Resume : Staffing  

Resume, CV, Bio data and career profile. There could be differences on technical definition but for us in the staffing industry, to be more accurate- IT Staffing in the USA market place,

a Resume’ is a piece of digital paper (Docs file or PDF), which represents an individual’s education, technical and interpersonal skills.

Often, our team struggles a lot in finding matching resumes for a particular opportunity. In our recent meetings, we found that we have almost 10 open opportunities, we do not have a single matching presentable resume to provide the hiring manager/ customer. Initially we assigned three recruiters to complete this task with three business days. Later, we assigned two additional recruiters and two extra business days for this. However, after five business days we couldn’t complete our work. Didn’t we find resumes from job posting sites or mass mail or sub-vendors or social media or other sourcing techniques? We found a lot of resumes! However, not a single resume could meet the expectations. Is our team expecting too much or is an individual job seeker not serious about the resume? We are still under an analysis phase.

We sourced resumes from job posting sites and many social medias, sub-vendors and from references or networking as well. Although from different areas, what we found is quite interesting and common in all -

-       Some individuals did not make their resume themselves.

-       Some individuals did not spend time on resume

-       Some individuals think “resume isn’t required for job search as s/he is in social media”.

-       Some individuals copy and paste few things from his friends resume (of-course after h-is/her) consents)

-       Some individuals aren’t aware about recent market change.

-       Some individuals aren’t aware what they written in their resume.

We, being a staffing firm, strongly believe that “Resume” is a first step towards a successful career.  Let’s think for moment if any one of us is going to buy a shirt, if you found that a new shirt has one or two stains and some minor wear and tear, would you be okay to spend more than one-two minutes looking at it or even think of buying that shirt? High probability, you would just walk away towards another shirt. This is the same situation at hiring managers desk. Since the manager would have at the least 7-10 resumes for one opportunity, they would not spend 2-3 days discussing or doing everyone’s interviews. They would walk towards the best available immaculate shirt, in this case the best resume available. Of-course an interview is second step. This is how important the Resume is!! How well resume is presented?  How well described are the experiences?

Now, how can the manager judge an interpersonal skill by just a resume? Does the resume say it all?

Yes! A good resume speaks for itself. How? I would say it’s a non- verbal language which is generally understood by recruiters and hiring managers. Yes, resume plays almost 25% importance towards a new job opportunity. We found that the resume itself convinces the manager of “why should this individual get a chance for an interview”. Now, being that the resume is of so much importance, how can we make the best resume possible? We would recommend an individual to make their resume themselves. This will give confidence for an interview. Of Course, an individual is free to do R&D and take reference from other resumes.

Key components of a good resume –

• -       Must have full name.
• -       Must have education details (MM/YYYY)
• -       Must have Certificates/trainings, if any.
• -       Professional Summary (maximum 5-8 lines)
• -     Professional experience – [ Employer name, Client Name, Duration of the project (MM/YYYY), Project Name, Job Title, Work location, Project Description, Responsibility (5-8) lines. Tools & technique] Any work sample link.  Please try avoiding copying project responsibility. Your self-style of write will define your work experience.
• -       Domain graph
• -       Skill Graph
• -       Maximum 4-5pages. 
• -       An individual should be aware of all the details, including but not limited to the complete information about project or responsibility.

In addition to the above a good resume must have good font, color and size.

In conclusion, a Resume, represents an individual. And this piece of digital paper holds the potential to change a career graph or life itself!!