I have been in HR for a long time. One thing I always took pride in was an easy ability to scan through a stack for resumes and pull out the top 3 candidates to interview in no time flat. I’m really good at this, or so I thought. I have a pretty good track record of hiring good candidates, which just reenforced my belief that I could find the best candidates in a stack of resumes very quickly. But here is the fatal flaw I find in that logic. My company is doing layoffs, and I was told I could very likely be among those cut or put on a reduced work schedule, so I should put my feelers out there sooner rather than latter. So this weekend I tried to update my resume.
Here is what I found, my skills at reading a resume do not translate into writing a resume. Yes, I am a good poet, and I think a pretty good children’s writer. I’m even a decent business writer. What I am not is a good resume writer. I don’t self promote well, at least not in written form. That hasn’t presented much of a problem for me since the majority of jobs I have had, I have found through networking. The resume hasn’t mattered much because I do interview well, and networking usually lands me an interview.
But that leads me to a bit of an HR existential crisis. As my resume goes out there I am sure it is getting passed over for some senior level positions in favor of candidates with less experience, qualifications and dynamic cognition. I know this because I realize I might very well pass my own resume over. So that makes me wonder, how many amazing candidates have I missed over the years because I was sure I could blow through a stack of resumes in no time flat.
UPDATE
I have added my resume to this site. Please feel free to offer any criticism or suggestions you would like
Update 2
I have updated this post again but the full version will appear on http://www.hirecentrix.com on Monday
© 2012, Corey Feldman. All rights reserved.
Writing a resume is hard. And what is even harder is that if you ask 2 people you will get 2 different sets of advice. I know when Doug got laid off he had a ton of people look at it and he got a ton of different advice. He ended up tailoring his resume to every job he applied to. Yes, it was a pain in the ass. In the end I don’t know if that is how he got the job he got.
My resume is terrible. I also can’t find a new job.
jodifur recently posted…41
It is hard. And I hate cover letters even more.
Corey Feldman recently posted…Resumes and my HR existential crisis
I am the absolute worst at self-promotion. I feel your pain. My resume is simple and to the point. It’s been a long while since I’ve had to use it though.
If you need a subjective eye, I’d be happy to take a look and give you my thoughts.
Megan recently posted…A Change In Plans
Thanks Megan
Corey Feldman recently posted…Resumes and my HR existential crisis