Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A word about résumés.

atalasoft.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 37 posts

Re: A word about résumés.

#11

Post by vacri »

The best resume format I've seen is this: list your job duties in a plain English paragraph or two without getting too verbose. Directly after that, stick all the keywords for that particular position in a box. Move on to the next position and do the same.

This way the mouthbreather HR folk that just run off dot-points and couldn't give a fuck get their keywords, and the folks next in line who want to understand what you actually did and can understand what you're talking about can hear you describe it in your own words (plus refer to keywords as necessary). Short, plain English paragraphs speak volumes as to your skill in communication and that is picked up by those who care (ie: not HR)

Re: A word about résumés.

#12

Post by tptacek »

Less than half the resumes we've received have fit on a single page. I simply do not believe anyone who says they discard anything after the first page of a resume.

Re: A word about résumés.

#13

Post by epynonymous »

i disagree--two pages of content is quite sane for someone who's worked let's say over 4-5 years. if you read a resume that says:

Google, Principal Software Engineer, 2006 - Current Python, git, gerrit, responsible for Gmail

is that really enough for you to make a decision to spend time on a phone screen?

i've scanned over tens of thousands of resumes and agree with you that making things concise is important. however just because a resume has additional information should not mean that that person's not qualified, it simply implies that it's harder for you to scan.

so simple rule for those updating your resumes, keep it concise, but don't be afraid to elaborate. a) it tells me a little bit about your communication ability and b) it gives me more information that i can optionally read if i want to know something. that also means my phone screenings are a lot more efficient because i know which questions to ask.

another piece of advice is to have a quick summary somewhere in your resume, i keep mine at the top. this is for the impatient (or over burdened). i've never dropped a set of resumes because they were too long, but to the contrary i've dropped resumes because they were too short too many times.

Re: A word about résumés.

#14

Post by amchang »

The most important think about a resume is that the recruiter or manager who's offering the position has or will not put a lot of effort into reading your resume. If it doesn't fit what they are looking for, even if your amazing, they will ignore you.

Re: A word about résumés.

#15

Post by rdouble »

epynonymous wrote: post #13

i disagree--two pages of content is quite sane for someone who's worked let's say over 4-5 years. if you read a resume that says: Google, Principal Software Engineer, 2006 - Current Python, git, gerrit, responsible for Gmail is that really enough for you to make a decision to spend time on a phone screen? i've scanned over tens of thousands of resumes and agree with you that making things concise is important. howeve…

if you read a resume that says: Google, Principal Software Engineer, 2006 - Current Python, git, gerrit, responsible for Gmail is that really enough for you to make a decision to spend time on a phone screen?

Yeah.

Re: A word about résumés.

#16

Post by toadi »

Well I have a CV. The first page is the summary and normally you have a good feeling of my competences and you could toss the rest in the bin.

But generally as a consultant people recruiting me look if I have done a similar project. So all the rest is summing up all the projects I have worked on. If you're interested you can read it.

Re: A word about résumés.

#17

Post by epynonymous »

rdouble wrote: post #15
epynonymous wrote: post #13

i disagree--two pages of content is quite sane for someone who's worked let's say over 4-5 years. if you read a resume that says: Google, Principal Software Engineer, 2006 - Current Python, git, gerrit, responsible for Gmail is that really enough for you to make a decision to spend time on a phone screen? i've scanned over tens of thousands of resumes and agree with you that making things concise is important. howeve…

if you read a resume that says: Google, Principal Software Engineer, 2006 - Current Python, git, gerrit, responsible for Gmail is that really enough for you to make a decision to spend time on a phone screen? Yeah.

not if you're looking for a C++ developer, or not necessarily if you're looking for a performance tuning engineer...

the point is that it doesn't really tell you anything, i could be wasting my time on a phone call if i find out he was only writing python tools to help with packaging and deployment when what i want is a rockstar python developer to help create highly scalable wsgi compliant rest servers.

Re: A word about résumés.

#18

Post by rdouble »

epynonymous wrote: post #17
rdouble wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you read a resume that says: Google, Principal Software Engineer, 2006 - Current Python, git, gerrit, responsible for Gmail is that really enough for you to make a decision to spend time on a phone screen? Yeah.

not if you're looking for a C++ developer, or not necessarily if you're looking for a performance tuning engineer... the point is that it doesn't really tell you anything, i could be wasting my time on a phone call if i find out he was only writing python tools to help with packaging and deployment when what i want is a rockstar python developer to help create highly scalable wsgi compliant rest servers.

It tells me he already got through Google's notoriously thorough hiring process.

Re: A word about résumés.

#19

Post by epynonymous »

rdouble wrote: post #18
epynonymous wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not if you're looking for a C++ developer, or not necessarily if you're looking for a performance tuning engineer... the point is that it doesn't really tell you anything, i could be wasting my time on a phone call if i find out he was only writing python tools to help with packaging and deployment when what i want is a rockstar python developer to help create highly scalable wsgi compliant rest servers.

It tells me he already got through Google's notoriously thorough hiring process.

granted--google is quite thorough--but it doesn't directly translate into this candidate being a match for your company based on motivation nor skill set.

Re: A word about résumés.

#20

Post by glenjamin »

jasonjei wrote: post #9

Something always bothers me when I see two é's on résumé. Yes, it's probably the correct way of saying it, but neither the English nor the French (not even the French!) use the word "résumé." There's a certain level of douchebaggery when I see two accented é's rather than the term "CV," which is used in France and most of Europe.

Judging by the pronunciation, I can't see how both 'e's can be accented. Unless you say "ray soo may".
Post reply on HN