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Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

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Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#141

Post by democracy »

lemoncookiechip wrote: post #127

I've been told in the past by people who's jobs were to review résumés, that the less your résumé stands out visually from others, the more likely were you passed up. This makes sense if you stop and think about it. These people spend hours looking at résumés that all look the same, with the same qualification a lot of time. Things like the font choice, the paper itself (recycled paper for example), the length (big i…

Maybe if it some designer CV yes, for programmers' cvs it is more sane to deal with the same format.

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#142

Post by Terretta »

beachy wrote: post #115
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's very nice to think about but in the real world if people don't match some exact keywords they get thrown away. HR is looking for "node.js" but you wrote it like "nodejs"? Though luck pal, bye. HR wants a "computer scientist" but you have a degree in "computer science"? Same, automatically discarded I'm sure this happened somewhere at some point in time, but IMO it's becoming a myth blown out of proportion. I…

I co-founded an ATS company and I can say that we were never asked for, nor provided, any functionality to automatically screen candidates out based on keyword filters (though candidate answers to actual questions like "Do you 5 years experience with node.js?" are often used to automatically screen out). That said, I have heard this often enough that some people must do it. I can't imagine why though, as it takes onl…

Where do these resumes in the ATS come from? Sourcing tends to use searches or keywords, which “filter” by not selecting in the first place. Applicant trackers tend to be a few steps downstream of that, so wouldn’t need to filter.

Based on experience at firms with on the order of 1:1 applicants to hires up to 10,000:1 applicants to hires, I’d agree most such tools are not present at most companies, as they tend to be used from ratios of 100:1 and up.

On the other hand, while most companies might not have or use such tools, the more jobs a company has, the more likely they are to have some form of selection or filtering in the pipeline.

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#144

Post by Terretta »

Spooky23 wrote: post #139
dan-robertson wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m curious if you have much evidence that this is common? I suspect it’s mostly a myth that is easy to believe (it can feel good to believe it because it means you were removed from the applicant pipeline because of stupid computer reasons rather than because you don’t appear to meet some bar to a human, even if that bar is a stupid thing like prestige) and oft repeated. I definitely think it’s likely that most peop…

It happens in big companies. My team is hiring about 100 people in the next 6 months. For external candidates, we see less than 30% of all resumes. As with all things, 80% of the rest are junk and another 20% are potentially viable candidates.

Exactly.

It would seem most of the over-confident “it’s a myth” comments in this thread are from folks not familiar with typical processes for hiring in the 100s to 1000s.

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#145

Post by democracy »

ghaff wrote: post #37
MattGaiser wrote: post #12

I have had a lot of success with "September 2019 - September 2020." Seems to work fine in nearly every case.

Note that there is some number of people who feel pretty strongly about obfuscating their age. I'm not sure what to feel about it personally but it's understandable.

I started getting better responses when reduced my work experience by 7 years ) It also let me remove some obsolete junk that interviewers never heard of ))

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#147

Post by NullPrefix »

FledNanders wrote: post #120
moralestapia wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Documents like these shouldn't be automatically processed, they should be reviewed by humans. That's very nice to think about but in the real world if people don't match some exact keywords they get thrown away. HR is looking for "node.js" but you wrote it like "nodejs"? Though luck pal, bye. HR wants a "computer scientist" but you have a degree in "computer science"? Same, automatically discarded. If anything, a st…

> HR is looking for "node.js" but you wrote it like "nodejs"? Though luck pal, bye. HR wants a "computer scientist" but you have a degree in "computer science"? Same, automatically discarded. Wouldn't those issues be more likely to occur as a result of automated processing? I imagine that most humans who deal with technical hiring would guess that "node.js" and "nodejs" are probably the same thing.

Most humans who deal with technical hiring think that "javascript" and "java" are probably the same thing

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#148

Post by gerdesj »

Oooh, me, me, me Miss.

I partner in a firm these days (20 years) and in the past I was a permie and then a contractor (UK). 'résumé (henceforth "CV")' - I've seen a few and written one or two. I'm an IT sysadmin (time served) with an Engineering degree. My firm is an IT firm - not a cool one and rather small.

There is a trade off between prose and detail. You need to get across your persona and your skills. Skills are more important in general, but some particular detail may score highly. A decent layout and formatting may score too (I used to teach DTP) - don't bother with handwritten unless your cursive is prettier than mine and instantly legible.

When I'm faced with a waffle of CVs then I sort them into piles, most of which is a bin. It's tough, really tough and I do know what it is like on the other side too, so I do take pity occasionally, when I spot something that piques my interest on a CV that is probably doomed.

So, my advice is (for IT): * Two sides max (duplex, so one sheet printed on both sides). Front side has pertinent detail and back side has extra stuff. You need to be brief. Even a pdf has "pages", but P1 should present you effectively. * Keep the schooling (pre college) bit very concise. Bear in mind that's confirmatory stuff and not so important but we are used to seeing your life in roughly timeline order so don't be too cute! * Describe your skills. Now this is hard to get right. I suggest you dump modern names of systems but not versions unless it is important. * Previous employment. Keep it very concise. I don't really care who they are but I might be interested in particular technologies.

Now I've written the above, it's a bit more complicated than that ... ish.

When you are on one side of a desk and some bloke who might pay you is on the other side, just remember that a contract is two sided. Make sure that when you agree to a contract (employment for example) that you are as happy to do so as the other side.

Data format for CVs? RLY?

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#149

Post by theelous3 »

CalRobert wrote: post #22

There is! https://jsonresume.org/ But nobody really uses it for data interchange. I use it to render my resume in new layouts now and then. Although, it does let style dictate content sometimes (some templates force you to have dates down to the day for job start and end dates, etc.)

My cv is and has been a yaml file for quite some time. Much more readable and presentable than json, natively.

Re: Why isn't there a universal data format for résumés?

#150

Post by LAC-Tech »

NullPrefix wrote: post #147
FledNanders wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> HR is looking for "node.js" but you wrote it like "nodejs"? Though luck pal, bye. HR wants a "computer scientist" but you have a degree in "computer science"? Same, automatically discarded. Wouldn't those issues be more likely to occur as a result of automated processing? I imagine that most humans who deal with technical hiring would guess that "node.js" and "nodejs" are probably the same thing.

Most humans who deal with technical hiring think that "javascript" and "java" are probably the same thing

Can confirm - I spent a year doing C++ because the recruiter thought it was the same thing as C#.
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