Transcript - Episode 008 - The Gift of the Crappy Resume

I am a big believer that awful resumes often times belong to incredible employees. 

Today we’re going to talk about how to look through messy resumes and discover “WOW” employees. 

Hi, I’m Daava Mills, the Rebellious Recruiter. I’ve been in the trenches of finding people for over 20 years. I’ve seen some messed up resumes in my time. I’ve coached potential employees on what to do to clean up their resumes, I spent a little extra time on the phone getting to understand skill sets, and I’ve discovered there are wonderful people out there that bring revenue and positive impact to the company they work for. 

Today we’ll talk about moving through the mess.

So, pull up a seat… let’s chat.

(Intro music)

30 or more years ago, there were two ways to apply for a job. One, fill out an application, or two, hire a resume writer who’d interview you, and they’d manually type up your resume. You’d bring it to companies that advertised an opening.

But…

You didn’t need a resume to score a job with most companies, you just needed readable penmanship, and be willing to spend time at various companies dressed in your Sunday best, just to fill out an application. 

When personal computers made things easier, people started writing their own, often terrible, resumes, and the resume became a companion to an onsite application. Usually with some note on the application to say “see resume” in which some companies didn’t like that, and made you fill out your application anyway so they could hold you to the legal jargon on the last page of the application saying you didn’t lie on your application.

What came next was the copy and paste game to an online application, which, by the way, is the number one thing candidates complain about in the recruiting process. I hear it from everyone. They find out about my recruiting background? I hear about how awful online applications are or how awful some interview questions are.

I’m finally seeing that resume writing is being taught in high-schools on a regular basis. With some high schools actually implementing interview training as well. It’s about time.

What this means though, is an entire generation, the latter half of X and the first half of the Millennials, have never been trained on how to write a resume. And having a professional resume writer do a resume for them, may not align with the needs of their pocket book. Let that sink in, most of the resumes you get, the applicant has never been taught the skill of resume writing. No wonder so many are awful!

I’m going to jump subjects now, just for a second. This episode touches on the subject of emotional capital, while we talk about crappy resumes. I have an upcoming series on emotional capital that will break the process down in detail.

Until then, what is Emotional Capital? Emotional Capital is the building blocks of an employment relationship. It’s like a checking account. you make the deposit, and the ROI is the employee’s loyalty, expertise, and commitment to make your company great.

With that said, let’s get started.

I once worked with this stodgy recruiter. She specialized in Payroll and HR placement. I was so new at recruiting, just left a job as a glorified receptionist (the owner said he thought of me like an Office Manager), but I had never worked at a company that had HR or Payroll as departments. I literally didn't know what they were. This stodgy recruiter decked out in her tiny gold bracelets and necklaces told me "You're only perfect twice in your life. The moment you're born, and on your resume."

Perfect resumes often belong to perfect interviewers. People tend to be perfect interviewers because they have a lot of practice interviewing. I find that often… awesome resumes and interviews belong to shooting stars. People who sparkle at the beginning but fizzle out fast. The best hires I’ve dealt with have had flawed resumes. It’s just the way it is. 

Some years ago, I was recruiting for an Executive Assistant. I got a call from someone telling me they were qualified. She was super excited about the job. I really enjoyed my brief interaction with her. She was full of moxie and self-assurance, and I wanted to have this person around me. 

Then she emailed her resume. I got an approximate 4-page copy and paste into the body of the email message that was a complete mess. About 4 different fonts were used, with no clear purpose, font sizes were changing, sometimes in the middle of sentences. The first person of “I” was written in lower case. Skills were listed out in job summaries. Words were misspelled. You get the picture. And the best part? She stressed her attention to detail. I went through the resume with a fine-tooth comb, and she was not qualified for the Executive Assistant opening. 

I was heart-broken. 

So, I did something new for me, I emailed her back. I started the email with “I am giving you this advice because I really like you, and I believe you have something to offer a company. You’re not going to be happy reading this, but I think it will help you.” I then wrote a 2-page long critique of her resume, going line by line.

My response to her took about 20 minutes of my time.

A few months later we had a referral only receptionist opening. I tracked her down through an employee, so it could be an employee referral. The employee told me that she was indeed upset when she got my response. But after a while she was happy, she got a response, as she had been sending her resume out with no luck.

She applied for the job. I received a near perfect resume. Bullets and tab sets were all correct, the content was spot on, grammar was solid, fonts were the same. You get the picture.

She was brought in for an interview with the CEO’s personal assistant. And she nailed it. 

She got the job. Wahoo!! 6 months later, she was promoted. Our career paths both moved on. I caught up with her a few years later, and she had progressed into HR Management. To say I am elated for her is an understatement. She earned it.

So, this is what I’ve learned. If you get a terrible resume, look at the length of the jobs, and the type of jobs. Look for the common thread. If they are moving jobs every six months, and there is no upward mobility, that’s what you want to avoid. But what if you see upward mobility, or increase in duties? That means something is happening. 

If they’ve been with the same company for over 10 years, again, something may be there, and is worth exploring.

What if there are a couple misspelled words. Well, if they aren’t an english major and they are applying for an accounting job, I am more concerned with their ability to deal with numbers. Similar for a sales job, how do they deal with people? Ever hear the phrase "take the message, but leave the mess"? That's what this is about. Take into consideration what the job actually requires of a person, and look for signs of that in the resume.

