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Two issues with a one-page resume. First, to get to the phone screen many companies now use some form of automation to weed out applications. Less words simpl

Two issues with a one-page resume. First, to get to the phone screen many companies now use some form of automation to weed out applications. Less words simply means less chance of an automated match against the job description criteria. Second, never underestimate how lazy the HR screener is. They aren't technical, they aren't ambitious, they're generally borderline incompetent people whose sole marketable skill is that they are pleasant to talk with. If you don't spell out, in detail, that you're a Front-end Developer who uses X, Y, Z tools for N years the screener won't be able to read between the lines. Quick example... I was in a time crunch so I asked a recruiter to find me a Front-end Dev. She came back and asked for a job description, project brief, culture brief, competitors / no hire list, and salary range. I felt like she was asking the right questions, she seemed smart. A week goes by, "Sorry, no candidates." Oh... Ok, well it's a hot market... we can up the price $5k. Next week, "Sorry, no candidates." Hmm, that's really odd. She apologized, said she had gotten over 100 resumes, and said, "Nobody has 5 years of HTML / CSS experience listed on their resume." After a brief talk, she fundamentally didn't understand anything past a direct keyword match. Anyway good and bad recruiters, but you never know when your resume is going to end up in the hands of someone really junior. Better to have everything spelled out. Better to be explicit around what you did with each past job. Generally the posted job description is all the recruiter is going off of to match you, so it's easy to tune your resume to fit. * Optimize Your Resume and Boost Interview Chances - Jobscan || https://www.jobscan.co/ https://www.jobscan.co/

GhostVII 9y ago
> Second, never underestimate how lazy the HR screener is. They aren't technical, they aren't ambitious, they're generally borderline incompetent people whose sole marketable skill is that they are pleasant to talk with. There are a lot of HR people in the world, that is a bit of a generalisation, don't you think? I'm sure there are lots of great HR people, and lots of incompetent HR people, just like any other job.
- dbg31415 9y ago
  I can count on one hand the number of good recruiters I've worked with over the years. Generally they view it all as a numbers game, spam over candidates until one sticks. They won't go out of their way to understand things is what I meant by "ambitious" there... If a candidate is thinking, "Well, my resume is basically just a link to my GitHub profile," or, "I have all these awesome references on LinkedIn..." I would caution them to not rely on HR people going that extra step to get the info -- it should all be on the resume or it's probably not going to get looked at.
  - logfromblammo 9y ago
    I could count on one hand the number of good recruiters I have worked with and the number of Voltron lion robots. Every second I spent talking to a recruiter has been an absolutely unmitigated waste of time. And they always try to waste so much of my time, too. They always seem to want to "touch base" and "reach out", or try to mine my contact list for other prospects. It didn't take long for me to figure out that they care not at all about my outcome, and overwhelmingly prefer quantity over quality.
- desireco42 9y ago
  I don't think so, I think he is spot on. If you have more skills, you do something else. I had some great recruiters to work with, but they move up fairly quickly.
- randcraw 9y ago
  HR is not 'like any other job'. Google's internal analysis of what HR practices yielded top tech performers strongly disproved most longstanding HR maxims, like hire from the best schools, with highest GPAs, etc. AFAIK, very few of the HR services used by most large corps have integrated much less acknowledged this sea change in tech HR nor integrated some of those lessons in their daily practices. Their hallmark MO continues to be: grep for keywords. So I'd agree with only the middle of your last sentence.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- mikestew 9y ago
  There are a lot of HR people in the world, that is a bit of a generalisation, don't you think? When I run across an outlier, I’ll let you know; seriously. But after twenty-five years, I wouldn’t get my hopes up. (Remember that parent said “screener”, not “VP of HR w/25 years experience”. And even the VP can be a waste of good office space sometimes.)
  - fpisfun 9y ago
    There are definitely some that at least have tact and respect for the skills that developers have. I won't talk to any that don't come across in this way immediately. If they are all about buzzwords and clearly haven't taken anytime to understand what software development is about they deserve to be blackballed
wastedhours 9y ago
> First, to get to the phone screen many companies now use some form of automation to weed out applications. Less words simply means less chance of an automated match against the job description criteria. Came here to post this. A lot of modern ATS systems (especially if you're jumping through a recruiter or applying to a large enough company) will screen for keywords. I've always maintained a 2 page CV, one page with the relevant experience pieces/qualitative info, and another page with "Skills", which is essentially keyword fodder. Granted, especially earlier in my career, I got invited to interview for roles that were well out of my league.

GhostVII 9y ago

> Second, never underestimate how lazy the HR screener is. They aren't technical, they aren't ambitious, they're generally borderline incompetent people whose sole marketable skill is that they are pleasant to talk with. There are a lot of HR people in the world, that is a bit of a generalisation, don't you think? I'm sure there are lots of great HR people, and lots of incompetent HR people, just like any other job.

dbg31415 9y ago
I can count on one hand the number of good recruiters I've worked with over the years. Generally they view it all as a numbers game, spam over candidates until one sticks. They won't go out of their way to understand things is what I meant by "ambitious" there... If a candidate is thinking, "Well, my resume is basically just a link to my GitHub profile," or, "I have all these awesome references on LinkedIn..." I would caution them to not rely on HR people going that extra step to get the info -- it should all be on the resume or it's probably not going to get looked at.
- logfromblammo 9y ago
  I could count on one hand the number of good recruiters I have worked with and the number of Voltron lion robots. Every second I spent talking to a recruiter has been an absolutely unmitigated waste of time. And they always try to waste so much of my time, too. They always seem to want to "touch base" and "reach out", or try to mine my contact list for other prospects. It didn't take long for me to figure out that they care not at all about my outcome, and overwhelmingly prefer quantity over quality.
desireco42 9y ago
I don't think so, I think he is spot on. If you have more skills, you do something else. I had some great recruiters to work with, but they move up fairly quickly.
randcraw 9y ago
HR is not 'like any other job'. Google's internal analysis of what HR practices yielded top tech performers strongly disproved most longstanding HR maxims, like hire from the best schools, with highest GPAs, etc. AFAIK, very few of the HR services used by most large corps have integrated much less acknowledged this sea change in tech HR nor integrated some of those lessons in their daily practices. Their hallmark MO continues to be: grep for keywords. So I'd agree with only the middle of your last sentence.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
mikestew 9y ago
There are a lot of HR people in the world, that is a bit of a generalisation, don't you think? When I run across an outlier, I’ll let you know; seriously. But after twenty-five years, I wouldn’t get my hopes up. (Remember that parent said “screener”, not “VP of HR w/25 years experience”. And even the VP can be a waste of good office space sometimes.)
- fpisfun 9y ago
  There are definitely some that at least have tact and respect for the skills that developers have. I won't talk to any that don't come across in this way immediately. If they are all about buzzwords and clearly haven't taken anytime to understand what software development is about they deserve to be blackballed

wastedhours 9y ago

> First, to get to the phone screen many companies now use some form of automation to weed out applications. Less words simply means less chance of an automated match against the job description criteria. Came here to post this. A lot of modern ATS systems (especially if you're jumping through a recruiter or applying to a large enough company) will screen for keywords. I've always maintained a 2 page CV, one page with the relevant experience pieces/qualitative info, and another page with "Skills", which is essentially keyword fodder. Granted, especially earlier in my career, I got invited to interview for roles that were well out of my league.