One note of caution: If you’re already working with a recruiter, be careful of boundaries since both sides there often give priority to their relationship.

~ Ronnie Ann

It used to be so much simpler when we all communicated in person before we all converted to living our lives through e-mail, text, and twitter.

It’s no wonder the recruitment process fails so often. Wait about six weeks after you first apply for a job online and you will see the same job advertisement listed again. You’ll probably shake your head and wonder why they didn’t call you too.

“Crapshoot” is exactly the term I would use as well.

I have started encouraging people to stop following the directions on job advertisements. Instead, I encourage people to start networking to get those resumes in the hands of real decision makers.

Now I suspect a recruiter or hiring manager might jump on here and freak out about getting personal contact…but it’s working for the people I work with so arguing against personal contact is going to convince me that my advice is actually good advice.

~ R

To anyone who isn’t familiar with craps, setting and making the point are parts of the game.

Nicely said. I’ve worked in IT and you’re so right about people applying for things they are vastly unqualified for. And especially in IT, keywords and phrases really do matter. Having worked in an Oracle shop, I’m smiling at what you said about Oracle. But agree it’s smart to leave out a skill like that if you don’t want to do Oracle any more – as long as you still include your related accomplishments.

Just want to add this one thought…sometimes when we’re hiring for an IT spot, we are willing to hire someone with only some of the key requirements. I’ve done it myself. It all depends on how you word your cover letter and how you come off in your interviews. Don’t be afraid to apply places where your keywords are a bit lower than your current criteria. Just include a good cover letter and aim at what you see as the company’s most important need, explaining why you are the right person after all. A strong honest story that brings it all together can sometimes make up for a few missing keywords.

Good luck, BA!

~ Ronnie Ann

But all the more reason to make sure that ANY resume you send out must be targeted at the employer’s needs. The more skills and qualifications you have that link up with words in the job posting, the better.

Most of my current co-workers look down on tech certifications because so many inexperienced people have them. While I agree they are totally over-rated, they sure help on your resume. This is especially true with smaller companies where the only technical person on-site is the vacant position in question. I posted my resume on a few job boards a year ago and still get steady calls because of a few specific keywords. One of my certs is technically expired (I’m working on renewing it now) but I leave it on my resume anyway so I show up in searches. On the flip side, there are certain keywords (like Oracle which I know but don’t enjoy) that I purposely leave off my resume so I don’t get calls for those jobs.

It’s frustrating but I can see the employer’s side of it as well. When you’re getting bombarded with resumes for every position, you need to weed out obviously unqualified people ASAP. I have a few friends who routinely apply for CTO-level positions even though they have only managed small teams and budgets. And I’m sure entry-level techs are applying for the same senior admin and engineer positions as me. If my resume doesn’t have keywords that legitimately hit about 60-70% of a job posting, I typically don’t apply.