In late May, ClearanceJobs.com held our first ever Employer Focus Group in the metro Washington, DC area. The focus group gathered 20 ClearanceJobs employers from both large and small companies. Our open discussions let the recruiters voice their concerns, gush about their successes, and provide suggestions on how we can make our service better. One of the most interesting things we learned concerns you, our registered job seekers. We wanted to share their comments with you in an effort to make your job search easier, faster, and yield better results.
To improve your chances of landing the career you want, the most important thing you want to do is to put yourself in the employers’ shoes. If you can become the role of recruiter, you can better understand what these folks go through just to fill a single open job requirement. Doing this will show you the problems they face, and give you an edge over the other job seekers out there competing with you for the open jobs.
The tips we provide below come directly from our employers’ mouths and voice their difficulties. Making the changes below will give your job hunt a big push.
1. Add Keywords to Your Resume
When an employer wants to view resumes to fill an open job, they search using keywords, similar to how a job seeker might search for a job. Many employers do not understand that there are multiple ways to say the same word. For example, there are many recognized ways to say “Windows 2000.”
Windows 2000
Win 2000
Win2k
Win-2k
Windows 2k
Windows2000
etc., etc.
When an employer performs a resume search, they might type in only one of the above ways to say “Windows 2000.” If the way they type it in matches the way you typed it in on your resume, they will get a match and potentially view your resume. If the way they type “Windows 2000” is different from the way you typed it on your resume, they will not get a match and will not view your resume.
Action: To fix this problem, make sure you have a section on your resume that lists multiple keywords and keyword synonyms that employers might search on.
For example:
Keywords: win2k, windows 2000, windows2000, win-2k, win2000, win 2000, database admin, data base admin, data-base admin, oracle, unix, c+, vb, visual basic, vba, visual basic for applications, infosec, information security
2. Consider Search Results Numbers
Depending on how specific a recruiter is with their keywords and other search criteria, they may perform a search and return anywhere from 10 to 5,000 resumes. The average search returns 200-500 resumes. To carefully review a resume, it may take an employer up to 5 minutes per resume to fully understand what the job seeker has to offer and determine if contact is warranted. For an employer to fully go through even 100 resumes, they would spend up to 8 hours for that one task. For a busy recruiter, they are always battling against time.
Keep in mind: When a recruiter does a search, they are looking for anything they can find to disqualify a resume and move on. This is a critical fact to always keep in mind. If you are a recruiter and looking at a list of 500 resumes, which ones would you select to review?
Using 500 resumes in a list as an example, you should first understand that employers rarely review resumes past #100. All of the resumes that appear after #100 probably will not get viewed. To get your resume to the top of the list, make sure you update your resume weekly; preferably every few days.
Action: On ClearanceJobs.com, this is as easy as clicking the “Update Resume” hyperlink below your resume title. It is plain and simple: Resumes at the top of the list get viewed while resumes at the middle or bottom of the search results do not get viewed.
3. Contact Information is Critical
What else will disqualify your resume from being viewed? At the ClearanceJobs customer focus group, most employers said they do not click on job seekers who classified themselves as anonymous. Why? Because it takes too much effort for the employer to contact the seeker. Even though it only requires the recruiter to click a link and enter an email, most employers believe this is too time-consuming to consider. If you registered on ClearanceJobs.com and specified your Resume Anonymity Level as “Contact Info Hidden” your resume will not get viewed as often as a job seeker who lets their contact information be shown.
Action: To update your registration and check your own Resume Anonymity Level, login to your account and click Update Registration from the center of your My Jobs page.
4. Clearance Information is Critical
Similarly, those job seekers that did not specify their security clearance levels are finding their resumes viewed less frequently than those candidates who disclosed their clearance data. When an employer is trying to fill an open job position, they have a minimum clearance level they can accept. If there is a choice to view resumes from a job seeker who divulges their clearance level and one who does not, the employer can save time by reviewing the resume from the seeker who lists the clearance information up front. This saves the employer time and effort having to contact you to determine what your clearance level is. Do not forget: ClearanceJobs.com only allows authorized government contractors and legitimate search firms into our system. Each employer is carefully pre-screened by a human to determine their full legitimacy. ClearanceJobs.com is the only internet job board where you should feel free to list your security clearance information. You can rest assured that the only recruiters viewing your resume are those that should be.
To edit your clearance information, login to your account and Edit your resume. Make sure to list your clearance and polygraph levels, and update your clearance expiration, clearance notes, and clearance status information.
