Please Read the Job Posting!

By Soozy G. Miller, CPRW, CDCC, CDP

Job seekers: please read the job posting!

I am currently recruiting for a company that needs to fill a technical position. Just this week I have reviewed more than 20 resumes and none of them – not one – is good.

Now, when I say that not one is good, I mean the following:

1. Statements about technical skills are repeated over and over again

2. Requirements of the job posting are not on the resume

3. Unreadable formats – ouch, my eyes!

The position that I’m recruiting for requires three things. These three things are named at the top of the job description as MUST HAVE:

1. Power BI

2. Experience with call centers

3. Experience with peer code review (also known as SCRUM meetings)

Not one resume includes all three. A few mention Power BI in their first position, but many mention it much further down in older positions.

The title of the position is Power BI Developer. Of the very few resumes that actually have titles, most use the word “Analyst” even though analysis is barely mentioned in the description. Analysis is mentioned as a preferred skill, not a required skill.

And don’t even get me started on the summaries and skills list. They are either non-existent or filled with information that I Just. Don’t. Need.

What all these resumes do have in common is a lot of bullet points. Lists and lists of statements. Some positions have more than 20 bullet points. And these bullet points are repetitive, repetitive, repetitive.

Like:

• Experienced in all aspects of using Power BI to create dashboards and reports.

• Experienced in communicating about using Power BI to create dashboards and reports.

So, yeah, not good.

The applicant tracking system (ATS) that I’m using does not have a search function, which means that either I have to download the resume and do a search in the separate downloaded file, or I leave it in the system and try to skim the resume until I find a reference to call centers and peer code review or SCRUM. And while I’m very good and fast at this, I do not enjoy it.

So I end up having to send each person the same email: “Do you have experience with call centers and peer review?” The candidates that answer me in the affirmative land an interview. The candidate pool was small to begin with. Now it’s even smaller.

And the interesting part is that when I talk to these candidates, they’re awesome. They are competent and they have the experience and soft skills that match the position. Their resumes almost disqualified them!

So, just because you landed an interview does not mean that your resume rocks. It just might mean that yours was one of the least worst and the recruiter maybe said, What the heck I’ll try and see.

There’s a reason why we resume writers and career coaches beg our clients to read the job description and adjust the resume accordingly. If you do that, your resume then reflects that you understand the requirements of the job, and it makes life easier for the recruiter. Recruiters like easier.

Please, I beg you, read the job description and add the necessary skills into your resume. Do a recruiter and the hiring team (and yourself!) a favor. If you want a job, then please pay attention to the job.

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Better job. More pay. More control.

For a free resume review, please contact us at Control Your Career!