Online Resumes

From my point of view, many sites don't allow you to post a resume the way it was intended to be read/formatted. Monster and Hotjobs seem to have gotten better about this. I uploaded my Word resume to both. Careerbuilder does not seem to allow you to do that (easily, anyway), so I have a text resume posted. Many other sites are this way too. I've been out of work here in Southern Cal since last August and since I had my resume done professionally several months back, I have been getting in-person interviews and phone screens. However, no offers (yet). For what it is worth: www.paul-hughes.net

Writeguy62, thanks for starting this thread. Did you get your interviews from posting your resume on the job sites, or did you submit your resume to individual companies? I have much better luck sending my resume to employers via email. Not once, in all my time of unemployment, have I gotten an interview by applying through a company's web site. If a human being can review my resume, I do much better. Maybe there's a trick to applying online? Maybe I'm being weeded out for not having the right key words? Has anyone else gotten interviews by completing applications online?

Good thread! Writeguy62, do you believe having your resume done by a professional made the difference, or did some other factor contribute to you getting interviews?

Cynthia, your hunch about being weeded out due to a lack of keywords is likely correct. I know from years of experience in HR and Recruiting that most resume-screening systems will eliminate 30-60% of all applications. A lack of keywords is just one of myriad reasons one's resume might be rejected.

Good luck to Writeguy62!

K.C.
www.tandemresumes.com

K.C. in Seattle, it's nice to be able to exchange info with an HR/recruiting professional. I'm really curious about how companies receive resumes submitted through their sites. Do they see the rejected resumes (or the names of the applicants)? At some point, do actual resumes get printed out for a person to review? Is it a yes/no evaluation by the computer, or is there a score of some sort, like this person is a 75% fit for the job? Sorry to bombard you with so many questions, but after going through a prolonged job search with little results, I'd love to know how things work at the employer's end. If you have time to respond, I'd appreciate it. Good luck to everyone looking for a job. Don't give up!

Writeguy62 in Los Angeles, California said: From my point of view, many sites don't allow you to post a resume the way it was intended to be read/formatted. Monster and Hotjobs seem to have gotten better about this. I uploaded my Word resume to both. Careerbuilder does not seem to allow you to do that (easily, anyway), so I have a text resume posted.

About the only way you can have a formatted resume is to do did, post it on a website in HTML.

For what it's worth, most companies search job boards looking for specific keywords, so formatting doesn't matter. When they pull and print the resumes they want, most boards will have an uploaded .DOC resume that you submitted. Recruiters and hiring managers don't really page through the resumes on the screen when they have thousands to look at.

In answer to Cynthia's questions, resumes aren't "rejected" they just aren't seen. Think in terms of Googling "experienced account manager"; you might not see "salesman", "representative" or "customer service" in the results you get back. Those results aren't rejected, they just don't get found. (Fortunately, most job board search engines are smarter than that, but most searches are more detailed as well.)

If an HR analyst or recruiter is doing the initial search, they will probably email the selected resumes to the hiring manager, who will look at them on-screen and probably print them out for taking notes when they call, to highlight their interests and concerns, etc.

Hope that helps. There are some more articles on the subject at career-hunter.blogspot.com/search/label/key%20words

Thanks, Career Hunter, for taking the time to answer my questions. I did some research online to learn more about screening software, which also helped. As a side note, I'm new to forums and just found out that "hijacking" a thread is very rude. I thought the way it worked was: someone starts a discussion and others can add their own questions and things to discuss, as long as you stay on the given topic (e.g., online resumes). However, from what I've learned recently, people aren't supposed to add their own questions, but should help the person who started the thread. In this case, we should all be helping Writeguy62. If I have offended anyone else on this thread, I do apologize.

Cynthia in Schaumburg, Illinois said: Thanks, Career Hunter, for taking the time to answer my questions. I did some research online to learn more about screening software, which also helped. As a side note, I'm new to forums and just found out that "hijacking" a thread is very rude. I thought the way it worked was: someone starts a discussion and others can add their own questions and things to discuss, as long as you stay on the given topic (e.g., online resumes). However, from what I've learned recently, people aren't supposed to add their own questions, but should help the person who started the thread. In this case, we should all be helping Writeguy62. If I have offended anyone else on this thread, I do apologize.

