A recruiter who used Careerbuilder found Tom's resume by using the keyword string, Report Writer + Internet Searches + Western Suburbs, for a contract technical writing job at a governmental agency. Tom, who lives in Chicago's North Center neighborhood, had posted his resume a few days prior to the recruiter inquiry. Why did Tom get a recruiter response when many other jobseekers do not?
Tom listened, tested and observed how recruiters use resume databases. So, he knew that nearly all recruiters use the same model:
- Job Title + Special Skill + Location
Knowing this keyword-string model, Tom designed his resume around the keywords. Here's how he did it:
- Job Title: He spent a lot of time reading job ads for his target position. From the ads, he selected the job title that most aptly described his current job search objective. Then, in the resume narrative descriptions, he emphasized this job title and summarized all other jobs. This process keyword-weighted his resume to the target job title.
- Special Skill: From his research, he created a list of required and desired skills for this particular job title. He went through each skill and selected those he possessed. The final list went into the summary section of his resume.
- Location: He realized from previous job interviews that employers were aware of the problems of excessive commuting times in the Chicago area. So, they desired candidates who lived close to the place of employment. Hence, Tom performed his research on jobs that were only located within the target location. This process location-weighted his skills.
Using this keyword-string model, Tom then created a 3-page, chronological resume that included not only his job tasks and skills but also the achievements in each of his positions. This telegraphed to the recruiter not only what Tom could do but how well he did it. This skill-achievements model creates hiring appeal.
Tom did one more thing. Historically, he observed that he received the most recruiter inquiries in the first two weeks after posting his resume. So, after a two week period, Tom deleted his resume and then reposted it a week or so later. (Updating his resume never had the same effect.)
Recruiters are constantly searching the massive resume database of Careerbuilder. The newly posted resumes get the most interest by recruiters because they are defined as active new talent that is not already in the database. Hence, recruiters jump at connecting with the new talent and recruiter responses usually increase.
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