I'm trying to clean out my email (about 700 to go, but at least I got them all triaged into folders). One of the emails is from a Yahoo recruiter who has been talking with me on and off for the past few months. He keeps bugging me to send him a resume. He told me why a resume is needed, cause it'll help him find me a job that's a good fit for both of us.
I just wrote him back and said "I just took a job that didn't require a resume, sorry." Oh, I can be such a snarky jerk sometimes. Sorry.
Update: it gets even funnier. He just asked "where are you going?" Um, not to Yahoo!
[...] Reality check number eight: You are competing with your whole graduating year for the best available job, so why would you do the same things they are doing? Come up with creative alternatives to tired and conventional job searching. You might try blogging for a job. Using your new identity of course, blog about your thesis, blog about your ambitions, blog about your targeted employer. Make your blog your resume! Send invitations out to whoever it is that you want to attract and get them to visit your blog, visit you! [...]
I think many interesting points have been raised here. Resumes, CV, LinkedIn, Google, Blogs, etc. are ALL excellent ways to market yourself and/or even give potential employers a window into your skills. However, none of them alone will land you a job. You still need to interview in person.
If you are requesting that Resumes go the way of the 8-track, then you are also potentially opening yourself up to a world of discrimination and recruiter opinion. If you rely solely on the internet and blogging, when I get information about your name I COULD see the same things others have seen “someone who is very defensive when the heat is on. Can’t take criticism very well. Has trouble prioritizing his work”, etc. Where a resume/CV could get you through the door or even initiate phone contact. Obviously live phone contact or in person interviews are where the potential employer will gain the best access to your skills and potential within their organization.
One thing many of you have overlooked is the time required by HR to “look into” every applicant or potential applicant’s background. If a recruiter is working on 20+ jobs w/ 100′s of potential applicants, there just isn’t enough time in the day to accomplish that. Not with also keeping time to fill in the picture with looking at quality of hire.
Just some thoughts, thanks for listening!
I think many interesting points have been raised here. Resumes, CV, LinkedIn, Google, Blogs, etc. are ALL excellent ways to market yourself and/or even give potential employers a window into your skills. However, none of them alone will land you a job. You still need to interview in person.
If you are requesting that Resumes go the way of the 8-track, then you are also potentially opening yourself up to a world of discrimination and recruiter opinion. If you rely solely on the internet and blogging, when I get information about your name I COULD see the same things others have seen “someone who is very defensive when the heat is on. Can’t take criticism very well. Has trouble prioritizing his work”, etc. Where a resume/CV could get you through the door or even initiate phone contact. Obviously live phone contact or in person interviews are where the potential employer will gain the best access to your skills and potential within their organization.
One thing many of you have overlooked is the time required by HR to “look into” every applicant or potential applicant’s background. If a recruiter is working on 20+ jobs w/ 100′s of potential applicants, there just isn’t enough time in the day to accomplish that. Not with also keeping time to fill in the picture with looking at quality of hire.
Just some thoughts, thanks for listening!
It would be great if we could totally ignore the way the world does things that we do not like, but we really cannot do that. What you can do is blog like you do, invent new ways to advertise yourself, and gradually change things. However, the days of the resume are not over, and if I were job hunting, I would compose that resume, write that cover letter, network with people in the realms in which I wanted work. You can still play your game, but you can also ensure that you have played into all arenas by keeping that resume on hand. Ya never know. And I agree with the other comments that hubris goes a long way. Did you know that the number one thing that gets people hired is chemistry upon meeting in person or even via other media? So my opinion—you have to do it all, from “old age” resume writing to “new age” Internet blogs. One thing I have to say for you is that you are persistent and also a creative thinker.
KK
It would be great if we could totally ignore the way the world does things that we do not like, but we really cannot do that. What you can do is blog like you do, invent new ways to advertise yourself, and gradually change things. However, the days of the resume are not over, and if I were job hunting, I would compose that resume, write that cover letter, network with people in the realms in which I wanted work. You can still play your game, but you can also ensure that you have played into all arenas by keeping that resume on hand. Ya never know. And I agree with the other comments that hubris goes a long way. Did you know that the number one thing that gets people hired is chemistry upon meeting in person or even via other media? So my opinion—you have to do it all, from “old age” resume writing to “new age” Internet blogs. One thing I have to say for you is that you are persistent and also a creative thinker.
KK
[...] I came across this article My Blog Is My Resume ar ERE.net by Dave Lefkow that I thought was very interesting. The article talks a little bit about how blogs are becoming increasingly relevant to recruiters…and resumes are becoming irrelevant. This is more true in the tech industry than other industries-but more and more people are starting to blog in all industries. Most recruiters will “Google” a prospective employee to see what they find–if you are that candidate, wouldn’t you rather they find your blog, which provides some insight into your method of thinking, than your myspace profile or some other article mentioning you that was written by someone else? The post was inspired by this blog post by Robert Scoble, where Robert mentioned that a Yahoo! recruiter was hounding him for a resume…but he took a job at PodTech that didn’t require one. Many great candidates are ones that won’t necessarily be applying for a job. The most interesting piece of the article was actually one of the reviews: We’ve hired two people fresh out of college in the past 4 months that we found through their blogs – one didn’t even have a formal resume. Frankly, he didn’t need one. A blog trumps a resume every single time. [...]
One very big setback is that emurse.com doesn’t have spell checker. Make sure you don’t have any typing/spelling misstakes on your resume or otherwise your resume will finish in garbage bin of HR manager.
Check out http://www.getresume.com for certified resume templates and Europass CV, official format which is used in EU. You can write your resume or CV in English, French and Spanish.
One very big setback is that emurse.com doesn’t have spell checker. Make sure you don’t have any typing/spelling misstakes on your resume or otherwise your resume will finish in garbage bin of HR manager.
Check out http://www.getresume.com for certified resume templates and Europass CV, official format which is used in EU. You can write your resume or CV in English, French and Spanish.
[...] said all of that some people, a very limited number, might be able to land a job without a resume. For the rest of us it is just [...]
Well the info provided here is really great but i would have really liked some more resources in here.
Well the info provided here is really great but i would have really liked some more resources in here.
Wow Impressive!
Your blog is very informative. However, it is pretty hard task but your
post and experience serve and teach me how to handle and make it more
simple and manageable.
Thanks for the tips… Best regards.
I've had recruiters e-mail me, and I'm not from an American school. I find having your resume on-line helps a bit.
i would like help finishing my resume please help.
i would like help finishing my resume please help.