Shine Bright

I have been doing a lot of resume reading and phone interviewing lately. I like reading resumes. It makes me feel like I am doing something good in the world instead of allowing a machine with an algorithm to decide if someone is the right fit for a job or not. Most companies would never allow this type of candidate searching to actually take place. They use scanners that pick out key words and that's how they decide who's resume gets flagged for further consideration. I am certainly not going to say that this is not the right way to screen candidates, but you can tell a lot about someone if you read their resume. It doesn't even really take that long. 3 minutes tops. Usually 1, if I am moving quickly. Yes, I look for key elements but, I do read them. I read a marketing coordinator's resume recently and it was so very clever it made me smile. You had to read this resume to get this guy. His cover letter was very creative too. Your looking for a job and wouldn't it be nice to know that someone was going to actually read your resume? But the truth is most HR departments are not able to have human eyes initially read the resumes . They just don't have time. They don't have time to spend 1-2 minutes reading a resume in order to determine if they want to speak to the person. It's a bit like gambling in Vegas. Those who know how to play the game do much better. The odds are in their favor. I also have an opinion on phone interviews. Be yourself. Be who you really are, so that the person interviewing you can tell if you are a good fit with the team and the company. They should be able to listen to you and think of the job and the team and figure out if you would be a good fit. Don't sell yourself or them short by trying to be or say what you think they want. It is not good for either side and I can tell when someone is doing this and it diminishes their confidence. I am not suggesting to be casual or overly friendly, but be centered in who you really are as a person. That is hard to do when your interviewing for a job. I get that. So in my humble opinion...resumes should be read, but not determine if someone should be hired. Just a precursor to wanting to know more about this person to book a phone interview. When you get on the phone, shine bright in who you are and not who you think they want you to be. You deserve to give that to yourself.