REWRITING RESUME

Rajeev
cc: Vikram  cc: Rahul

06-02-06

STAND TALLER!

Original / creative / impressive writing is not everybody’s cup of tea — even when writing a resume.

This is why many sites offer articles (by HR mgmt experts) on:

“How to prepare an impressive resume?”

Quite a few job sites have a “Resume Writing Service.”

Send them your basic details or your old resume, and for a hefty fee they will rewrite your resume and return to you after a few weeks.

Besides cost, there is the question of waiting time.

And of course, no way to compare with any other “Bench-Mark” resume so that you know that all that money / waiting was worth it.

This is what prompted me to design, enclosed —

STAND TALLER

The underlying concept / method is as follows:

▶ After processing each & every TEXT resume, we categorize that person as belonging to:
 - Primary Function → a

 - Secondary Function → b

 - Tertiary Function → c

▶ We also allot a Raw Score & compute a Percentile based on how many other professionals we have in our database belonging to the same Primary Function (sub-population).

▶ Raw Scores are allotted based on the function-related keywords used in any given resume.

(Hand-drawn chart)

A simple percentile curve is shown, with 70–95 percentile shaded to indicate high performance.

Now, let us suppose a person’s text resume scored:

 Raw Score → 28

 Percentile → 70%

 Function → SALES

Obviously, he could improve / increase his Raw Score (and consequently “Percentile Score”) by adding “SALES” function-related keywords, which carry higher weightage.

But we cannot tell him this openly!

That may end up as a “Keyword Fraud”

and even bring bad reputation to our website.

HR men would lose all faith / respect in our Impartiality! Integrity!

Very Dangerous.

But we can still help a jobseeker in some clever / indirect way, while retaining our strict impartiality / neutrality.

By asking him to “compare his own/current resume with the resumes of other candidates in our database”

→ who belong to the same “Function”

→ whose “Raw Score / Percentile” are higher / better

So, in the enclosed UI, in the right-hand box marked BENCH MARK BOX,

we display the full resumes of such competing jobseekers who have scored better.

Obviously, their resumes would be containing:

• More keywords
• Higher weightage keywords

And these are highlighted in RED!

Thru this mechanism, we are drawing a jobseeker’s attention to such keywords, so that he may think,

“Hey, I know quite a lot about

– this SKILL

– this KNOWLEDGE

– this EXPERTISE.”

I must include this keyword in my resume, so let me “copy.”

He may even go further and copy/paste:

– full phrase

– full sentence

in toto.

Saves him time & bother.

Wherever (in whichever respect) he thinks his own resume is superior, he will retain it unchanged.

Wherever a co-professional’s resume is better, he will copy same.

And, we will not restrict him to see just one co-professional’s resume.

We will enable him to see resumes of all those other co-professionals (meaning, all those belonging to the same Primary Function) whose Percentile is higher than his own.

This is why, at the bottom of the BenchMark Box, I have provided buttons:

Previous  Next

In turn, he can open several better resumes (one at a time) and go on revising his resume in the middle box.

Alternatively, after each “copy/paste” session, he can store the latest version (created) by clicking:
Click to transfer to Version Box on left

How can he:

→ store the final version?

→ logout?

By displaying the resumes of co-professionals — are we violating any privacy issues?

I don’t think so.

On Global Recruiter, all resumes are public.

So, it does not matter whether only HR managers are able to see these, or even other jobseekers are able to see these.

Of course, if there is a way of hiding

→ Name

→ Contact Details,

nothing like it! Then, no one can complain.

In any case, Raw Score / Percentile must not be shown.

Please give this a thought.

This is an important but low priority feature.

(signature mark)

Rahul → Sawath

June 14, 2006

Easy On the Eyes (EOE)

There is no standard way of writing a text resume.

After studying about 80,000–100,000 text resumes, I discovered the following:

▶ There are about 15 “AREAS” of a text resume (like vital organs in a human body).

▶ There are numerous ways of describing each of these 15 AREAS — a total of 182 different variations!

▶ All text resumes do not necessarily contain all 15 AREAS.

▶ This, coupled with 182 variations (of nomenclature), makes millions of permutations/combinations in which resumes get written/structured!

▶ These huge number of combinations prevent apple-for-apple comparisons between any two given resumes. Even a computer would have difficulty making such objective comparison!

These (millions) combinations make it easy for a jobseeker to skip unpleasant details/facts without fear of being discovered/uncovered!

▶ Even when a candidate has no “bad facts” to hide, he would skip many “AREAS” simply because, in that particular area, he has nothing to report!

 e.g. he may not have:

 - written any publications

 - won any awards

 - got any memberships, etc.

▶ Our structured “Submit Resume” form covers only 4 AREAS, viz:

 – Skills (Skill Box)

 – Experience

 – Education

 – Personal Details

If we try to modify our “Submit Resume” form to cover all 15 AREAS in some structured way, it would capture a lot of valuable data (in specific fields).

But it would also make the form very long / unwieldy and jobseekers will run away!

Only companies who have a terrific bargaining power/clout (IBM–Wipro–Infosys–Accenture etc.) can force / compel the candidates to fill up such lengthy forms.

Someday, when we have that kind of power, we will do the same.

▶ Till such time, we have to permit candidates to cut & paste whatever text resume he has on his hard disk.

▶ But, can we make a HR mgr’s life easy by rearranging that text resume into those 15 AREAS?

