We’re hiring for a few positions (cfmx admin, vb.net desktop, and a pm). I’m quite frankly amazed at the applications we’re getting. Here’s a brief synopsis…
- If at first you don’t succeed…
- We’re getting a lot of repeat resumes. Some are right after another like we get one at 9:08 and then we get another one at 9:23. On several occasions we’ve gotten repeat applications for the same job coming from different sources (Monster and Craig’s List) but more often the case they’re multiple Monster applications. I’m not sure whether or not to throw someone out just for applying twice. It’s been a while since I looked for a job, but I always remember keeping careful track of where I applied. Maybe that’s not the case any more.
- E-mail does not make a resume
- This is my biggest pet peave, but I can’t really bring myself to fault the applicants. Monster apparently has a feature where people store their resume and do a single-click apply and they send the resume as plain text in an e-mail. The result is a jumbled mess of skills, experience, and education all mixed in and almost completely illegible. I wish Monster didn’t have this feature or at least that we could set up our Monster account to disallow these types of applications. What ever happened to customizing resumes and sending personal cover letters?
- Novel as a resume
- What’s with the long page resumes? When I went to resume workshops in college (which admittedly was a few years ago, but not that long ago) we were told to keep resumes to 2 pages and maybe 3 if absolutely necessary. How long does everyone else take to read a resume? Do you really read a 5, 7, or 10 page resume? I tend to scan the objective, skills, and last two jobs, and if relevant skills don’t pop-out at me, I move on. I’ve been told that’s pretty typical but I’d love to hear other employer’s opinions.
- Desktop vs. Web
- This is just an interesting twist. A few years ago it was hard to find people with a lot of web experience. Now it appears the opposite is true. There’s a lot of applicants with web experience but very few have recent desktop experience (we’re hiring for a .NET WinForms position).
So, you can find job here at website.
So enough with the rants… if anyone still wants to apply (and no, I wouldn’t be your boss so you don’t have to listen to me complain all the time) feel free to e-mail me. And no special prizes for the 20 page jumbled plain text mess sent a dozen times.
Just to let you know, I dig your posts on this. I think this is the 2nd one I can remember. It’s good to hear an employer’s take from the receiving end, every little grip, irritation, and frustration. JD had posted links in the past to Microsoft HR people that offer advice and such, but your doing the opposite which is quite refreshing, and showcasing the horror, and asking if it has to be this way? Why not do [x] instead?
I like that.
I was SOOO about to cram a 20 page resume into this little comment area textbox, too until I read your last comment, LOL!
I kind of like the idea of, that if your going for a job that involves online anything – your application should be online and presented using your skill set mix your offering (ASP, CFMX, .net, Flash). I would like to see just a link, if they can engage me in the medium they want them to work in – they get it, and then they get interviewed.
I say, job applications should only relevant to what the job actually involves – (Yes I can be a PM because…) not the frilly stuff everybody expects in a resume. Who cares that I cooked chicken for some southern army dude 12 years ago, and my last 3 employers no longer even have a registered domain name or business for that matter.
I’m job hunting at the moment and have been using plain text emails as a way of distributing my CV. This has got me interviews with highly respected London web agenices but only because I’ve done it right. Be creative, communitcate clearly and people appreciate it.
Previously as an application sifter I find people who simply attach CV.doc to emails highly annoying. It’s too anonymous, and slower to archive as you have to rename – yes, more than one person can apply for a job…. of course I’m nit picking but read and beware.
Also. I’d say keep it to an A4 page. If you can’t then clear communication would seem like a problem for you and I’ve not got the time to decipher too much.
Simon,
I agree with you. If the cv/resume is put together as a decent plain-text one and is easy to read in that format, fine. But the ones I’m getting are much more of a jumbled mess and hard to read. Plain text needs a lot of spacing to differentiate objective, skills, experience, each experience, and education. Also keep in mind how you can’t consistently line things up so don’t try to.
I also agree about naming, I forgot to mention that. Of the 100+ resumes we’ve received, only 2 or 3 actually had the person’s name in the file. I’ve always used “Neff, Samuel – Resume.doc” as my file name. Not sure why others don’t do this. Really, if you can’t name your resume properly how can I know you’re going to name your classes properly?
One page is strict.. I like it!
I like this thread. I have looked at some garbled monster resumes, too. Since I haven’t used Monster to find a job, I’m just wondering if it has any kind of preview functionality. If anyone saw that thing, I don’t think anyone half way in their right mind would actually submit it…
I definitely agree the resume should list relevant skills and experience, and not be too long, BUT I am hiring a person, not buying a robot. And there are often skills that may not appear relevant to the job description, but still might be quite useful to my company. Yet please show me the stuff I am looking for first.
Sam, I’d just recommend not seeing pain in all this, but entertainment.
So much spam (
Looks nice
Not bad, it really can occur
Hey, I’m at a new company, trying to hire a Lead Interactive/Motion designer. I am VERY green in the arena…any tips about the best places to post Flash-specific jobs?
Thanks much!
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