Writing That Works, 3e_ How to Communicate Effectively in Business - Kenneth Roman [57]
No resumes were mailed by Jason Spero, who got his interview at RealNames in California by distributing his resume via Web site, targeted e-mail, and listing on the school’s on-line resume directory service.
After an initial meeting, it was all e-mail correspondence leading to a job. “An e-mail is less threatening than a phone call,” says Spero. “The person is not feeling like, ‘Oh, God, he is going to keep calling me, and I don’t have caller ID.’ I was never more threatening than a line item on a computer.”
Nearly half the Global 500 companies are actively recruiting on the Net, reports Fortune. At least 28,500 job boards list opportunities. Software programs write your resume and provide interview coaching. Compaq receives 85 percent of its resumes electronically. And it’s not all techies — two thirds of on-line job seekers come from nontechnical professions, says an industry newsletter.
“One of the big equalizers of the Internet is that it has allowed small companies to have exposure,” says another successful job seeker. “In the old world, you would never even see these companies. I never would have been able to hook up with a startup like this, and it’s such a perfect fit.”
While it’s still early days for this new recruiting medium, it’s not too early to take note of its implications for electronic resumes. They must be easily read and scanned for key words. Optical scanners catalog, sort, store, and access resumes, and search for specifics — names of software programs the applicant has mastered, for example, not generalities like “familiar with all relevant software programs.” Electronic searches work best with plain vanilla text and no boldface, italics, underlines, or fancy type fonts (use Ariel or Times Roman). Avoid bullets, dashes, or similar nonletter, non-numeric symbols — they confuse scanners.
It is especially important to have a clear objective. “You only have half a screen to impress a recruiter,” notes a job-search expert. “They don’t want to scroll down to find out what you want to do.”
The resume on the following page, with e-mail follow-up, helped land an e-job.
The objective was a job in the on-line world, so this resume appropriately lists URL and e-mail addresses (plus phone number and mail address).
The resume tells an impressive story and tells it clearly.
It starts with the most recent experience, business school, citing both academic and leadership achievements.
It shows two impressive summer jobs, describing accomplishments as well as activities.
It shows purpose — choosing a technology brand name (Microsoft) for a job, then leaving the Internet world to go to business school, before returning to a software company.
There’s just enough personal information to show the candidate has broad interests.
And it does it on one page.
We might have preferred to start with a heading of relevant experience or objectives (OBJECTIVE: PRODUCT MANAGEMENT POSITION WITH AN INTERNET COMPANY), but our advice is general, not a formula — and this one worked.
JASON SPERO
[address, telephone, e-mail, URL]
EDUCATION
1997-present J. L. KELLOGG GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Evanston, Ill
Candidate for Master of Management Degree, June 1999, Dean’s List
Majors in management and strategy, entrepreneurship and marketing
Chair of High Tech Club (200 members, $15,000 annual budget)
Chair of Soccer Club (100 members, $10,000 annual budget)
1990-1994 AMHERST COLLEGE Amherst, Mass.
Bachelor of Arts in political science, May 1994 [List of undergraduate sports activities and awards]
EXPERIENCE
1998 MICROSOFT CORPORATION Redmond, Wash.
Product Manager Intern, Windows NT Server 5.0 Group
Built independent software vendor (ISV) Partners Program for Windows NT Server 5.0.
[List of specific program elements]
Developed long term marketing plan for ISV strategic partnerships for Windows NT launch.
Authored and managed primary market research campaign for use in developing positioning strategies