“As an HR professional in corporate America (prior to my career-coaching days), I would often scan a resume in search of keywords alone,” said resume writer, certified career coach and job-search strategist Laura Labovich in the Q&A interview she did with Quintessential Careers. “I’d ask myself (in about 10 seconds or less): What job does the applicant want? Does his or her resume reflect skills and keywords of the job to which he or she is applying? Is there a header that is relevant, and does not include the old resume speak: “Seeking a job where I can utilize my communcation, interpersonal, and computer skills” (too much about the candidate; not enough about the company!)? Does the resume speak to what he or she can do for my company, not simply what he or she did for previous companies? Does it tell a story?
“In my HR days, attention-grabbing resumes were ones that:
- spelled out the job the applicant wanted in detail, leaving absolutely no unanswered questions for the recruiter;
- contained relevant keywords found by analyzing a job posting and sprinkling them throughout the resume (I distinctly remember a hiring manager counting the number of times an applicant listed java and c++ in his resume);
- and were error-free.
“In my private resume-writing and coaching practice, I now write resumes from the perspective of an HR manager; one who never did have the energy to fight to decipher the “fit” between a requisition and a candidate.”
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