Would you eliminate the phone interview stage if....

Alison's Contribution:

I'd certainly consider it.

I'd want to make sure that all candidates had the same quality of recording first - eg mike, lighting, etc. so that I didn't get distracted by the hygiene factors.

I'd use it for qualitative questions to discover how the candidate spoke only about themselves and their colleagues (amongst other things).
posted 8 days ago

What's the heaviest paper you should put a resume on?

Alison's Contribution:

I also recommend that you bring TWO copies of your cv with you to the interview - preferably the version you sent to that employer.... If it's not, just explain that you updated it last night. (I do however, print them out on 2 pages/ page so I have a Nil effect on the environment.)

The weight of the paper - I think 80gsm (photocopier paper) is sufficient, 100gsm if it is a REALLY senior post. Anything else strikes me as being either pretentious or wasteful... maybe not the impression the candidate expected to make.

Hope this helps.

All the best

Alison
posted 8 days ago

What would be your reaction if a candidate included an objective assessment report outlining their strengths in addition to their resume and cover let

Alison's Contribution:

You face an interesting business challenge. You may be the first one's out there looking at the issue, perhaps you are just ahead of the wave. I don't know.

What I do know is that technical skills knowledge is measured and supplied like this already. Candidates give prospective employees their id and the scores are made available. This can happen before interview, but I believe usually happens after the cv has already been considered (even if the scores are on the cv).

I suggest investigating the best in the market for them and to see if your industry can come up with an objective, impartial rating system so that there is a standard deviation for the inter rating scoring.... and Yes, I've assumed that you have qualitative answers and output.

For those that got lost, what I'm driving at is that the definitions of qualitative terms mean the same thing to everyone in the tests and the judgements given as a result of their answers. For instance, "Excellence" has many connotations and is coloured by your interpretation at the time.

Humans are defined not so much by their similarities, rather through their differences which make them unique. It is relatively easy to see how similar we are by a standard set of measurements.

The challenge I see in in trying to objectively measure the differences which "make the difference" and account for superior performance (and then somehow relate that back to something which the majority of managers and colleagues can understand).

The area I have found most interesting is in understanding the behaviours of an individual, the perception of the that individual by those around them (360 degree) and then how groups of people interact. Verax have these types of tools. I don't know if this is similar to what you provide.

This last area I would be most interested to see on an application - eg the equivalent of a Myers/Briggs or Belbin assessment which is easy to grasp and might be an indication how they behaved at the time they took the test. As a potential employer I would be more interested in knowing how they behaved now, how they behaved under stress or other extraordinary events.

Hope this helps you along your journey.

All the best,

Alison
Links:
http://www.verax.co.uk/Quest.html
posted 8 days ago

Standing out in the job market: What gets you hired?

Alison's Contribution:

You've been very open with your sharing of your IP. I believe you have the right intention to deliver great service with the goal of:

Finding out WHAT your client needs to see and HOW it needs to be presented to them so they can process the content quickly.

What are my thoughts about the questions?

I would probably ask the same questions in a different way to suit my style and because I like to tinker to try and get an even better result.

For instance, "What would immediately disqualify a resume, cover letter or candidate?" I would change to something like

What kinds of things would immediately disqualify a candidate when you look at their cv or covering letter?

I would not even ask the questions in Section 2 - I'm happy to share the research I've found on the internet... Use the time saved to get better intelligence.

I believe asking more open questions would make it even better. I tend to use HOW to find out what other's think the solution should be. For example:

"How could they provide the evidence that they have the _____ skills you seek?"

You may be surprised at the answers....

Oh and I have lots of additional questions you might like to consider.

All the best,

Alison
posted 8 days ago

What advice would you offer to someone writing a resume that you think very few people know?

Alison's Contribution:

Here is my personal manifesto for changing the way people think about writing their cv.

In my experience, you have about 1/2 page and 30 seconds to pique the right kind of interest for the reader to continue.

I look at the cv for the evidence of the following skills (suggestions to think about).

