of emails, go into spam or be deleted unopened. Even if it is pushed by your external recruiter it may then be eliminated by the internal recruiter before it reaches the hiring manager because today, the internal recruiting department receives the resumes and manages the interviews, (including the interview budgets). 

The hiring managers receive only those resumes which have previously been screened by internal recruiters and their role in the interviewing process is to do the late stage interviews only, and to make hiring recommendations.

So, what if it does make it past the internal recruiter's screening process and into the hands of the hiring manager? What can happen then? Simple. If it's not written well enough to stand alone and sell itself without any verbal introduction it could be ignored or, once again, eliminated.

This creates several issues for you as the resume writer. You may not know who is reading your resume, at what stage in the interview process and for what job opening. You may not even know what version of your resume that person has.  And, as stated above, your resumes arrives alone and must stand alone. In addition, if your resumes doesn't make it to the hiring manager, there is no way of knowing why not.

 

A recruiter , (internal and external), will get anywhere from 50 to 100 resumes a day. Depending on the method of delivery - i.e. job boards, email or referral.... They scan the resume with their eyes, looking for the skills and buzzwords they know are part of the job requirements. If a few of the buzzwords pop out right away - the recruiter will read more and pay closer attention to see the degree this resume satisfies the requirement. If the key requirements are not within the first couple of sentences - they move on to the next resume. Now this doesn't seem fair since their  job is to read a resume. That is the reality of recruiting now these days. If the resume ranks high in the content to what they are looking for, the must haves are satisfied, the right buzzwords are in there and they are on the first and second job in the resume, the resume is easy to read, it shows good communication skills, it shows industry expertise  - the candidate will be contacted.

The best written resumes will be contacted first and the others will be contacted if the job is not filled by the first round of calls. They have about 20 minutes to get to know you – to ask the questions that are important to a job requirement, screen, and process and fill out paperwork.

If you are seeking a high salary – the resume should be written well enough to command that money. Candidates in the higher income brackets – should demand little time from the recruiter in preparing the resume for presentation to the hiring manager.