Chapter 4

Familiar Search Tools That Haven’t Gone Away

In This Chapter

Revisiting plain text and doing it better

Using referral technology to meet your future boss

Understanding online screening techniques that judge you

Blogging your way to a job

Foiling identity theft and coping with spam filters

While not all Web technology tools have held up under the rigors of time and progress, some are still favored job finders in the 21st century. Job boards and company Web sites, for instance, retain star status in determining where to send your resumes. The handsome full-design resume is another tool that remains on job seekers’ hit parade. (Chapter 11 gives you the scoop on resume design.)

The opposite of full design, the plain-text resume — once headed for oblivion because it’s a drab pain to read — is coming back largely because many job boards accept only plain text. Why? Because plain text (unlike a word-processed document) can’t harbor a harmful virus, as well as other technical reasons related to time and cost.

Other tools from the 1990s — such as scannable resumes — are showing their age. And instant messaging has virtually given way to Twitter and texting.

In this chapter, I describe a carousel of familiar job-search tools with a broad brush because technology changes rapidly. Some observers estimate the average lifespan for much current technology is about 24 months. Whatever the time frame of change, its warp speed renders many details quickly obsolete in a book. Not only does technology move forward, but companies marketing and using it come and go.

Plain-Text Resumes Stay on the Scene

The plain-text resume (also known as an ASCII resume) is an online document constructed without formatting in plain-text file format. The main characteristic about this resume is its looks (or lack of same). Figure 4-1 shows a plain-text resume. The creature’s so ugly only a computer could love it. But for the foreseeable future, the job market is stuck with plain-text resumes. As Jim Lemke, a human resources executive and this book’s technical reviewer, says:

“A plain-text resume is still good to have to use when you need it. Some lower-end applicant tracking systems require that you paste a resume in a text window. A pasted formatted text resume will come out much better than a pasted MS Word resume. A formatted text resume also comes in handy to send to handheld devices. Although the scannable resume is almost extinct, the plain-text resume will be around for a long time.”

Companies sometimes require that you submit a plain-text resume. Create your resume in your favorite word-processing program, save it, and then convert it to plain text (ASCII) by following these steps:

1. Click Edit → Select All.

2. Click Edit → Copy.

3. Open Notepad.

To get there click Start → Programs → Accessories → Notepad.

4. Click Edit → Paste.

5. Turn on the word-wrap feature in the Format drop-down menu.

6. Save the resume as “yourname.txt” (for example, “CarolynChase.txt”).

Not all versions of Notepad have a spell-check feature, so be sure to spell check before you save your resume as an ASCII file.

Because your resume now has ASCII for brains, it won’t recognize the formatting commands that your word-processing program uses. Don’t use any characters that aren’t on your keyboard, such as smart quotes (those tasteful, curly quotation marks that you see in this book) or mathematical symbols. They don’t convert correctly, and your resume will need fumigating to rid itself of squiggles and capital U’s.

Figure 4-1: This sample resume for Della Hutching is included solely to illustrate the appearance of a plain-text resume. It is not intended to convey strong content.

You know that you’re off in the wrong direction if you have to change the preferences setting in your word processor or otherwise go to a lot of trouble to get a certain character to print. Remember that you can use dashes and asterisks (they’re on the keyboard), but you can’t use bullets (they’re not on the keyboard).

Although you can’t use bullets, bold, or underlined text in a plain-text document, you can use plus signs (+) at the beginning of lines to draw attention to part of your document. You can also use a series of dashes to separate sections and capital letters to substitute for boldface. When you don’t know what else to use to sharpen your ASCII effort, you can always turn to Old Reliable — white space.

Be on guard against other common ASCII landmines:

Typeface/fonts: You can’t control the typeface or font size in your ASCII resume. The text appears in the typeface and size that the recipient’s computer is set for. This means that boldface, italics, or different font sizes don’t appear in the online plain text version. Use all caps for words that need special emphasis.