I think any related discussion, including added questions. You didn't hijack the thread, you just amplified the discussion.

Good idea to research the screening software too. There are a handful of big ones, and knowing how they really work is a great way to be more accurate in your targeting.

Cynthia in Schaumburg, Illinois: "Has anyone else gotten interviews by completing applications online?"

I heard from three companies after applying to them online. I applied online to a major local corporation for an advertised position. This corporation had an excellent system on which you would upload your resume and it would present how you intended it to be viewed. Of course, HR e-mailed me the usual baloney that my resume had been received and passed on to the hiring team, blah, blah, blah. To my surprise, I heard from someone on the team. I had a telephonic interview with that person.

I applied online to a local airline for an advertised job. Its resume system was more conventional. Nonetheless, again to my surprise, the airline called me about the job.

Finally, I applied online to a major bank chain for a teller/customer service job. I heard twice from the bank. The first time HR caught me by surprise and conducted a phone interview. A few months later, I applied again for a similar job. Someone from a branch called me.

Based on my experiences, online application systems apparently work. With that said, barring instructions to the contrary, I much prefer to word process my materials on nice paper, enclose them in a matching envelope and mail them to companies. I'm old school. I just think that nicely prepared materials with my signature present better than faxed or e-mailed materials. I feel that such materials demonstrate my attention to detail and willingness to go the extra mile to produce quality work - not that anyone cares anymore. I trust mail more than I do faxing or e-mailing for transmitting employment materials.

Displaced Legal Professional, that's great that you heard from three companies. I hope that you get some offers soon! It gives me hope that I'll get interviews by applying online. It sounds like I need to comb through my resume and add the right keywords. Below is an article that confirms my experiences so far. Although it was written four years ago, it's exactly what I've been going through today. In case the link doesn't work, here's the address: thinkandask.com/news/jobseekers.html

<a href="www.thinkandask.com/news/jobseekers.html">Monster, HotJobs, CareerBuilder
Offer Little Hope to Job Seekers
</a>

Sorry, the link above is all messed up. Here it is:

www.thinkandask.com/news/jobseekers.html

I looked at the page, but you don't have to tell me that Monster, CareerBuilder et al are next to worthless. Around here, few direct-hire law firms advertise on Monster; otherwise, only headhunters advertise on it. Zero direct-hire law firms advertise on CareerBuilder; otherwise, it's all headhunters. Just the same, there's no harm in posting resumes on those boards, though bogus responses to resumes are discouraging.

Having said that, a few legitimate, direct-hire law firms have answered my online resumes, including one big-time local firm. I would have never dreamed this firm would resort to searching an online job board. Unfortunately, the firm had rejected me the year before and would not reconsider me after I answered its e-mail. That's life. Otherwise, primarily headhunters have answered my resumes.

My wife has opined that headhunters must own CareerBuilder and Monster. Probably not - but those boards must cut headhunter great deals for them to post so many listings or, depending on your point of view, "listings."

Good luck with your job search.

Displaced Legal Professional in Denver, Colorado said:
My wife has opined that headhunters must own CareerBuilder and Monster. Probably not - but those boards must cut headhunter great deals for them to post so many listings or, depending on your point of view, "listings."

You are pretty close. One of the articles I started to write on my blog was about who owns what? Monster's ownership is pretty murky, but CB is owned by a consortium of newspapers and news agencies, and you can assume that it's their way to recoup the classified advertising that has moved out of the newspapers.

You may have noticed that Yahoo HotJobs now runs the classifieds for the Denver Post-Rocky Mountain News.

