Secret # 1: Shift From the «My Experience & # to the «Employer Solution Mindset & # As a hiring manager, I remember
reading stacks of resumes.
The average small business owner sees
reading stacks of resumes and interviewing multiple candidates as a chore, not an opportunity.
He's got 4 hours to
read that stack of resumes.
If you've ever suffered through
reading a stack of resumes — hoping the perfect candidate will nearly jump off the page, then you'll understand the conundrum faced by employers.
That reader - we'll call him or her a Manager - knows the type of person they're looking for before
they read the stack of resumes in front of them.
Not exact matches
Most
of the time, recruiters or employers simply sift through a
stack of resumes or email attachments and notice those that look visually appealing, clean and easy to
read.
The
stack of resumes that the hiring manager will be
reading will have an endless number
of «responsible for» s and «helped customers.»
The point
of stacking your titles is to save precious
resume space and make things easier to
read.
In it, amid crisp, tailored office furniture, the manager sits
reading a
stack of interior design
resumes.
Specific details and real accomplishments will make you more noticeable as hiring managers
read through a
stack of resumes.
This is particularly true when your
resume is crammed somewhere inside a
stack of several dozen others that must be
read through, which are filled with similarly delectable accomplishments.
Paragraphs are difficult to
read, especially when readers usually have
stack of resumes to review, «creative» formatting does not add value (unless you are in the design / creative industry) and Word templates are a dime a dozen and frequently only prompt a user to plug in duties, completely eliminating a section for accomplishments.
When faced with a
stack to
read through, they will often eliminate the shorter less descriptive
resumes as a matter
of course.
Also, a hiring manager pouring through a
stack of resumes shouldn't be equated to someone casually
reading a Harry Potter book, as Hurwitz does in his post.
An employer who is wading through a
stack of resumes doesn't have time to decipher your oddly formatted page with fonts he can't
read.
manager at a desk with a
stack of resumes on the corner
of the desk and the hiring manager has to
read all
of them, you would conclude that shortening the hiring manager's pain would be in your favor.
It's rare these days for someone to actually
read through a
stack of resumes on their desk.
A cover letter allows you to connect with the person
reading through a
stack of resumes.
When an employer receives a
stack of resumes, the cover letters often get tossed in the trash without being
read.