Sunday, March 15, 2020
6 Key Areas Recruiters Pay the Most Attention to on Your Resume
6 Key Areas Recruiters Pay the Most Attention to on Your ResumeEver wondered to yourself what the most critical areas are on your resume when a recruiter is giving it the initial review? As a former hiring manager, I will tell you exactly wzu siche Im looking when I review your resume. However, dont just take my yep for it a recent study on recruiter behavior conducted by The Ladders confirms exactly what Im about to tell you recruiters spend the most time reviewing the following areas1. Your contact information. Believe it or not, this is critical in a recruiters search. Mostly because they want to ensure youre located near the position for which theyre recruiting so that you can easily make it to interviewsand also not have a ridiculously long commute to work.2. Your most recent job title. I believe this is why its so important to put a job target/job title at the top of your resume. It makes vital information easily accessible to recruiters so that they dont have to spend too muc h time searching for it. That being said, they will scan down your resume and look at the most logical place your previous employment would be listed. What they are looking for here is relevancy to your most recent positions. Have you previously been in this position before?3. Dates of employment. When I was a recruiter I was trained to not call anyone with fewer than nine months of job longevity at previous employers. Fewer than nine months indicates that you may be a job hopperwhich makes you a potential risk to that recruiter.4. Primary Job Accomplishments/Responsibilities. You can say a lot about what your previous duties were just by simply writing accomplishment-based statements on your resume. Attach numbers or metrics to everything when possible. Dont just tell them you improved ausverkauf tell them by how much. Dont just say you can retain customers show them you can by providing your retention rates.5. Keywords/Core Strengths. Most recruiters will scan a bulleted keyword s ection at the top of your resume to find matching keywords from the position they are trying to fill. Make sure your resume includes the most relevant keywords, and put this section at the top of your resume. Dont make the recruiter go searching for it.6. Education. You can almost guarantee the recruiter is going to be looking at the bottom of your resume to find out if you have the credentials the position requires. If you dont hold the minimum level of education or certifications for the position, consider yourself weeded out.These are the top six areas a recruiter will be reviewing in his or her initial resume scan to determine whether you are a match for the opening the company is trying to fill.And this illustrates why its so critical that you customize your resume for each and every submissionIts important to remember to brand your resume before applying to each new position for more information on branding check out my recent article 5 Key Areas to Target When Branding Your R esume. You can also get additional job search and career related advice by checking out our blog or following us on Twitter GreatResume.
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Age Discrimination Older Applicants vs. Young Pretty People - Jobscan Blog
Age Discrimination Older Applicants vs. Young Pretty People - Jobscan BlogPosted on March 5, 2018January 28, 2019 by Jon Shields The client specifically asked for young pretty people, Tejal Wagadia, a technical recruiter kusined in Phoenix, Arizona, told Jobscan. They said, I dont care how many years of experience they have, I need young pretty people.Ive talked to VPs of HR who have told me, straight out, that the executive needs candidates that are younger, veteran Silicon Valley recruiter Linda Tuerk told Jobscan. I actually saw a person, a VP of HR, print out photos from LinkedIn of young white men and hold them up in a conference room and said, We want this.What is Age Discrimination in Hiring?These are blatant examples of age discrimination, or ageism, in hiring. Not only is it unfair and immoral, it is illegal.The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) forbids age discrimination against people who are age 40 or older, states the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commissio n website. This includes applicants and employees alike.From a practical standpoint, age discrimination is when a hiring company uses a persons age as a judgement for if theyre qualified for a job, Melissa Dobbins, founder of menschlich resources startup Career distributions-mix, told Jobscan.Age discrimination is a job search reality. Its not a myth or an urban legend, said Wagadia. Unfortunately, unless a hiring company blurts out youre too old directly to an applicant, it can be incredibly difficult to prove.A Changing WorkforceThe largest generation in the history of the world, Baby Boomers began getting their first jobs by the mid-1960s. With Boomers poised to dominate the