I am a software developer by profession, but, in my position, screen resumes for programmer candidates. I have the authority to get you a phone interview or send your resume to the bit bucket. I don’t have hiring authority.
Ask me questions about the process, or what I look for.
Are spelling and grammar errors automatic disqualifiers?
Do people still use hugely inappropriate email addresses on their professional resumes? (Like when I was screening resumes and got three applications for various positions we had available, all sent from “kinki_leather_bitch@hotmail.com” or something like that)
More than one or two generally is, unless the resume clearly SHINES and SCREAMS “we want this guy”. I do make allowances for people who are likely non-native English speakers. If the person’s job or education experience is mostly in China, I cut them a little break and allow a few mismatched tenses and whatnot. If it looks like a scam letter, in the trash it goes.
I don’t seem to see this. I frequently screen people who are already in the industry, so they may have already learned their lesson.
Fair dos. I was screening for a Group Training organisation which worked with kids just outta school and the long-term unemployed.
I never canned someone just because of their email address, but if it was the cherry topping of a litany of errors, it frequently became the decision point between them and someone marginally better.
How important are cover letters? If I’m applying for jobs, I tend to go through the job description and note every match in my cover letter with the exact same phrasing as the job description says, as well as on my resume. Is that a good idea? It seems to have worked for me in the past.
Basically, I try to assume that the person reading the resume is a low-level HR employee and I don’t want any confusion that I do indeed have “5+ years ASP.NET experience” and “Expert-level SQL Server in a multitiered environment” or whatever alphabet soup they decided to put on the description.
(not saying YOU are a low-level HR person. I’m just saying that I try to make it easy just in case that’s who’s reading it.)
I think that’s similar to my general policy regarding “problems”. One or two problems, such as a spelling mistake, a non-sequitur, or something similar, doesn’t per se kill your resume, but it can add up and be the “last straw” that kills your resume.
Cover letters generally don’t come my way. I get just the resume. As far as I can tell, I am, in fact, the first level of screening for the resumes that come my way, and I do understand the technical domains of what I am screening for (I generally refer a resume outside of my technical competencies to someone with a relevant skillset). So, yes, I can put two and two together and understand that “5+ years ASP.NET experience” most likely constitutes “VB.NET or C# Web Development”. I do use my domain knowledge to get a feel for what people actually know, rather than solely using keywords.
That also means it’s more difficult to bullcrap me with keywords - I can tell if you actually seem to understand the terms you are using. I’ve seen a resume that stated that one of the programming languages they knew was “ASP.NET”. That is a framework and an API, not a language.
So you’re not actually the first screener; most of the junk CVs have been filtered out by HR, right?
How much of the CV do you actually read on the first pass? I was recently told that it was the first half or so of the first page that sells you.
What would you think about an otherwise very good to excellent resume only the candidate lists an aol email address?
When I see them, they have been sorted by HR into likely domains. Occasionally, I refer a resume to another domain/job category where HR has apparently misjudged where the resume should go. From what I understand of the entire hiring process, I am at the first level/stage in the process that has the authority to actually reject the resume as opposed to just classifying and routing it. I really am not certain, but I have not seen totally inappropriate resumes, though I have seen enough borderline ones. I’m not sure exactly how the totally unacceptable ones get filtered out - whether HR just junks them, or sends them to one of us to try to find a meaning. But there is a clear message from HR that they are depending on us to screen for domain knowledge and experience.
I generally look through the entire resume (e.g. all of the jobs, and all of the degrees) and try to grab highlights first. If it is an iffy resume (e.g. little experience, heavy out-of-domain experience, or more than a few spelling or grammatical mistakes), I scrutinize it more heavily, but in any case not more than a few minutes. I am actually looking for your technical skills, mostly, and I do generally have the time to dig around for a minute. If your resume is disorganized to the point where I get distracted by your writing, that is bad.
It doesn’t matter. We’re programmers here, and the Vi versus Emacs war still rages. If you like AOL, that’s your business.
Should a programmer’s resume look a certain way to stand out? My boyfriend is actually a software developer/programmer (or something hah) and wants to get a new job.
In terms of what the company is looking for, I want to see relevant skillsets, and evidence of how long you have used them. Indicate not only that you worked on such and such a project, tell me what technologies you used. Such as “Designed a 3-tier counterblatt intelligence tracking module with C#, ASP.NET, and SQL Server 2005 as part of an enterprise quizok manager system. Enhanced this module with ASMX web services to support remote automated access by client systems.”. I’m aware that ASP.NET is versioned, but it isn’t really important here in the resume. As a programmer, I am well aware that an educated programmer can learn a new language or framework with little difficulty, but nonetheless, management really does care about skillsets and I am expected to take notice of it, at least when screening for mid level positions. Jr./Just-out-of-college positions are more flexible.
Don’t list Microsoft Office under skills. List bug tracking systems, wikis, IDE’s, debuggers, and other tools of the trade.
If your resume passes, it goes to a phone screener who goes more into depth about what specifically you have done and how you have done it.
What are the worst and most common errors that are left by the time they’ve made it to you? The ones that will actually cause to you reject the applicant as a complete loser or poser.
I’ve heard many big companies have Resumes and Cover Letters automatically scanned for certain words or phrases. This seems to me an absolutely dreadful way to find qualified help. Do they do this and is there evidence it’s an efficient way to screen prospective employees?
Maybe they screen to find them, in a good way.
I’d like to add an anecdote. I once recieved a resume/app for a cashier job where I work, in which the applicant listed a previous employer as “Jacking The Box.” Full word, not Jackin’.
Joe
The biggest thing that I reject for is insufficient experience as shown on the resume. Other than that, it’s generally a combination of spelling/grammar and technical problems that will sink you. If you make a major technology flub (e.g. list Visual Studio under “languages”, something I’ve seen), and also make a few spelling mistakes, you’re sunk.
Watch those skill categories! If you separate Languages, Frameworks/API’s, Tools, and Methodologies/Patterns, make sure you know what goes under each category! C# is a language! ASP.NET is a Framework! Visual Studio 2005 is a Tool! Abstract Factory is a methodology or pattern!