What the Recruiter Wants to Know versus What You Need to Say

I was just talking to a client who received resume feedback from a recruiter. The recruiter had suggested that her resume would be stronger if she added dates to her earliest employment and education, and if she described the type of companies she worked for.

I know why the headhunter wanted this information - these are both useful pieces of data for his decision-making process. But I left them off for a specific reason: Because the recruiter's interests and your interests don't always align.

Your goal is to get your resume past the screeners and score an interview (because in many cases the information that might screen you out won't actually matter once the company meets you and realizes how fabulous you are). The recruiter's job is to gather the facts so he can see if you fit the exact job criteria. See how those two things don't always match up?

When a product marketer writes a promotional brochure, she doesn't include all the downsides of the product - she just highlights the good things and it's up to you to ferret out the rest if you are so inclined. I think the same thing applies with your resume.

In the case of my client, I left off the early dates to stop possible age discrimination. I omitted the types of companies because she specifically stated that she wanted to change industries and I didn't want her being eliminated from consideration just because all her prior jobs were in telecommunications.

Even though the recruiter suggested these 'improvements' to the resume, he still scheduled an interview with my client. I know many recruiters would disagree with me, but I think that means the resume did exactly what it was supposed to do.

Comments

[Resume Service]

Excellent post!

While a resume should never, ever lie, it does not need to tell the "whole truth" either. When one is first starting out, listing all even remotely relevant work, school, and volunteer experience is a way to get past the "not qualified" screens. As one gets older and has more experience, one may face may the "over-qualified" screens instead, and the overly detailed, list-every-job resume can hinder rather than help.

When deciding what to put on the resume, the question to ask should always be, "What information will show the prospective employer that I am a great fit for the position and will be a great asset to the organization?"

And, as you rightly say, sometimes, that's not the same as "What does the recruiter want to know about me?"