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I disagree with many minor points here, but one strongly enough to comment: do not send your resume as a Word doc. Any modern tracking system parses PDFs, and W

by karmel 9y ago

I disagree with many minor points here, but one strongly enough to comment: do not send your resume as a Word doc. Any modern tracking system parses PDFs, and Word docs make it look like you don’t know how to use a computer.

MarkPearce 9y ago
Sorry, you disagree with many minor points, Karmel. I'd be keen to get some comms going with you to learn where this needs tightening. Always happy to listen to people's views. I can be reached on welcome@markpearce.net (and I don't bite. Ever).
- karmel 9y ago
  Sorry if I seemed too negative initially-- I was just typing on a phone :) For the sake of public record, I'll add a few notes here. "12. Don't be afraid to ask for the job after your interview..." Only, only do this if you can pull off suave confidence well, and if you are fairly certain that you killed the interview(s). It is very rare to have someone ace all interview segments in the modern tech interview (for better or for worse), and if someone were on the fence, but seemed to be so totally unaware as to ask for the job on the spot, I would be concerned about self-awareness. Not to mention that many companies have a review process anyhow, so it can seem naive to be over-confident. That said, perfectly fine to exhibit confidence about how the interview went-- I feel like this went well, I'm really excited, what are the next steps, etc. "20... You can type something like this: Project Manager - Actively seeking a new opportunity..." To each his/her own, but I would go one step further, and just avoid having "actively seeking" in the title anywhere. There is a lot of noise in LinkedIn messages, and I tend to ignore those that are too needy at the first outreach. "24. Write your resume in the same font. Write it in the same colour and sized font." If you don't know anything about type design, this is probably safe. But after a dozen or more resumes fly by, I don't mind a little pop of color or finesse :) "27. Leave photos or graphs out of your resume. These can confuse an employer's tracking system...." While I totally agree with the tip, I think the reason is wrong here. Many tracking systems are fine with photos. The real problem is that it's very jarring to see a photo on a resume, and feels too personal. Or heaven forfend, your marital status, which I have also seen. "30. Apply for jobs where you only have to upload your resume...." It's annoying, but some of the best employers in the tech industry still do this, so, probably a little premature to use this as a hard filter. Also, +1 to whitespace in resumes.
  - MarkPearce 9y ago
    Thanks for your comments. Useful insights. One or two could be subjective, but I realise the people reading the resumes will see things differently too. It reads like the ATS you've used / seen can ID resumes and not kick them out. In Australia, this is rarely the case. Even though it's 2017. I'll review point 12. Good advice. Thank you. It's still a work in progress and I'll be trying to reach 100 tips by the end of this year. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Really appreciated. Mark

by karmel 9y ago

MarkPearce 9y ago

Sorry, you disagree with many minor points, Karmel. I'd be keen to get some comms going with you to learn where this needs tightening. Always happy to listen to people's views. I can be reached on welcome@markpearce.net (and I don't bite. Ever).

karmel 9y ago
Sorry if I seemed too negative initially-- I was just typing on a phone :) For the sake of public record, I'll add a few notes here. "12. Don't be afraid to ask for the job after your interview..." Only, only do this if you can pull off suave confidence well, and if you are fairly certain that you killed the interview(s). It is very rare to have someone ace all interview segments in the modern tech interview (for better or for worse), and if someone were on the fence, but seemed to be so totally unaware as to ask for the job on the spot, I would be concerned about self-awareness. Not to mention that many companies have a review process anyhow, so it can seem naive to be over-confident. That said, perfectly fine to exhibit confidence about how the interview went-- I feel like this went well, I'm really excited, what are the next steps, etc. "20... You can type something like this: Project Manager - Actively seeking a new opportunity..." To each his/her own, but I would go one step further, and just avoid having "actively seeking" in the title anywhere. There is a lot of noise in LinkedIn messages, and I tend to ignore those that are too needy at the first outreach. "24. Write your resume in the same font. Write it in the same colour and sized font." If you don't know anything about type design, this is probably safe. But after a dozen or more resumes fly by, I don't mind a little pop of color or finesse :) "27. Leave photos or graphs out of your resume. These can confuse an employer's tracking system...." While I totally agree with the tip, I think the reason is wrong here. Many tracking systems are fine with photos. The real problem is that it's very jarring to see a photo on a resume, and feels too personal. Or heaven forfend, your marital status, which I have also seen. "30. Apply for jobs where you only have to upload your resume...." It's annoying, but some of the best employers in the tech industry still do this, so, probably a little premature to use this as a hard filter. Also, +1 to whitespace in resumes.
- MarkPearce 9y ago
  Thanks for your comments. Useful insights. One or two could be subjective, but I realise the people reading the resumes will see things differently too. It reads like the ATS you've used / seen can ID resumes and not kick them out. In Australia, this is rarely the case. Even though it's 2017. I'll review point 12. Good advice. Thank you. It's still a work in progress and I'll be trying to reach 100 tips by the end of this year. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Really appreciated. Mark