workforce by the 70s and 80s, the ADEA welches enacted in 1967 to protect vulnerable members of previous generations. Today, Millennials have overtaken Boomers and Gen X in both living population and in the workforce. Meanwhile, Gen Z is already graduating from college with innate tech savviness and the fruch twein up-to-date skill sets.When it comes to single contributor roles, Boomers and Gen Xers (who are now in their 40s) are being pushed out by their Millennial and Gen Z counterparts.This leaves them competing for a limited number of management and leadership roles, but Dobbins is frustrated with the fallacy that management is the only path for workers after age 40.There are certain skills and interests that are required in management, and others that are required in single contributor roles that have nothing to do with age, said Dobbins.People who are fantastic at what they do, it makes no sense to force them into management or out of the discipline. Can you imagine an amazing writer suddenly becoming an editor because they crossed a certain age threshold? It makes no sense, and yet thats exactly whats happening in a lot of corporate environments.With expected retirement age rising, this generational tension wont dissipate anytime soon.Why and How Companies Discriminate Against Old er WorkersNot all discriminatory companies are as blatant as Wagadia and Tuerks former clients. A company could be blind to their own biases or prioritizing younger candidates because they are looking for traits often associated with youth.A few of the common concerns that lead to conscious and subconscious age discrimination includeEnergy and Stamina The company is fast-paced and frequently requires employees to work overtime. This font of energy, stamina, and drive might correlate with young employees eager to make their mark, but exceptions abound.Tech Savviness The company is using cutting edge technology and the latest software. They dont expect older employees to be up to date or quick to adopt new and innovative tools. Hiring managers say they cant afford the ramp up time for an older worker to come up to speed on a couple new skills, said Tuerk.Adaptability The company might want employees to buy in to a system or be quick to adapt to an ever-changing environment. They do nt have the time to prod older employees who might have developed habits or be set in their ways.Money Understandably, older employees often lean on their experience to demand higher salaries. A younger, less-experienced candidate with a similar skillset can typically be paid less.Companies are known to screen for some of these things right in the job listing. Examples of age discrimination in job listings includeRecent Graduates Despite high-profile companies coming under fire for using terms like new grad or recent graduate in their job postings, youll still find hundreds of listings using these terms if you search Google for Jobs. This illegal practice is explicitly mentioned on the EEOC website A help-wanted ad that seeks females or recent college graduates may discourage men and people over 40 from applying and may violate the law.Experience Ranges Companies illegally discourage older candidates by putting a cap on experience. Theyll say, we want 5-7 years experience, explai ned Tuerk. In other words, if you come in with 10, 15, 20, 25 years experience, theyre not even gonna look at you. Again, this practice can be seen in wide use by searching Google for Jobs.Even if the preferred range isnt mentioned on the job listing, applicant tracking systems like Taleo can be configured to automatically deemphasize or rule out applicants with too much experience.Ad Targeting Big corporations including T-Mobile and Amazon were recently named in a lawsuit for allegedly using Facebooks ad targeting to serve job ads to people in select age ranges, limiting some only to people younger than 38.Digital Native and other code words Companies use the term digital native and thats directly related to an age group of people that grew up in the digital age, noted Tuerk. There are other veiled terms companies tend to use when seeking younger talent, such as energetic or vibrant, or when turning down an applicant, like over-qualified or citing culture fit.How to Fight Age Dis criminationUntil these practices stop, job seekers over 40 must learn how to counteract ageism in pursuit of a new job. Here are some ways job seekers can sidestep age discrimination.Stay CurrentYour years of experience can be of great value to the hiring company, but most experienced doesnt always equate to most qualified. Your experience will not outweigh a younger applicants if they are on the cutting edge of industry trends, techniques, and technology but you are not.Be proactive about staying on top of the latest software and progression in your industry, even if what youve been doing has been serving you just fine. Add new certifications to your resume to show that youre continually advancing your skill set. Be an active participant in your industrys