How To Quickly Review A Resume

When posting a job for immediate filling, one should expect an influx of applications and resumes. Who in your office has the experience and time to go through hundreds to thousands of prospects for just one position? This concern alone is a reason why staffing agencies are so crucial to a company’s success. They simply know how to screen more effectively.  Are you having a hard time ruling candidates out? Here are a few tips you can use when scanning a prospective employee’s resume.

Location. In most cases, if the prospective employee lists that he or she currently lives in Los Angeles, CA, and your offices are located in Montgomery County, MD, goodbye. Few, if any, prospective employees want to relocate anyone in this economy and I believe most shouldn’t have to. Especially in a huge metropolitan area like Los Angeles. If they do have to consider relocation the position has to require some very unique experience that few jobs do. Some applicants make mention that they are planning to relocate to an area close to your business. In this circumstance and perhaps, maybe only in this circumstance, this candidate should be taken seriously.

Industry. If the prospective employee is in banking and your company’s background is primarily manufacturing, goodbye. These two often are so different that the candidate isn’t open to considering such different industries. This works both ways, if your company has a manufacturing background, don’t consider someone with years of banking experience. A quick look through their previous places of employment should dictate this decision immediately.

Recent Experience. If the prospective employee has a time-lapse in the work experience you desire, say goodbye. If you are searching for someone with international sales experience in the aerospace industry and the last time they held an international sales position in this industry was 20 years ago and since then they have been in retail, goodbye. You can find people with more recent experience. Industries are constantly changing and improving, don’t risk your business on someone who isn’t as familiar with the lay of the land anymore.

Turnover. If the prospective employee has had 6 jobs in the last 4 years or has a track record of high turnover, goodbye. You must realize that there are good reasons for turnover but on a consistent basis, not likely.

The Obvious. If the prospective employee’s resume has obvious “no-nos”, such as spelling errors, poor format, errors in grammar, lengthy, verbose language, and rambling, say goodbye. If after reading it you still can’t figure out what to do, goodbye!

Staffing firms hire experienced recruiters who know how to find the right candidate for any position. These tips highlighted in this article are only some of the techniques, used by recruiters, to quickly rule out prospects that they know aren’t a good fit. A good staffing firm receives a stockpile of applicants and resumes each day, and it’s extremely time-consuming to elaborately go through them all. Tips and tricks based on what to look for at first sight help move this tedious process along. The return is finding a candidate for the client immediately!