Putting On My Recruiter Hat

This morning I posted an ad online for an open entry-level position within my company. That was a little past 9am. Near close of business, I received about 30 resumes. Throughout the day I glanced at cover letters of sorts, resumes, and combinations of them. It was the sort of tedium that I prefer to avoid on a Monday.

Despite the humdrum, there are a few things I am quickly learning from this process. One, there are those out in the world who are not as resourceful as I would expect, nor do they seem to have much concern for how they present themselves. Perhaps it is a bit unfair of me to presume negligence on their part, when in fact it could just be plain naiveté. There is the ever-popular Spell Check, various sites that provide job-hunters with very useful advice, and even resume builders. Too bad people don't use these tools more often. Some of the resumes I reviewed were riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, or the layout was ill-constructed.

This brings me to my next lesson learned: First overall impressions determine whether applicants get an interview. Resumes are a reflection of who we are, what we have accomplished, and how we could potentially fit into an organization. However, organizing all that information the wrong way could have adverse results. This is something I finally understand from a recruiter's standpoint, and will keep in mind in cases where I may again be an applicant. In essence, those who are hiring don't have time to read every minor detail on any given resume. Furthermore, they don't care about the particulars that are not relevant to the job at hand. (Note to self: Brevity highlighting key, pertinent content is a must - time to reevaluate my own resume!)

On the ad, I listed basic requirements in order of importance. The top 3 criteria state that the candidate must be Spanish bilingual, have at least a high school diploma, and have a year of customer service experience. I developed a method to narrow down the best candidates by scorecard. If the resume or cover letter did not have indication that the applicant speaks Spanish, it was scored with a zero and completely disregarded. If a resume addressed all of the remaining basic requirements without me having to spend more than a couple of minutes reading it, it was assigned a base score. Job experience relevant to the position yielded even more points. Ultimately, the candidate pool was whittled down to seven prospects, out of the 34 resumes received.

Now time for some pre-screening phone calls to hopefully eliminate a few more applicants, just so I don't have to have more interviews than needed. I don't want to waste anyone's time, including my own. Besides, I'd prefer to avoid wearing my "recruiter cap" too much - it may have given me some insight, but boy, it sure is heavy!