1. Can they solve problems, and do they enjoy solving problems? (Games, subjects studied, project challenge)
2. Can they get things done? (What have you achieved so far - projects from school, pro bono, etc)
3. Will they do a their best? (CV: Academic, and early qualifications and grades associated./GPA etc)
4. Are they up for a new challenge? (CV: number of languages, applications, types of projects)
5. How will we work together? (Do I like their style?, Do they look like a good fit for our team?)

It's about how one "speaks" about themselves which is the deciding factor as to whether or not they go further. This is just the first step - there are many more...

BTW, a friend told me that you can pick up a new technology quickly - once you've started mastering the art of learning new technologies.

Hope this helps you.

Alison
posted 8 days ago

Natural Language Processing or Online Data Classification - Findin People

Alison's Contribution:

One recommendation is to search the internet. Here are some strings I prepared earlier.. LOL Use Google - then it's the hard slog of trawling through them.

~"natural language processing" ~inurl:cv|resume -inurl:job
~ContextWeb inurl:cv|resume

Then of course, you could mine LinkedIn - again use Google

~ContextWeb site:linkedin.com -inurl/dir/

Hope this helps. If you have trouble, come back to me.

All the best,

Alison
posted 9 days ago

What makes a good cv?

Alison's Contribution:

In my experience, you have about 1/2 page and 30 seconds to pique the right kind of interest for the reader to continue.

I look at the cv for the evidence of the following skills (suggestions to think about).

1. Can they solve problems, and do they enjoy solving problems? (Games, subjects studied, project challenge)
2. Can they get things done? (What have you achieved so far - projects from school, pro bono, etc)
3. Will they do a their best? (CV: Academic, and early qualifications and grades associated./GPA etc)
4. Are they up for a new challenge? (CV: number of languages, applications, types of projects)
5. How will we work together? (Do I like their style?, Do they look like a good fit for our team?)

It's about how one "speaks" about themselves which is the deciding factor as to whether or not they go further. This is just the first step - there are many more...

BTW, a friend told me that you can pick up a new technology quickly - once you've started mastering the art of learning new technologies.

Hope this helps you.

All the best,

Alison
posted 9 days ago

hat can current business students do now that would make them a more valuable asset when entering the work force?

Alison's Contribution:

Here's my contribution.

Learn to love to solve problems. Learn lots of different techniques to solve problems, employing different strategies. Games are good!

Learn to communicate - learn NLP techniques.

Hope this helps,

All the best
posted 9 days ago

What are the top 5 skills you look for in a software developer?

Alison's Contribution:

First of all, I'm going to assume you are speaking to younger professionals - eg grads or those with less than say 3 years of experience. If I have made the wrong inference, my apologies.

I look at the cv for evidence of the following skills. I've included some pointers as to how to provide that evidence. It's about how they speak about themselves which is the deciding factor.

1. Can they solve problems, and do they enjoy solving problems? (Games, subjects studied, project challenge)
2. Can they get things done? (What have you achieved so far - projects from school, pro bono, etc)
3. Will they do a their best? (CV: Academic, and early qualifications and grades associated./GPA etc)
4. Are they up for a new challenge? (CV: number of languages, applications, types of projects)
5. How will we work together? (Do I like their style?, Will they look like a good fit?)

A friend told me that you can pick up a new technology quickly - once you've started mastering the art of learning new technologies.

Hope this helps.

Alison
posted 9 days ago

What should job seekers leave OFF of their resume?

Alison's Contribution:

The important thing to keep in mind is that there are no prizes for second place.

I'm in tune with Linda's statement that job seekers should leave OFF
Everything that is irrelevant to the position being sought...

I'm not asking for perfection. I want to see a demonstration of competence.

My candidates for deletion: Age, political affiliations, sexual orientation, family obligations, favourite TV shows.

"50 words sections" should be binned altogether.

Words I hate to see include "you know" "i" "but" "even though I wasn't" "i left to do something different"

"Headlines" which reads something like "Young professional seeks highly valued position" usually mean I stop and return when I've run out of other things to do.


Hope this helps,

All the best,

Alison
posted 9 days ago

What is the best way to name your resume file for electronic submission?

Alison's Contribution:

Many recruiters simply add your text to their searchable database and keep your electronic copy for file only if necessary.

So, what you want to do is to be found and matched to your online data.

