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One of
the tasks I do from time to time is interview for some position as
it comes open at our company. If you have never done any serious
interviewing and you think this is the type of a job you would like
to have, think again. After you’ve looked through a thousand or so
resumes and sat face to face with hundreds of prospective
applicants, you’ll probably want to change your career to something
like…..undertaker or working in a slaughterhouse somewhere. Now,
allow me to tell you that interviewing isn’t for the faint of heart.
It takes time, courage and skill to look over what people send to
you in the mail or by fax and then try to determine if they may or
may not be a candidate for your particular job.
Last week I placed an ad in our local paper and received over 200
resumes in 5 days time. Now, when you have been doing this as long
as I have you can spot the ones that must be weeded out at the get
go. Think of this as a lesson to be learned if you are out there
looking for a job. Give this column to someone looking for a job.
First, let me emphasize that you must always get someone to look
over your resume before you send it out to a potential employer. I
have several sitting here as we speak with multiple misspelled
words. Do not make the mistake of saying you have the
QUALIFFACATIONS of an expert TYPISST. Use spell check on your
computer.
Another one says…”I saw your ADD in the paper”. These stand out like
a sore thumb to anyone reading them. Look at the statements you
make…do they make any sense when you read them back? “My job was to
reject defective parts and make the defective parts”. What does this
mean? I think she means she “marked” the defective parts. Don’t fill
in the blanks in your cover letter. I bet I have 10 that say…”I saw
your ad for a ___________in the paper” and then they filled in the
space by hand. Makes me think they applied for every job in the
paper without looking to see what it required. Don’t send me resumes
that say…”I want a position that will help me fulfill my career as
a medical technician”.
It’s obvious this person didn’t look to see what I was recruiting
for…it wasn’t in the health field. If you use someone else’s fax
machine, be sure and identify yourself. I get confused trying to
figure out if you are Jayne (at the top of the fax) or Melody ..at
the bottom. Who are you? Leave out the cute stuff. These things take
time to read and try and make intelligent decisions about. Don’t
tell me you like guinea pigs, dogs and riding horses. This isn’t a
personal advertisement for a soul mate… it’s me looking to hire
someone to go to work and get a job done. If you like moonlight
walks on the beach, great…but I want to know what you can do during
the day at my place. Try and think about your previous experiences
and how they might relate to the economic world. If you don’t have a
lot of job experience, that’s not a problem. List what you think you
can do or would like to do if I gave you a job. I got one from a
young man who had been in the Navy. He listed his experiences with a
Mark 54 cannon. We don’t use those at our place very often. While
I’m certain it took a considerable degree of skill to handle a Mark
54 cannon, I’d rather have had him send me information about what
courses he had studied during his stint in the armed forces and how
they might relate to the civilian world. This job market is brutal.
People looking over applications and resumes spend an average of
30-45 seconds making up their minds if they want to have a
face-to-face interview with you. Put yourself in my position, would
your resume be that of someone you would want to hire if you were
doing so? You may be a fabulous employee, you may make someone a
great worker, but trust me if you don’t spend some time putting
together a resume that is concise, informative and applicable to the
job advertised you don’t stand a chance of being interviewed. Ask
your teacher, pastor or someone in business to help you. Remember
you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
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