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How to Read a Resume

  

Employers advertising for new staff are often overwhelmed by the number of resumes they receive. This means that learning how to read a resume quickly in order to see if the candidate meets your job requirements has become an essential skill for recruitment professionals.

The following sections cover some of the key items that you can quickly scan for in a resume to determine whether or not the candidate would be appropriate to interview for an open job position.

Look for Telltale Errors

If a candidate’s resume has numerous spelling, grammatical or formatting errors, then chances are they lack the attention to detail required by higher level job positions where polished written communication is important.

Other issues would include rambling text that could signify disorganized thinking, or a failure to clearly communicate, perhaps indicating that the individual may have a language related problem.

People who are challenged in their written communication often have difficulty operating effectively in the upper echelons of organizations. Nevertheless, they might function quite well in manual labor positions or in telephone sales or service jobs, provided that they can readily understand and be understood by others in verbal communication.

Recent and Relevant Background

When you read a resume, remember to keep in mind the job position or positions you are hiring for, and make sure that the candidate’s background and recent job history is relevant.

This background can include their educational qualifications, as well as the job functions that they have performed in the recent past.

Furthermore, the degree of success that the candidate had in both their educational path and in performing relevant jobs is an additional indicator of whether the candidate might be desirable or not.

Appropriate Level

In order to avoid excessive employee turnover, you will want to make sure that the job candidate has not operated at levels considerably above that of the position you are hiring for, since they are likely to leave once a better opportunity presents itself.

Similarly, you would probably not want to consider a recently low level employee for an executive position since they may not be familiar with how to operate at higher levels within an organization.

Convenient Physical Location

To prevent having to pay out high relocation expenses, look for candidates that are physically located near your place of business.

This helps avoid problems associated with long commutes, as well as keeping relocations costs and delays to a minimum.