Resume Reading - 1

One of the basic skills that any recruiter who is starting out should have is "Resume reading"
yes I mean it! I am sure you have a "so what about it?" expression on your face!

But i can tell you there is many a science behind the same.

For one Resumes are no longer home grown stuff. There are professional Resume writers who can do wonders to the most drab and dull resume! Interestingly it is these Professional Resume writers who have brought in a lot of structure to the resume - resulting in the resume being written and structured in a format which is uniform and easy to read

With the rise of technology resumes have undergone a sea change. Job portals have also driven the format - resulting in Resumes which are in line with portal fields.

So how are resumes structured?

They are broadly structured to include the following-:

• Personal Information - name, location, address, contact details.
• Candidates summary - Current role/Designation, function, key skills, years of experience, what kind of role is the candidate on the look out for
• Chronology of qualifications - starting from the latest to the earliest (with details of marks received, accomplishments)
• Chronology of experience - starting from latest to the earliest (with details of the main achievements in each area
• A summary of key skills (more common in information technology resumes)

It is a good idea to glance over a resume first and understand where each of the above information resides. This helps searching for information easy.

Now to Resume Reading:

Resumes come in all lengths - unusally crisp ones and extraordinarily lengthy ones.!
While reading a short resume is bliss a long one can put off the most ardent of recruiters. It is not the best of efficiency if one is hell bent on reading every page of an 18 page resume

So how should a recruiter go about his or her task.
There are some rules....

Rule No1: Begin with the end in mind.

While reading a resume bear in mind the Job Description and the Candidate Profile.

While the JD includes the KRAs and roles and responsibilities of the potential job, the candidate profile will tell the recruiter about the qualifications, exp that is required.

As a recruiter it is useful to list down the important facts listed in the JD and candidate profile and search for the same in the resume. This helps to search for the relevant details easily.
I would call this process the resume screening process

Rule No2: Look for Key words

Similar to how one would search for resumes in a job portal by inputting a particular key word in the search box - while reading a resume look for key words.

These could be niche skills, qualifications, or experience in a particular company or role

Rule No3: Search for the "rejection criteria" first

When reading a resume firstly look for aspects which the client will not accept. So if they exist then there is no need to peruse the rest of the resume.

Afterall it is much easier to reject a resume than to accept it!

Rule No4: Once Rule 3 is done check for the "must haves"

Check the resume for the parameters which the client compulsorily expects the candidate to possess - be it a particular niche skill or a particular kind of role experience.