How To Avoid The Resume Black Hole
Human resources people and hiring managers receive heaps of
résumés for any given job opening, they miss, skip or toss a lot of
them. Luckily, there are things you can do to avoid this. Career experts
and a spokesperson for Glassdoor.com, a jobs and career community where
people share information and opinions about their workplaces, weigh in.
Use keywords
Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at the jobs
site CareerBuilder.com, Ruth Robbins, a certified career counselor with
the Five O'Clock Club, and Samantha Zupan, a spokesperson for
Glassdoor.com agree
that using buzz words and key phrases are imperative.
“Use some of the same words and phrases that appear in the job posting
in your résumé,” Haefner says. “The computer will then recognize them
and move your résumé toward the top of the pile because you will be a
match. But don’t just cut and paste the job posting into your résumé or
cover letter. If the computer doesn’t catch it, the hiring manager
definitely will, and it could hurt your chances of moving forward with
an interview.”
Network and use your connections
“The best way to make sure your résumé is seen is by networking
into the company,” says Anita Attridge, a Five O'Clock Club career and
executive coach. “Let your networking contact know that you have applied
for a position, and ask that person if he or she would send your résumé
to the H.R. department with an endorsement of you as a candidate.
Another way is to try to determine who the hiring manager is and send a
résumé directly to that person, with a letter asking for an
informational interview.”
Keep it simple
Avoid graphics and logos and other things that may “clog” how an
applicant tracking system reads your résumé, Zupan suggests.
Take an entreprenurial approach
Mary Elizabeth Bradford, an executive résumé writer and author
of the bestselling eBook series The Career Artisan, says: "From what I
have seen, what works best in any market is for the job seeker to take a
pure, entrepreneurial approach to their job search process,” she says.
“I think it would be futile to call H.R. and leave repeated voice
messages. A better way is to contact a key decision maker through hard
mail and follow up with a phone call. Go around H.R. That’s provocative,
right? Well, it works.”
Have someone proofread your résumé
Sometimes it can be something as small as a typo that may turn
off an employer and land you in the black hole, Zupan says. “Before
sending your résumé, have at least one person you trust review it so
that it can has a better chance of catching the eyes of the employer.”
Research the company's hiring process
“Companies like Google and Facebook include specific insights
into their interview process,” Zupan says. “For example, on the Google
careers page, they let you know that one of their recruiters is the
first to review your résumé and that they look first at your
qualifications and experience.” Thorough research can help you properly
prepare to avoid the résumé black hole.
By Jacquelyn Smith