Word wrap: Don’t use the word-wrap feature when writing your resume because it will look weird. Odd-looking word wrapping is one of the cardinal sins of online resumes. Set your margins at 0 and 65, or set the right margin at 6.5 inches. Then end each line after 65 characters with hard returns (press the Enter key) to insert line breaks.

Proportional typefaces: Don’t use proportional typefaces that have different widths for different characters (such as Times Roman). Instead, use a fixed-width typeface (such as Courier) so that you have a true 65-character line. For example, if you compose and send your resume in Courier 12 and it’s received in the Arial typeface, it should still work well with most e-mail programs, surviving transport with a close resemblance to the original line length.

Tabs: Don’t use tabs; they get wiped out in the conversion to ASCII. Use your spacebar instead.

Alignment: Your ASCII resume is automatically left-justified. If you need to indent a line or center a heading, use the spacebar.

Page numbers: Omit page numbers. You can’t be certain where the page breaks will fall, and your name and page number can end up halfway south on a page.

When you send your ASCII resume, paste it with a cover note (a very brief cover letter) into the body of your e-mail.

E-Forms: Fill in the Blankety-Blanks

The e-form is just a shorter version of the plain-text resume, and you usually find it on company Web sites if the company doesn’t accept full-design resumes. The company encourages you to apply by setting your plain text into designated fields of the forms on the site.

The e-form is almost like an application form, except that it lacks the legal document status an application form acquires when you sign it, certifying that all facts are true.

Follow the on-screen instructions given by each employer to cut and paste the requested information into the site’s template. You’re basically just filling in the blanks with your contact information that’s supplemented by data lifted from your plain-text resume.

Remember that e-forms can’t spell check, so cutting and pasting your resume into the e-form body, instead of typing it in manually, is your best bet. Because you spell checked your resume before converting it to ASCII (of course, you did!), at least you know that everything is likely to be spelled correctly.

E-forms work well for job seekers in high-demand occupations, such as nursing, but they don’t work so well for job seekers who need to document motivation, good attitude, and other personal characteristics and accomplishments that computers don’t search for. When you rely on an e-form to get an employer’s attention, you’re playing 100 percent on the employer’s turf.

Scannable Resumes Get Used in a Pinch

A scannable resume is a resume that a recipient, usually a clerk in an employment office, scans into a computer as an image. Because you don’t know what technology the employer is using and computers read resumes differently than people do, you still should stick to the inconvenient rules that follow.

A scannable resume may start life as a paper resume that you can postal mail, hand deliver, or fax; the employer uses a scanning machine to enter your hard-copy resume into a candidate database. Next, computer software extracts from it a summary of basic information, pulling out factors like your name, contact information, skills, work history, years of experience, and education.

Scanned resumes and their extracted summaries sleep peacefully until a human resource specialist or recruiter searches the summaries by keywords to retrieve candidates who match the requirements of a job opening. The technology ranks candidates, from the most qualified to the least qualified. The most relevant resumes get a wake-up call and pop to the recruiting screen, where human eyes take over the recruiting tasks.

Scannable resumes are on their way out, joining the MS-DOS operating software in computer museums. Recruiters prefer newer intake systems that enable resumes to travel smoothly online and move straight into a resume-management database.

Even so, don’t trash your scannable resume know-how just yet. If an employer asks that you send a resume by postal mail or fax, assume that it will be scanned. Take the following steps to prevent scanning errors from putting you on the sidelines:

Use type that’s clear and readable. Don’t use a condensed typeface. White space separates letters; no space smushes them together. Letters must be distinctively clear with crisp, unbroken edges. Avoid arty, decorative typefaces.

Avoid these bad-scan elements:

• Italics or script

• Underlining

• Reverse printing (white letters on a black field)

• Shadows or shading

• Hollow bullets (they read like the letter o)

• Number signs (#) for bullets (the computer may read what follows as a phone number)

• Boxes (computers try to read them like letters)

• Two-column formats or designs that look like newspapers

• Symbols, such as a logo

• Vertical lines (computers read them like the letter l)

• Vertical dates (use horizontal dates: 2006–2011)

Feel free to use larger fonts for section headings and your name. A font size of 14 to 16 points is good. Larger headings look better on the electronic image of your resume when humans read it (which doesn’t always happen). I recommend you format the body of your resume in a 12-point font size, the section headings in 14-point, and your name in 16-point.

