

Try This Idea to Get Your Resume Noticed - whatwoulddadsay
http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds/2008/06/05/your-resume-headline-should-get-my-attention-first/

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m0nty
> Voted ‘most likely to succeed,’ when I should have been voted ‘most likely
> to help ABC develop killer products.’

You'll sound like an utter nob if you write like that. I once received a
resumé titled "Steely-blue-eyed contract killer" which didn't go immediately
in the bin -- because we were too busy having a laugh about it. _Then_ it went
in the bin. Some of the given examples seem very reminiscent of the kind of
person who thinks rather too highly of themselves.

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rglovejoy
This method _might_ work if I wanted to hire a salesman. For anyone else, it
strikes me as phony and affected. Do I really care if a job prospect married
the prettiest girl in his small town? I am more interested in whether he or
she is competent and a self-learner.

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jraines
People who look at resumes all day spend 15 seconds looking at most resumes
because that's how long it takes to find something stupid or disqualifying for
the job, not because they look for something awesome for 15 seconds and then
chuck it if they aren't grabbed by your whimsical creativity.

Your resume should get you in the door -- use your interview to convey what a
unique and special snowflake you are.

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notauser
My resume got noticed at the last place I applied to because the guy who was
making up the short list had already been talked to by two people who could
recommend me.

~~~
icky
Seriously.

If you know someone in the company, skip H.R. and send your resume directly.

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tptacek
Probably super valuable for receptionists and paralegals.

For developers though, the only purpose of a resume is to get an interview.
Competant developers are _rare_. Everyone with a decent resume that is
keyword-compliant is getting interviewed.

If you read this board, your resume probably doesn't need to waste time
"selling". Just write what you've done and what you know. Save the selling for
the phone screen.

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whatwoulddadsay
My intention was not provide a flip one sentence Leno-type headline to a
resume, I apologize if the idea is offensive. I may have been in one of
'those' moods. I do think that you must grab the hiring manager's attention in
a few seconds. Unfortunately, most people tend to bury their achievements,
work ethic, attitudes, etc. Put them front and center works best.

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ComputerGuru
That's just silly/stupid. A good resume speaks for itself and is instantly
obvious from 1) The grammar and words used 2) The length of the resume (yes,
believe me, size does matter) 3) What it says. Content is king, it doesn't
make a difference if we're talking articles or resumes/CVs.

A resume isn't where you show off your humor, that's what interviews are for.

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ced
Length? Shorter or longer then?

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LogicHoleFlaw
The direction I've received from various employment consultants is to keep
everything on a single page if possible. Two pages at the absolute maximum.

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babul
I too have been told this from several leading firms.

Your resume is an _invitation_ to interview. It should be used like an advert,
short and to the point and highlighting your best features.

My 1-page resume always impresses people much more than my 2-page resume.

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thwarted
I think employment agencies say this because they are in the habit of retyping
and reformatting resumes and longer resumes take more time to manage.

I started to have better responses when I started ignoring the advice to keep
the resume to one page.

The number of pages is also ambiguous when everything is transmitted
electronically, I always provide a link to the on-line HTML version, and
sometimes attach a PDF generated from that. It's not actually that long when
displayed on-screen.

I have personally not had any trouble getting interviews because I have a 3 or
4 page resume (once printed out). In order for it to be one page, I'd have to
exclude a significant amount of my work experience, work experience which is
relevant to the jobs I'm applying for. The resume should be an indication of
exactly what you can do, your experience and capabilities should be laid out
_before_ the interview. The interviewer should be able to look at your resume
and say "This person has the skills and the experience we need, let's talk and
find out if they're a good fit", not "I can't tell what this person is capable
of because their resume is not very detailed".

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thwarted
Also, I try to write my resume with a focus on technical readers, not
necessarily HR. Part of the goal is to get past the resume screeners, but if
you want the job, having something to talk about, prompted by the contents of
the resume, during the technical interview with actual technical people is a
big advantage. The last thing you want is to have a sparse resume such that
the interviewer does not have a basis for asking questions.

I guess this can kind of come off like "pre-loading the interviewing process",
but when I've had to be the interviewer, the better interviews (and the better
candidates) were the ones who already knew what they knew and didn't need to
spend time reviewing their own past during the phone or face-to-face
interview.

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PongoMan
I think the resume headline (from GL Hoffman) is a fabulous idea because, as a
former corporate recruiter I had to read thousands of resume. A headline a
resume would certainly get my attention and get me to read with greater
attention.

Resume headlines can certainly apply to highly technical careers as well.

The reason the headline works is because corporate recruiters are famous for
screening out exceptional engineers simply because the engineer did not have
enough of the right buzzwords in their resume, hence the hiring manager never
gets to see the exceptional candidate.

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sspencer
"The reason the headline works is because corporate recruiters are famous for
screening out exceptional engineers simply because the engineer did not have
enough of the right buzzwords in their resume..."

Anyone who recruits in this fashion is someone I would automatically ignore
when looking for a job. A headline like those quoted would do nothing but
garner ridicule if you applied to my group.

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Tichy
Reminds me of pickup-lines for girls.

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kaens
I can not imagine writing a headline like that for a resume. I would feel
utterly ridiculous, like I was writing an upsell for some crappy sold-by-
infomercial product.

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sealedidentity
May work for blue collar jobs. Certainly not for any 60k plus jobs. The idea
sounds second only to making videos for getting hired.

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timcederman
My resume got noticed by Volkswagen and Cisco because I put "beer brewing"
under my interests. YMMV though.

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extantproject
... or you could make it a one-page, succinct advertisement of yourself and
leave the bullshit out.