goings-on via LinkedIn or in-person networking events.Trim Down Your Resume and LinkedIn ProfileAge discrimination is one of those biases that is the hardest to block when youre dealing with resumes, said Dobbins, noting the relia nce on dates and experience. It can be painful to leave anything off for an applicant with a deep body of work, but recruiters see it as one of the primary strategies for combating age discrimination.Dont List Experience That is More Than 10-15 Years OldFrom a recruiters perspective or a hiring perspective, anything 10-12 years old is irrelevant unless youre trying to change your career, said Wagadia.Tuerk pled with older job seekers to stop starting their LinkedIn profile or their resume with 20+ years experience. Drop that right away. Just talk about whats relevant.One of the best things an older candidate can do is to appear young is to know how to edit their experience, said Tuerk. Its no longer seen a bad moral thing to not list all of your jobs lifetime. Its OK to just go back 15 years and to concentrate on the skills that they are asking for in buchung to get past the first gatekeepers.Focus on SpecificityUnless a job listing says otherwise, tailor your resume to the specific skills that the hiring company is requesting. Or, as one recruiter put it during a recent recruiter roundtable at Jobscan headquarters, Answer the question of the job description.Get over the generalists point of view, advised Tuerk. This is a time where specifics matter. Theres specific talent being requested. Pay attention and respond to that.Clues to those specifics can be found in the job description. Honing in on whats most critical is an important skill for job seekers to develop.There are a lot of career coaches that know how to do it, there are some webinars out there to give them an idea, they can do it by eye somewhat, and its smart for job seekers to start to get into that headspace, continued Tuerk. An online service like Jobscan can get very specific for you.Find out which skills are most important to include on your resume by pasting it with the job listing below.???Get More Out of LinkedInDont underestimate the power of LinkedIn today, advised Tuerk.Maintaining an ac tive LinkedIn presence demonstrates a base level of tech savviness and that youre engaged with your industry and peers. Creating an impressive LinkedIn profile also gives you the opportunity to shape your story and expertise.Most recruiters, continued Tuerk, certainly in the Bay Area, certainly in tech, but really more and more throughout the whole country, the minute they take a look at your resume they look up your LinkedIn profile too.Get a decent photo up there and look at your peers and where theyre working and how theyre talking about what they do and what their titles are and what their specialties are, and look especially at their headlines and figure out your best headline, advised Tuerk.Fixing the SystemThere were 18,376 age discrimination charges tracked by the EEOC in 2017. That is an encouraging decrease from a 2008 high of 24,582 charges, but there is still a steep climb ahead to end hiring and workforce age discrimination.The Role of the RecruiterWhen Wagadia was task ed with finding young pretty people above, she didnt give in to the client. Im going to send you the most experienced person, the person thats most qualified for this role, she recounted. I dont want that on my conscience.Some recruiters dont feel like they have much of a choice. Agency recruiters have little say, one commented on LinkedIn. If we dont provide the right candidate then someone else will.When you work for a larger organization its a little bit harder because you need to make sure you have your job, agreed Wagadia. Its a decision every recruiter has to make for themselves.Tuerk and Wagadia both agree that recruiters should strive to be a moral and legal compass for ageist or ignorant hiring managers whenever possible.It is our responsibility not to participate in any sort of age discrimination, said Tuerk, but acknowledged the risk. I have lost business over just mentioning something. I would say in 75% of the cases, the executive will nod their head and say, Yes, of c ourse, and well go on. In about 25% of the cases I can tell theyve immediately turned off and they dont want me on this search. In terms of coaching them, I dont think they appreciate it.There is a possibility that youll eventually lose the client if they are set in their own ways, agreed Wagadia, but noted an instance in which a client was receptive and actually thanked me for opening their blinders up a little bit.If recruiters are willing to push back, they have to be ready. I constantly get feedback when I submit the resume of somebody who is clearly older, which I am prepared for, as to why this candidate should be looked at anyway, said Tuerk. And usually I win.Recruiters are placed in a difficult situation, especially when their own livelihood is on the line. Of course, its not just hiring managers and executives that bring