Resume Extravaganza
This was definitely something new and I’m glad I got the opportunity to do an activity like this. Having gone through more than 30 resumes in less than 10 minutes, it gave me a better perspective of what employers endure when looking for a solid, qualified candidate. Now I can see why employers spend about 15 to 30 seconds on each resume, it is very time consuming.
The resumes I chose were pages 2, 8, 20, 22, and 32. I selected these because I can tell the people spent a lot of time formatting it and thought hard about what to say in each section. The objectives really caught my interest and from there I was hooked to learn more about their background. Also, the format design caught my eye just because they were different from all the other ones, even mine. There were one or two formats I had never seen before and was amazed at how they incorporate the information to such an uncommon layout. I really did not pay a lot of attention to the GPA because to me it doesn’t say much about the person. I recently read an article about a hiring manager who was stuck between two candidates. One held a 4.0 GPA throughout college, had several places he worked at, and had all kinds of certifications and awards. The second candidate had a 2.8 GPA, was involved in a few extracurricular activities, and had a couple work experiences under his belt. The thing that was different about them was their personality. The first candidate was very cocky and ignorant during his interview with the employer and was constantly going off on a talking rampage discussing things that were irrelevant to his employer. Because of this the hiring manager hired the second candidate. The GPA does play a big role but the content of ones character plays an even bigger one.
As I was posting my blog I have seen other choices that were the same as mine. This shows me that some of us were looking for the same things whether it was the format that caught our eye or the information that was said throughout the resume. Some that were not chosen constantly might not have been picked because they need to be critiqued a little. Perhaps the format was a bit funky, having information just sprawled out all over the place or the information was not relevant. In general everyone did a good job.