DLP, if you are interested, I'd like to invite you to write for my website. While we occasionally disagree, your comments are always well-crafted and thoughtful. If you are interested, drop me an email, and I will set it up at www.career-hunter.info

Career Hunter in Denver, Colorado: "One of the articles I started to write on my blog was about who owns what? Monster's ownership is pretty murky, but CB is owned by a consortium of newspapers and news agencies, and you can assume that it's their way to recoup the classified advertising that has moved out of the newspapers."

What a surprise. <sigh>

"You may have noticed that Yahoo HotJobs now runs the classifieds for the Denver Post-Rocky Mountain News."

I have, and the online classifieds are now much harder to use than they were beforehand.

"I'd like to invite you to write for my website. While we occasionally disagree, your comments are always well-crafted and thoughtful. If you are interested, drop me an email, and I will set it up at www.career-hunter.info."

I appreciate your positive comments and I'll give it some thought! Thanx! :D

Career Hunter in Denver, Colorado: "About the only way you can have a formatted resume is to do did, post it on a website in HTML."

Some websites, such as CareerBuilder, don't accept HTML, but several others do. Some of these sites accept HTML, but don't say so. You have to try them. Jobing accepts HTML materials.

You can upload a non-HTML, formatted Word resume on Monster, but you may have to fiddle with it and keep uploading until it looks right.

"For what it's worth, most companies search job boards looking for specific keywords, so formatting doesn't matter. When they pull and print the resumes they want, most boards will have an uploaded .DOC resume that you submitted. Recruiters and hiring managers don't really page through the resumes on the screen when they have thousands to look at."

Witness the legions of online resume-generated bogus e-mails that are totally irrelevant to one's vocation. What kills me about this crap is they all say, "We have read your resume and believe you have many of the qualities needed to be a successful....." when you have no experience whatsoever in that work.

A sleazy trick I figured out to see if an online resume responds to keywords is to "register" as an "employer" on CB or Monster. Both boards give free tryouts. Try searching your work by keyword and see if your resume headline comes up. If not, you have to play with it until it does come up.

One other benefit of pretending to be an employer and searching resumes is you get an idea of your competition (and around here there is a lot of competition for very few jobs!). CB lets you click on a resume headline and you can view some of the resume. You also get ideas for keywords and wording.

What an EXCELLENT idea to sign-up as an employer and see if my resume comes up. I've been reluctant to post my resume online because I've heard that I'll be bombarded with solicitations from headhunters. But it might be worth a try. What do I have to lose? My other approach of searching the listings and applying through companies' web sites isn't producing any results. Thanks for all the good ideas!

Cynthia in Schaumburg, Illinois: "I've been reluctant to post my resume online because I've heard that I'll be bombarded with solicitations from headhunters...."

....and that you will. But you may hear from a direct-hire employer or two, maybe. Online resumes are, at least, more irons in the fire. Also, on CareerBuilder and Monster you can monitor your resume's views. Don't pay CB for letting you see who is looking at your resume. What difference does it make, really?

Of course you know to leave your personal information and e-mail off your listing, and to enable confidential contacting.

"My other approach of searching the listings and applying through companies' web sites isn't producing any results."

I'd keep trying. You have the time, don't you? For the most part, when one isn't working one has all the time in the world. Best of luck with your job search.

DLP, thanks for all the advice. I appreciate it more than you know. Best wishes in your search, as well. You seem like a thoughtful, intelligent person who cares about others. Any company would be lucky to hire you.

Thanx! :D

Displaced Legal Professional in Denver, Colorado said: Career Hunter in Denver, Colorado: "About the only way you can have a formatted resume is to do did, post it on a website in HTML."

Some websites, such as CareerBuilder, don't accept HTML, but several others do. Some of these sites accept HTML, but don't say so. You have to try them. Jobing accepts HTML materials.

I didn't state that clearly, I guess. What I meant was go to something like Blogger.com, create a page with your resume on it (for the non-techies, you can save a MS Word doc in HTML) and publish it there.

I really don't know who effective that would be, but it will give some small substance when a potential employer Googles your name, and does for free what companies like MyCredentials (www.mycreds.net) charge you for. (I don't know how much they charge, but it's more than Blogger does.