Do keep your scannable resume simple in design and straightforward. Recruiters call this approach “plain vanilla,” and they like it because it doesn’t confuse computers.

Do send your paper resume without staples. Paper clips are okay. Follow this tip for all resumes that you mail or hand deliver because staples are a pain to pull out before feeding into a scanner one page at a time.

Online Screening Guards the Employment Door

Your OnTarget resume may never be read if an employer’s online screening program decides in advance that you aren’t qualified for the position’s stated — or unstated — requirements. In essence, screening software has the first word about who is admitted for a closer look and who isn’t.

Online screening is an automated process of creating a blueprint of known requirements for a given job and then collecting information from each applicant in a standardized manner to see whether the applicant matches the blueprint. The outcomes are sent to recruiters and hiring managers.

Online screening is known by various terms — prescreening and pre-employment screening, to mention two. By any name, the purpose of online screening is to verify that you are, in fact, a good candidate for the position and that you haven’t lied about your background. Employers use online screening tools (tests, assessment instruments, questionnaires, and so on) to reduce and sort applicants against criteria and competencies that are important to their organizations.

If you apply online through major job sites or many company Web site career portals, you may be asked to respond yes or no to job-related questions, such as:

Do you have the required college degree?

Do you have experience with (specific job requirement)?

Are you willing to relocate?

Do you have two or more years’ experience managing a corporate communications department?

Is your salary requirement between $55,000–$60,000/year?

Answering “no” to any of these kinds of questions disqualifies you for the listed position, an automated decision that helps the recruiters thin the herd of resumes more quickly but that may be a distinct disadvantage to you, the job searcher. (Without human interaction, you may not show enough of the stated qualifications, but you may have compensatory qualifications that a machine won’t allow you to communicate.)

On the other hand, professionals in high demand categories benefit by a quick response, such as nursing. Example: Are you an RN? If the answer is “yes,” the immediate response, according to a recruiter’s joke, is “When can you start?”

Sample components of online screening

The following examples of online screening aren’t exhaustive, but they are illustrations of the most commonly encountered upfront filtering techniques.

Basic evaluation: The system automatically evaluates the match between a resume’s content (job seeker’s qualifications) and a job’s requirement and ranks the most qualified resumes at the top.

Skills and knowledge testing: The system uses tests that require applicants to prove their knowledge and skills in a specific area of expertise. Online skills and knowledge testing is especially prevalent in information technology jobs where dealing with given computer programs is basic to job performance. Like the old-time typing tests in an HR office, there’s nothing subjective about this type of quiz: You know the answers, or you don’t.

Personality assessment: Attempts to measure work-related personality traits to predict job success are one of the more controversial types of online testing. Dr. Wendell Williams, a leading testing expert based in the Atlanta area, says that personality tests expressly designed for hiring are in a totally different league than tests designed to measure things like communication style or personality type.

“Job-related personality testing is highly job specific and tends to change with both task and job,” he says. “If you are taking a generic personality test, a good rule is to either pick answers that fall in the middle of the scale or ones you think best fit the job description. This is not deception. Employers rarely conduct studies of personality test scores versus job performance and so it really does not make much difference.”

Behavioral assessment: The system asks questions aimed at uncovering your past experience applying core competencies the organization requires (such as fostering teamwork, managing change) and position-specific competencies (such as persuasion for sales, attention to detail for accountants). I further describe competencies in Chapter 8.

Managerial assessments: The system presents applicants with typical managerial scenarios and asks them to react. Proponents say that managerial assessments are effective for predicting performance on competencies, such as interpersonal skills, business acumen, and decision making. Dr. Williams identifies the many forms these assessments can take:

• In-basket exercises where the applicant is given an in-basket full of problems and told to solve them.

• Analysis case studies where the applicant is asked to read a problem and recommend a solution.

• Planning case studies where the applicant is asked to read about a problem and recommend a step-by-step solution.