biases and blind spots to the search. Recruiters can be guilty as well.Is There a Better Way?There is a growing movement to rework the way people apply fo r jobs.Tired of combating various forms of discrimination in her own job searches, Dobbins set out to create a better application process with her startup, Career Place.The resumes and LinkedIn profiles that begin most applications today immediately reveal age along with sex and race. Dobbins explained that applicants are put into a position of having to defend who they are rather than focus on what theyre capable of and what they bring to the company.Instead of names, dates, resumes, and profiles, Career Place guides anonymous applicants through a multi-step process. Step one homes in on whether an applicant can meet the most basic requirements. Step two gives them a chance to prove their skills.You dont even know whether youre evaluating a man or a woman or somebody whos 50 or 25, said Dobbins of Career Places approach. The idea is that by the time a hiring manager learns the name of or sees a candidate in the interview stage, theyre thinking instead about what theyve submitted an d the quality of their work rather than surface-level biases.Zapier is a company that brings a similar approach to their own hiring by letting go of resumes, dates, and years of experience. Instead, they use a detailed questionnaire within their applicant tracking system that helps to mask certain discriminatory factors and allows applicants to prove their fitness for the job at the onset.A portion of Zapiers application for an executive absatzwirtschaft position.Whether this is the future of job applications remains to be seen. Resumes are entrenched in hiring culture and filling out a questionnaire or doing homework can take a lot of time for job seekers. Only out of work people have time to take all these tests, noted Tuerk, acknowledging the employed-but-seeking.For now, the over-40 crowd must remain vigilant and proactive to counteract age discrimination.At least theres more conversation about it so Im hopeful that hiring companies are being more reflective, concluded Tuerk.Fac ebook Commentswpdevar_comment_1 span,wpdevar_comment_1 iframewidth100% important
Thursday, March 5, 2020
The Do This, Get That Guide On How to Start a Resume Writing Business from Home
The Do This, Get That Guide On How to Start a Resume Writing Business from Home Naturally, you would like to earn a good one. A geschftliches miteinander license might also be needed. In the event the geschftliches miteinander is being operated from a concrete place, thena certificate of occupancy (CO) have to be obtained. The other expenses linked to your company will depend on how you promote it. If this is the case, you could begin a little business focused on assisting senior citizens. When youre starting any form of business, it requires time to develop a client base and start seeing a steady income. Whenever you have your own company, you can place your own prices. The Debate Over How to Start a Resume Writing Business from Home Including your startup or company on a resume would be quite much like the way you would incorporate any other work experience. Working on a startup or small business indicates plenty of effective abilities and traits irrespective of your ou tcome. Likewise a construction business might be a good fit for a person who enjoys hands-on work. If this is the case, you could think about building a little business around life coaching. Resume writing is an art and it needs to be utilised in resume to create a very good impression on the possible employer. Writing resumes for a different company might help you hone your writing skills while additionally providing a (hopefully) stable supply of income during the early days of your enterprise venture. Resume writing business can likewise be grown using franchise. Very similar to teaching a class based on your skills, you might want to evaluate what you currently excel at, and see whether it would make a great consulting enterprise. On top of the proper tools, its also wise to have a dedicated office or employment space thats totally free from distractions. A significant part the home buying process is having an expert home inspector go through the home to determine the sta tus of the building and point out any possible issues. You might even be in a position to work from your residence. If youve got small kids and your house does elend have a distinct entrance, make sure someone is equipped to watch your children to prevent interruption. The Ultimate How to Start a Resume Writing Business from Home Trick There are two or three routes you may take with resume writing. When you have started your resume writing company, you might have to guess the nonbillable hours. In starting a resume writing business, you should learn to write resumes for various professions. You must be convinced that you understand how to compose powerful and result-generating resumes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)