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Re: What do interviewers read? (was: US Professional issues)
Subject:Re: What do interviewers read? (was: US Professional issues) From:JIMCHEVAL -at- AOL -dot- COM Date:Fri, 16 Oct 1998 11:19:56 EDT
In a message dated 98-10-16 10:58:19 EDT, jdavid -at- FARABI -dot- COM writes:
<< how important is a description of my work for each client
on my resumé? Is it better to keep a resumé as brief as possible (bullet
form) and explain it in the interview, or is it better to put a brief
description of what I did for each client? What is it that an interviewer
would rather see? >>
Since I've done a bit of interviewing in the last few months, I'll give some
feedback on this.
Certainly I TRIED to read resumes before interviewing people. This might not
happen though if the person interviewing is doing so in an advisory capacity
("Tell me what you think of this person") and gets handed the resume just
before the interview.
Either way, talking about things that are already on the resume has far more
to do with getting an overall feeling for the candidate and also seeing how
far their experience actually went than it does simply re-gathering the listed
information. I''ve been impressed by resumes, then realized as I talked to
the candidate that they really didn't have a good grasp of technologies or
contexts they'd played up on their resume. And in one or two cases, yes, I'm
reasonably sure these people out and out lied.
The reverse can happen as well - in exploring points on the resume, the
candidate may reveal additional qualities which may be decisive in getting
them the job.
Also, you don't know how many people are involved in the decision process.
The person who suggests you be called in may not be the person who actually
interviews you. So the additional information you provide may be essential to
getting called in, but still unfamiliar to the actual interviewer.
I'd say, keep it short, yes, but not so sparse that it doesn't even create
interest. Also, in general, be careful about trying to second-guess
interviewers. The resume's only part of a larger process, and different
people have different styles in implementing that process.