15 “View-Boxes / Pop-Up Boxes”

Each View-Box to contain / display all “sentences / paras” which—

—are preceded by any of these 182 “nomenclatures / naming variations”!

e.g.

(Hand-drawn diagram labelled “GUI”)

Profile
[boxes and layout sketched showing user interface]

TEXT RESUME

AREAS	DISPLAY
Objective	———
Summary	———
Skills	———
Personal Details	———

(End of diagram)

Note: HR managers’ “expanded areas.”

Caption:

HR mgrs would LOVE this!

Sr. No.	Standard Heading (AREAS)	Number of Variations
1	Objective	7
2	Summary	11
3	Skills	19
4	Responsibilities	14
5	Experience	22
6	Achievements	7
7	Projects	10
8	Education	10
9	Professional Qualifications	4
10	Membership	4
11	Awards	4
12	Publications	4
13	Computer Skills	9
14	Miscellaneous	35
15	Personal Details	9

 

Standard Heading: Objective

Synonyms:

1. Objective
2. Job Objective
3. Career Objective
4. Personal Objectives
5. Ambition
6. Aims and Objectives
7. Job Demand

 

Standard Heading: Summary

Synonyms:

1. Summary
2. Summary of Experience
3. Quick Experience Summary
4. Qualification Summary
5. Work Experience Summary
6. Operational Sector
7. Career
8. Career Highlights
9. Technical Experience
10. Career Profile
11. Professional Summary

 

Standard Heading: Skills

Synonyms:

1. Skills
2. Key Skills
3. Technical Skills
4. Special Skills
5. Technical & Management Skills
6. Strengths & Professional Skills
7. Technical Skills & Product Experience
8. Strengths
9. Skill Set
10. Skill Assets
11. Strengths / Weaknesses
12. Professional Profile
13. Career Profile
14. Summary
15. Professional Summary
16. Summary of Qualifications
17. Technical Knowledge
18. Domain Experience
19. Summary of Skills & Experience

 

Standard Heading → Experience

Synonyms:

1. Experience
2. Work Experience
3. Previous Experience
4. Professional Experience
5. Relevant Project Experience
6. Summary of Experience
7. Experience Summary
8. Details of Work Experience
9. Detailed Work Experience
10. Experience Details
11. Job Experience
12. Professional Background
13. Employment History
14. Employment Summary
15. Brief Employment History
16. Career Progression
17. Earlier Positions
18. Last Appointment
19. Previous Assignments
20. Organisational Experience
21. Worked With
22. Working Exposure

 

Standard Heading → Achievements

Synonyms:

1. Achievements
2. Major Achievements
3. Key Achievements
4. Significant Achievements
5. Contributions
6. Significant Contributions
7. Strategic Accomplishments
8. Literary and Cultural Achievements
9. Personal Achievements
10. Key Performance Areas

 

Standard Heading → Projects

Synonyms:

1. Projects
2. Projects Handled
3. Projects Profile
4. Projects Associated With
5. Present Projects
6. Present Assignment
7. Projects in Which Worked

 

Standard Heading → Personal Details

Synonyms:

1. Personal Details
2. Personal Data
3. Personal Profile
4. Personnel Profile (spelling mistake noted)
5. Personal Touch
6. Personal Information
7. Personal
8. Bio Data
9. Curriculum Vitae

Standard Heading → Miscellaneous

Synonyms:

1. Family Data
2. Nationality
3. Marital Status
4. Passport Details
5. Passport Status
6. Other Activities
7. 7–12. Salary Details / Present Salary / Salary Expected / Relationship / Benefits
8. Administrative Performance
9. Willingness to Relocate / Mobility
10. Extra-Curricular Activities
11. Current Industry
12. Current Function
13. 18–20. Languages Known / Language Command / Languages
14. Experience Profile
15. Net Experience
16. Total Years of Experience
17. Experience as a Trainer
18. Other Interests / Main Interests
19. Present Location
20. Other Certificates
21. Additional Information
22. Hobbies
23. References
24. Circuits
25. Date of Availability

 

Standard Heading → Computer Skills

Synonyms:

1. Computer Skills
2. Computer Qualification
3. Computer Proficiency
4. Computer Familiarity
5. Computer Literacy
6. Computer Knowledge
7. Knowledge of Software
8. Professional Domain
9. Technical Skills

 

Standard Heading → Publications

Synonyms:

1. Publications
2. Papers Published & Presented
3. Author and Editor of

 

Standard Heading → Awards

Synonyms:

1. Awards
2. Awards Received
3. Honours & Awards

 

Standard Heading → Membership

Synonyms:

1. Membership
2. Member of Professional Bodies
3. Professional Membership
4. Academic & Professional Activities

 

Standard Heading → Professional Qualifications

Synonyms:

1. Professional Qualifications
2. Professional
3. Professional Certifications
4. Professional Courses Attended
5. Summary of Skills & Professional
6. Certifications
7. Specialized Course
8. Training/s
9. Training Availed
10. Training / Special Achievement
11. Details of Training
12. Other Courses / Memberships
13. Additional
14. Trainings Attended

 

Standard Heading → Education

Synonyms:

1. Education
2. Education Details
3. Educational Background
4. Educational Qualification
5. Educational Qualifications
6. Technical Qualifications
7. Academics
8. Academic Qualifications
9. Academic Credentials
10. Qualifications