For those that don't have a searchable text database, they are probably using a disk indexer, so it's important that you use all the keywords in the right sort of frequency to come at the top of the results list.

What I'm trying to say is that whether it is Keyword-Name or Name-Keyword, that doesn't matter so much as what is in your cv.

There is a lot of advice on how to write a good cv. My only suggestion is that you make the "headline" 3-5 lines long packed with your 30 second sound bite which will land you the position you seek.

All the best,

Alison
posted 9 days ago

Have you viewed your resume in a word cloud?

Alison's Contribution:

I've been playing around with mine for a bit - very interesting results. The Tool looks great. thanks for sharing.

http://www.wordle.net/

All the best

Alison
posted 9 days ago

http://www.linkedin.com/answers/career-education/resume-writing/CAR_RSW/466068-39015455?browseIdx=222&sik=1241664084660

Alison's Contribution:

If the first three - five lines aren't right, I don't even think they'll get to the bottom of the first page.... seriously.

I prefer Arial.

Everyone tinkers

Want to get found, post on the internet with as many keywords as possible - see other answers for tips.

By the way someone just posted a question looking for an estimator.... check my answers for the link to it.

All the best,

Alison
posted 10 days ago

What are your thoughts surrounding video reumes? Have you received them? Do you see them replacing the paper resume?

Alison's Contribution:

I'm going to hit couple of nails in the ________.

1. Work flow - time to scan cv - initially 30 seconds; max 1 minute. Time to understand a video cv - "beep...... BEEEP" - too long - even if we speak the same dialect of English.

My initial assessment of the cv will take in a lot - Can they spell? Can they organise thoughts? Employment record - gaps? Qualifications? etc, etc. Did they get someone to make it look good? Plus a host of other facets.

I'd still have to assess these other things if I sat through the entire video cv.

2. Legality - even if there was a decision to bring someone in for an interview based on a video resume, you'd still need to collect the data, so you're better off with a written form first.

Solve these two things and you'll be on the road to somewhere... not quite sure where yet, but somewhere not too far from today.

Different question. Are video attachments useful? Depends on whether they make the right impression which again is very subjective. Also depends on whether the recording was of a professional quality, locations of mics, cameras, etc.

Maybe best to NOT use the laptop camera showing a "face full" shot from the comfort of the sofa or home office.

Hope this discussion gives you what you need.

All the best,

Alison
posted 7 days ago

Embellished Resumes?

Alison's Contribution:

I'm afraid it happens more often than people think. I had one candidate who's only fail the first time around was about 6 months of experience working in the UK. So the next time I had the opportunity of putting them forward, I asked if they were interested.

Funny thing about the cv - the previous job titles had been promoted to higher levels and they had been awarded an MSc. Needless to say, they were not considered for the position as on at least one of the cvs they had not been truthful.

What is the best length for a resume?

Alison contribution:

I've heard of a comic (told 3rd hand) that one overworked HR chap divided the incoming cvs into stacks on their desk. Half went straight into the bin. The caption read "You wouldn't want to hire someone who was unlucky, now would you?" 

I always tell candidates that they have about 15-30 seconds to make their prospective employer WANT to read more. 

I believe the words you use are far more important than the length of the cv. NLP techniques will help you make your point concisely in ways which will help ensure that your points will be communicated. 

I have a particular layout I use when I have submitted cvs to clients which covers everything and provides the evidence of your ability to do the job. 

Other important essentials are the fit with the type of organisation and cultural style - again which show in your cv (or have the capability of being communicated). Oh and yes, I always recommend going through a head hunter who can give you the inside track and intelligence to help ensure you put your best foot forward first. 

What is your opinion of placing personal achievements and interests such as an advanced black-belt, a ham radio license, or community service on a res

I tend to go with the prospective employer's expectations.... most like to see that you have a life outside work!

What I would say in terms of general cv advice is to focus, focus, focus:
- provide the evidence of your suitability needs to be visible in your career history, technical qualifications, and academic achievement
- make it easy to read and understand, using the 80/20 rule of layout and impact
- count the words - (if the lineage and emphasis used descibing the rock band you formed in university 25 years ago is longer than your achievements in your career, potential employers may wonder if you might still be waiting for your big music break)