In a recent discussion about resumes on Nick Corcodilos’ Blog “Ask the HeadHunter” the value of key words was debated. See the discussion at http://bit.ly/37NX7T. In most situations today a person will want to include key words on their resume, but in some cases they may not. It really all depends on who the resume is going to initially and how it is going to get there.
For resumes that will be submitted into an ATS system or posted online you must have the correct key words or you are wasting your time. Key word searching is NOT the best way to find great talent (even though some think it is), but it is the process that 99% of companies use within their recruiting organizations to source resumes.
For resumes going directly to a hiring manager, or to a network contact that is forwarding to the hiring manager, key words are much less useful than RESULTS STATEMENTS or as Nick called them “value offered statements”. One could argue that key words are a waste of space in this context.
When a hiring manager decides s/he needs new/different talent they typically have one or more business problems in mind. They seek talent to overcome those problems. If you can show in your resume that you have overcome the same or similar problems, particularly if you can quantify how successful you were in overcoming those problems, you will stand out from the crowd. This is why you should take the results/value offered statement approach for the hiring manager. Hiring managers look for problem solvers that get results! Keep this in mind when interviewing with the hiring manager.
With HR I think the problem they face is a little different. Their problem is finding someone that meets the hiring managers “skill set requirements” as Kathy said in the discussion. You may be asking yourself, how is this any different than what I just said? The key difference here is that the hiring manager rarely, if ever, presents HR with a list of business problems to be solved because that just isn’t the way they work (but maybe it should be). Instead, HR is presented with a list of qualifications. Their task is to find someone who meets that specification or they run the risk of a dissatisfied customer! Don’t fault them for this, they are just doing their job. That said, HR looks for skills, qualifications, pedigree, key words, etc. Keep this in mind when interviewing with HR.
This is where one of the biggest problems I see with resumes comes from. Both people are involved in the recruiting process and both require a resume. Even though they want the same thing in the long run, they sometimes look for different things in the beginning. The trick is to get a document that satisfies both when you have to interact with HR before the hiring manager and to use the “results” format if you have the ability to connect with the hiring manager first. YES, this means having two somewhat different versions of your resume on hand.
For more about how to write a resume summary read my Blog post at http://wp.me/pCoHk-1s. For my complete resume writing advice read my Blog post at http://wp.me/pCoHk-3.
If you would like help with your job search you can contact us.
