Resume – this is the first acquaintance with the candidate. The candidate is trying to sell himself at this stage, his task is to get a call with an invitation to an interview. Our task is to look between the lines so as not to waste time on all candidates or at least save it when conducting interviews. After analyzing the primary information, you can find more nuances than it might seem at first glance.

When you start studying a resume, you should have a complete idea of the ideal candidate for an open vacancy, minimum requirements for work experience or education, as well as a clear idea: candidates with what experience you will definitely not consider. Each industry has its own specifics, including ways to earn money and payment days, and it is necessary to take this into account. Employees who are used to earning income every day at the previous place can find ways not to miss their benefits while working for you. Based on the job responsibilities of the vacancy, determine the qualities and competencies that are important for the candidate. Already at the stage of placing an ad, it is worth stating these requirements. You need to think about the options for providing a resume: this can be an e-mail, and filling out a resume directly in the store, and a special stand with a box for completed questionnaires at the university.

A resume allows you to get much more information than just listing previous jobs. As a rule, each resume has its own character. The candidate does not hesitate to focus on the most important milestones of his career. He will note exactly those achievements that allow him to be proud of the work done and, as a result, are motivators for him. You will understand what is important for a person, for example, high-quality service at the checkout or responsible and accurate execution of procedures related to collection. Both are important, but we keep in mind the requirements for this particular vacancy. It is worth considering that now many recruitment agencies offer "correction" of the candidate's resume, which makes him more faceless. That is why I try to select candidates' resumes on my own.

So, what can we see in the resume? First of all, does the person have the qualities and experience that are needed in your company. Within each organization there are certain principles, rules and atmosphere that make up corporate ethics. It is unlikely that a former fisherman will be able to join the staff of a perfume store. Although it is not necessary to judge by stereotypes, perhaps this particular fisherman will become the best employee in the store, but then it is worth inviting him to an interview. But I think in this situation the answer will be rather negative. Give people a chance. Somewhere speed in service is important, somewhere over-responsiveness and tact. It is necessary to find out how much previous experience is ordered, in which areas the potential employee worked, whether he was looking for himself for a long time, where exactly he worked in federal or international networks, or his experience is limited to cooperation with an individual entrepreneur. Pay attention to how much detail the candidate describes his job responsibilities and what tasks he focuses on. For example, it is customer service that is important for a sales consultant, and not just the display of goods on the trading floor. Perhaps, when describing positions, an employee often uses the copy / paste technique, which certainly speaks of his enterprise, but not about scrupulousness in compiling a resume. See how often the candidate changes jobs. It is clear that if firms change like a kaleidoscope, your company can become another transshipment point. Find out if the functionality changes with the transition to a new location. On the one hand, he can constantly master new tasks and grow in position when moving from one place to another, which indicates his ambition, on the other hand, he can pay more attention to professional growth within the industry, which will give you the opportunity to acquire a responsible specialist, a good performer in your field. Are there long breaks between jobs. For girls, this may be due to maternity leave, but how can a young man explain a long break from work? Perhaps the candidate is helped by his parents, which allows him to periodically work or not work, is it logical to choose such an employee? The availability of academic leave at the institute can also tell you about the degree of responsibility of the candidate. Another tip: try to look at the candidate's resume in chronological order, for example, from the beginning of his career to the present day. Try to take the place of the applicant and understand why he could change jobs, which was the impetus for the transition to another industry. Perhaps his actions lend themselves to a logical explanation.

Pay attention to grammatical and stylistic errors. This is especially important if the employee will conduct business correspondence or the vacancy is associated with a high level of communication. It is worth studying the column about education: is the candidate studying at a university at this time, what form of education is this, will he be able to combine study and work? Based on my experience in managing sellers, I can say that I prefer to hire students, the guys are more purposeful and, with a reasonable approach, can combine both work and study.

Carefully read the section about the candidate's personal qualities and hobbies, if any. What character traits or business qualities does the candidate highlight? What kinds of sports is he fond of? This can tell about his focus on results, the habit of working in a team or individually. Versatile people, as a rule, try to prove themselves in many directions at work. Also, the interests of the candidate may indicate his active life position. Does the candidate indicate the contacts of his former employers who are ready to give recommendations.

Often the resume contains additional information, for example, in the column about citizenship, which will help you analyze the possibility of accepting a candidate for a job. Information about the area of residence will allow you to understand how convenient it will be for a future employee to get to work. For example, in the seller's position, the territorial availability of future work is an important factor. If there is a need for this, you need to pay attention to the knowledge of foreign languages. Age restrictions are also important, although here one can argue about the legality of such requirements. However, there is a concept of selling, for example, youth clothing, where young boys and girls look more appropriate as sellers. As for the gender of the candidate, it is already strange if a young man wants to work in a lingerie store for women. Salary expectations can tell a lot about the adequacy of the applicant. There are two extremes: inflated expectations against the background of lack of sufficient experience and education may indicate an inflated self-esteem and excessive ambitions. An understated income compared to the average in the market indicates incomplete compliance and understanding of their role within the business. Perhaps a person is doing his job because "there is no one else" and he was entrusted, but the salary remained the same.

Of course, everyone who has ever faced recruitment knows that candidates can write untruths in their resumes, well, or not the whole truth.

How to recognize deception? A good half of the candidates distort information about previous jobs, in particular the length of their stay at the last one. An unimpressive description of the functionality or the lack of achievements can serve as an alarm signal. See if the specified duties and tasks correspond to the position indicated by the candidate, perhaps he is trying to "attribute" to himself the merits of his colleagues or supervisor. Most often, people exaggerate their foreign language skills. It happens that people indicate socially expected information in the resume that does not correspond to reality.

And the last recommendation: sort resumes into three groups: "yes" resumes of candidates to be called for an interview in the first place, "maybe"/"yes" resumes of candidates to be interviewed in the second place,"There are no resumes of unsuitable candidates.

And remember: a person is never as close to the ideal as in his resume!

Author: Alexey Plyasheshnikov

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