Who Should “Screen”
It is best that a direct-hiring manager theoretically screen and read all resumes. Even though it is very difficult to thoroughly read 200 or so resumes, only a hiring manager should, because he is closer to knowing what the candidate is representing. We have seen resumes that had it not been for our experience, we would not have known what kind of business the candidate conducted. People have a tendency to think everyone knows who they work for and what they do. They will often write resumes as though all readers will be familiar with the companies they have worked for. A direct-hiring authority is going to be able to better evaluate previous companies for whom the candidate has worked.

Objectives
Objectives on a resume should be discounted for the most part, as either so specific they eliminate the candidate or so general they don’t mean anything. Some of the objectives we have seen over the years would blow you away: they range from downright ridiculous to laughable and absurd. What they really mean is: “I want to go to workl” We have seen great accountants eliminated from great opportunities because they hinted in their objective that they wanted to someday grow into a controllership position. Since the controller of the client firm was reading the resume, and wasn’t planning on going anywhere (or he felt threatend) he eliminated this candidate. Another recent candidate was eliminated from being interviewed because his objective read that he wanted to be associated with a progressive firm. The president of the firm, reading the resume, didn’t think his firm was progressive. Silly? Well, it happened. The objective on a resume has nothing to do with a candidate’s ability to perform and the job he accepts could have nothing to do with his objective. Qualifications are not related to objectives.

Generic resumes that begin with “offering 20 years of experience as…” usually don’t get read. Most of the time they are written to cover up “holes” in the times of employment. Unfortunately most of us won’t wade through the minutia to get to the facts of “who, what, when, where and why.” Lately, a popular format has been a two-page generic, cosmic description of a person’s intangible attributes followed by three or four lines of dates and places of employment. Although it’s hard to blame a candidate if he gets professional advice to do it this way, the format just doesn’t get read. People are leery, and rightly so, of anything more than plain bold facts that they can easily find, read and evaluate.

Titles
Titles should be swallowed with a big chunk of salt. They can be so misleading and for the most part are not indicative of what a person would consider. One company’s sales manager is another company’s vice president. We know firms who make all their salespeople vice presidents subscribing to the idea that their clients will be more receptive to them. Some production managers have the authority and responsibility of plant managers, while others do not. The size of a candidate’s employer will often dictate the title. Previous or present titles should have little impact on a candidate’s ability to be hired, since the scope, function, and performance of the job are what is important.

Unfortunately, we have seen, time and time again, candidates eliminated from consideration because their previous title was perceived heavier or superior to what the client company was interviewing for. Titles just don’t mean much. Job duties and responsiblities do. The key is to question and discover the scope of the person’s previous functions, and neither consider nor eliminate him because of previous titles.

Remember the nature of resumes is perceived to make a person appear as big as he can be. Unfortunately, that’s different than the purpose of interviewing, which is to discover the best candidate for a particular situation, verify his track record and successfully hire the right person.

Tony Beshara is owner and president of Babich & Associates.   Beshara has been in business since 1973, and he alone averages $2.5 – $4 million per year in billings. If you have any questions about this article, please call (214) 823-9999.

© Tony Beshara, Babich & Associates

In order to get full value (if that is possible) from resumes in the hiring process we must address some of the realities surrounding their use. First of all, they are a necessary tool in the process at hand. They are, however, only of value If they are accompanied with a face to face interview. Resumes are one dimensional. They only reveal in written form a person’s past. Since they are subjective there is no way they can be a balanced presentation of a candidate. To use them as a screening device is treacherous since there is no objective standard for them.

A wise man stated that “The only time we are perfect is when we write our resume.” Unfortunately, that seems to be the case. A recent study proved that everytime an average resume is written, one more falsehood is made or implied. For the most part, they just aren’t that reliable.

The average resume is read for 32 seconds. Recently 250 director level human resources executives from Fortune 500 companies were polled. They stated that they received 100 resumes each week. Only 5% of these resumes ever led to an interview and only 30% of the new hires first came to their attention through resumes. It is however true that 85% of these professionals use the resume during the interviewing process. Another recent study of 250 companies concluded that it takes an average of 200 resumes to fill one position if the use of resumes is the only source of finding candidates. Obviously, the use of resumes to screen candidates is a real “crapshoot” .

Who reads resumes makes a big difference in their effectiveness as a hiring tool. If an intermediary such as the personnel department is involved in the initial process, it’s important for them to be briefed in detail as to what they should look for in a resume. The recognition of certain types of companies or experiences may be of value to a hiring manager and not to the third party. The further removed from the personal need for an employee the resume reviewing person is, the less effective the resumes are.

Unfortunately, resumes are used to screen candidates out. They are used to eliminate people rather than to find out why they might be good. The result of this reality is that good candidates get eliminated for reasons that have nothing to do with their professional employment or performance. We were recently told that a candidate was being eliminated from being interviewed because the objective on his resume stated that he wanted to be associated with a growing company. Since the company he sent the resume to wasn’t growing or expanding he was eliminated. Now what does that have to do with his peformance or the company for that matter? We subsequently placed this same person with the same company. He was qualified. His objective was silly. That had nothing to do with his professionalism.

The way a person writes his resume may have nothing to do with his skill level or ability. Since most candidates don’t write resumes professionally and don’t do it everyday they are at a disadvantage. The best resume writer is not necessarily the best performer. He may market himself the best, but that doesn’t make him a good accountant, salesperson, etc. We have seen close to perfect resumes written by average (at best) professionals. We have also seen poor resumes written by extremely good people. The idea that true professionals must know how to write good resumes just isn’t valid. People that review resumes looking for mispellings, typos, etc., are going to find them. Admittedly people shouldn’t have these errors on their resume, but are we looking for professional performers or professional resumes writers? We can get lost in details, and lose sight of our whole objective. . .to find a good, competent employee.

Tony Beshara is owner and president of Babich & Associates.   Beshara has been in business since 1973, and he alone averages $2.5 – $4 million per year in billings. If you have any questions about this article, please call (214) 823-9999.

© Tony Beshara, Babich & Associates