Because, there’s a million-reason people have terrible resumes.

Maybe they’ve been with the same company since graduating college, so they’ve never had to write a resume. 

Maybe they’ve been working for their parents, and the business is being sold. But they don't announce it's a family company.

Maybe no one has mentored them on how to look for a job. 

Maybe they’ve taken bad advice on how to write a resume.

I once had someone update their resume, and I noticed the dates didn’t match the first resume. A closer look and he hid his experience as a United States Marine. He totally removed it from his resume and altered his job dates. I called him and asked why. Well, one of his friends said to not talk about that because someone might not want to work with him due to his military experience. Believe me, when I tell you there is bad advice out there, and most of it is from well-meaning family and friends. Clear communication is vital in this process, but we have ways of hiding information on resumes that cause you, the business owner, to make an assumption… I don't like that. And I bet you don't either.

Whatever the reason, there’s a good chance they didn’t put half of the relevant information down on their resume. 

Depending on the position you're hiring, reach out to the candidate. If written skills are required, shoot them an email stating “you may not like this email, but I am helping you because I believe you have potential, and I want to help.” Then give them a few pointers about what you, and any other employer, wants to see in a resume. Remember, this is not about you, it’s about them. Email in this case, if you are really nice to them, is a way for them to let the information sink in without them needing to feel embarrassed or defensive.

This will also tell you if the applicant is coachable. Or as Pat Lencioni talks about in the Ideal Team Player, this is a way to find out if the person is Humble, Hungry and Smart. Humble because they listen and want to be better, Hungry because they follow through, and Smart that they implement specifically what you request. 

It may sound weird that written skills may not be reflected in a resume. Most people don’t do well when they need to advertise what they do. It's human nature. And again, we have a full generation of talented people that have never been taught how to write a resume. And they don’t know theirs is awful. It really is that simple. 

So, by giving feedback, what you are doing here is building emotional capital. Emotional Capital the best resource you have at your disposal, especially because recruiting people is so nuanced and full of personal richness and experience. There is a ton of competition in the applicant pool out there. Remember, emotional capital isn’t about you at first glance, it’s about building your reputation through the candidate experience.

Once you get the updated resume, then schedule a phone screen, or FaceTime/Skype interview for a day or two later. Create some time that will allow the candidate time to prepare and research you a little more. 

If written skills aren’t required, then a phone call to the person is a better option, and you don’t need to focus on honing their resume.  All you need to do is ask a few short, specific required skill questions that you put in a template form so you can have a short conversation with ease. I see here you’re working at Jason’s Welding Shop. What kind of welding are you doing? What size wire are you using? What positions do you weld in? Have you been certified in any of the weld types? Can you shoot me a copy of your certificates? How do you test the welds over there?

I had a form like that that I used. I created a bunch of check boxes with different wire sizes, position certifications (1g, 2g, 3g, etc.), types of tests used (x-ray, ultra-sound, break), types of welding (GMAW, FCAW, Tig, Mig). That way I didn't have to remember what information I gathered if it was missing. I attached it to the resume and application. I know, with a staple… I'm not a spring a chicken.

A short conversation costs 5 to 15 minutes of your time. You’ll get an immediate feel for how the candidate communicates, and if you want to know more about this person. It also builds much needed emotional capital.

Do not delegate the call to another person, unless you are 100% certain they know the acronyms and shop talk. I once called an office manager of a welding shop, she had passed on several qualified resumes because they didn’t have the words FLUX CORE on them. Turned out she didn’t know the acronym FCAW was Flux Core Arc Welding. Who knows how many perfectly qualified candidates she dismissed, because no one gave her a cheat sheet or took the time to get detailed with her. And I am sure she was highly embarrassed when I, a complete stranger, pointed this out to her. 

If you must delegate, you need to spend time training the delegate. You would never give your office keys to an employee without the alarm code. Same applies for people being gate keepers, don’t just hand over the keys to growing business without the a cheat sheet of sorts. 

Schedule a time for them to do 3, maybe 5, calls for them to get the hang of gathering information with you. And it should be done on a check off template, this way there is nothing left to chance. Again, this is like that fishing rod, the first contact? No flexibility. Especially if the person screening hasn't done that type of work. Over time they will learn what works, what doesn't and when to flex with an interview, but give them time. There will be flexibility in later interviews.

Once a person passes the pre-screen, bring them in for a face to face interview. Skilled positions are best served when you do a visual interview, or a walk around the shop, as so many skilled workers aren’t decent verbal communicators.

If you don’t know what a visual interview is, Episode 003 covers that, and why it’s an important interview style. Look for it in the library of The Rebellious Recruiter podcasts.

In the meantime, please know that by reaching out to people, just to coach them is an easy way to build emotional capital, and to build a stellar reputation for your company.

As always, I’ll be bringing you new information weekly. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this. Feel free to comment, rate, and review what you hear. Share this podcast with other leaders that may be building “out of this world teams.” You can email me with your thoughts or questions. I may use your subject matter in upcoming shows. 

It’s great to meet you and thank you for listening. I know you only have so many hours in the week, and I am grateful to spend this time with you. Until then, make it a great day! See you on the flip side.