5. Resume Title Tells Employers Who You Are
When a recruiter is looking at a list of resumes, they are looking for a reason to click or not click your your resume. Your resume title is the single most important part of your resume. Why? If your resume title is weak, employers will not click and view your resume. You want to do what you can to get employers “in the door” to your resume. A resume title should be short, typed in regular sentence case, and have compelling text.
Examples of poorly crafted resume titles are:
Resume of John Doe
My Resume
Seeking a job where I can make a difference to the company
ORACLE
IT Person
Why are these resume titles weak? They are either too vague, do not provide enough information about you, too long, or are SHOUTING. Examples of well crafted resume titles are:
A+ Certified Network Architect
Oracle Programming Guru
MCSE Candidate w/ DoD Experience
Intel Analyst – Arabic Linguist
Sr. Finance Manager and CPA
Why are these resume titles strong? They are concise, provide detailed and relevant information to recruiters, and are interesting. When you compare both sets of titles, ask yourself which set your current resume title most resembles.
Action: To change your resume title, login to your account and Edit your resume. Make sure to save your changes.
6. Grab the Recruiter’s Attention Okay, so you managed to get a recruiter to click and view your resume. The first hurdle has been cleared. The next hurdle will be keeping the employer’s eyes on your resume and not clicking to close it. How can you do this? Think about what the employer sees when they review your resume.
First, the employer sees your contact information. Is it complete or is it lacking in details? Many employers will close resumes of job seekers who do not provide full details. At the ClearanceJobs.com customer focus group, all of the employers agreed that a lack of contact information is a “signal” that the job seeker is not detail-oriented, and does not care enough about their job search.
An example of a resume contact section that would give a recruiter a negative indication is:
John Doe
Reston, VA
jdoe@aol.com
An example of a resume contact section that would give a recruiter a positive indication is:
John R. Doe
280 West Billings Street #224
Reston, VA 20190
(703) 445-5555
(703) 445-5554
jdoe@aol.com
Again, the more details the better. Furthermore, pay attention to how you entered your registration information. Proper sentence case is always preferred and anything other than that is a negative indicator that you are not a detail-oriented person and do not understand basic grammar. An example of a resume contact section that would give a recruiter a negative indication is:
john doe
RESTON, VA
jdoe@aol.com
An example of a resume contact section that would give a recruiter a positive indication is:
John R. Doe
280 West Billings Street #224
Reston, VA 20190
(703) 445-5555
(703) 445-5554
jdoe@aol.com
Action: To update your registration information, login to your account and click Update Registration from the center of your My Jobs page.
Next, consider the first information in the body or main section of your resume. In most cases, this is the Objective or Career Goals part of your resume. Having these sections is perfectly fine, but make sure you do what you can to keep the employer’s interest peaked. Try to not give the employer a reason to leave your resume and move onto the next. An example of a resume’s Objective section that would give a recruiter a negative indication is:
OBJECTIVE:
I am looking for a good job and to advance and make the most of my training.
An example of a resume’s Objective section that would give a recruiter a positive indication is:
OVERVIEW:
I am a Senior Network Engineer with 11 years experience and both A+ and MCSE certifications. I have an active Top Secret clearance, and strong hands-on experience building and administering computer networks. In the past, I have made myself invaluable in my workplace by providing thoughtful and creative solutions to difficult problems. If you are looking for a high level engineer to run a complex network, I am up for the challenge.
Action: To update your resume and review your Resume Objective, login to your account and Edit your resume.
7. Upgrade to the Resume Wizard
Most job seekers use the ClearanceJobs.com Quick Resume tool to create their resumes. It is quick and easy, and does a decent job of creating a resume. However, if you really want to increase the number of clicks your resume receives and create the most professional-looking resume possible, consider an upgrade to the Resume Wizard. Available from your My Jobs page, the Resume Wizard guides you through creation of your resume step-by-step. While it can take anywhere from 5-15 minutes to complete, the advantages over a Quick Resume are easy to see. Since the Resume Wizard provides spaces for more information, your resume will be more detailed and the automatic formatting makes the resume easier to read.
Action: To create a resume using the Resume Wizard, login to your account and click Resume Wizard to create your resume.
The information above gives you solid tips on how to improve your resume and get additional exposure. Most importantly, the suggestions come directly from the employers and recruiters who spend each day looking at resumes. Take their advice and give your job hunt a kick start!