• Interaction simulations where the applicant is asked to work out a problem with a skilled role player.

• Presentation exercises where the applicant is asked to prepare, deliver, and defend a presentation.

• Integrity tests measure your honesty with a series of questions. You can probably spot the best answers without too much trouble.

Pros and cons of online screening

Here’s a snapshot of the advantages and disadvantages of online screening, from the job seeker’s perspective:

Advantages: In theory, a perfect online screening is totally job based and fair to all people with equal skills. Your resume would survive the first cut based only on your ability to do well in the job. You are screened out of consideration for any job you may not be able to do, saving yourself stress and keeping your track record free of false starts.

Disadvantages: The creation of an online process is vulnerable to human misjudgment; I’m still looking for an example of the perfect online screening system. Moreover, you have no chance to make up for missing competencies or skills. (An analogy: You can read music, but you don’t know how to play a specific song. You can learn it quickly, but there’s no space to write “quick learner.”)

Can your resume be turned away?

What if you get low grades on answering the screening questions — can the employer’s system tell you to take your resume and get lost? No, not legally. Anyone can leave a resume, but if they don’t pass the screening, the resume is ranked at the bottom of the list in the database.

The bottom line is that if you don’t score well in screening questions, your resume is exiled to a no-hire zone even if it isn’t physically turned away.

Blogs Give a Global Brand

Career experts recommend blogging as an extraordinary opportunity to become better known in a profession or career field — a branding tool. You can headline your own blog or write entries for someone else’s blog. Millions of blogs operate around the globe, with new ones launching every day.

A blog is a Web site, or part of a Web site, that features regular updates of commentary on anything from politics to celebrity gossip to whatever the blogger ate that day. The term itself is a blend of the words Web and log. Keeping a blog running requires a fair amount of work. Because most blogs are maintained by an unpaid individual with regular entries of commentary, one-person blogs come and go. Sometimes the bloggers become guest commentators on blogs maintained by others.

Blogs are the ultimate Web insider’s clubhouse. They attract loyal readers who hold an avid interest in a blog’s topic. Recruiters understand that to hire the right people, you should go where the right people hang out. That’s why recruiters cruise career-field-related blogs, looking for top talent in a specific occupation — or for experts who can steer them to top talent.

Finding blogs for role models takes a bit of shopping around. Try these suggestions to kick off your hunt:

1. Browse for a topic and add “blogs” to the search term.

For example, “employment blogs” brings up a zillion possibilities, such as George’s Employment Blawg (www.employmentblawg.com).

You can also turn to a blog search engine, such as Search4Blogs (www.search4blogs.com).

2. When you find a blog you like, check out the site’s blogroll (links of blogs on similar topics).

George’s Employment Blawg, for example, lists several pages of other employment and recruiting blogs.

To establish your own blog, find a host site that offers free service for beginning bloggers — such as Typepad (www.typepad.com) — and start writing.

Keep up with blog-based job ads by visiting Blogs with Jobs (www.blogswithjobs.com).

RSS Delivers Job Alerts on Your Time

The evolution of really simple syndication (RSS), the technology designed to give you a heads-up when a job you want becomes available, reminds me of the difference between periodic television network news programming and all-news cable television. Instead of having to watch the news at 6 p.m. or 11 p.m., you can watch late-breaking news on your timetable 24/7.

Familiar free online job search agents at major job boards periodically send you e-mail alerts about jobs that meet your specific search criteria. But the modern and also free RSS technology whisks live feeds to your computer or mobile devices around the clock with the latest jobs from thousands of employers and job sites.

RSS is a rapidly growing service for the immediate distribution of online content — in this case, job postings.

How does RSS beat the older e-mail job agents? Three ways: efficiency, relevance, and timeliness. Sending RSS job feeds to your RSS reader prevents e-mail job alerts from clogging your in-box.

Moreover, RSS feeds more closely match your stated requirements. Like an advanced search, you get a closer match to what you want. For example, if you’re an accountant and you want a job in Milwaukee, an e-mail search agent might return everything with the term “accountant” or its variations, such as accounting for lost automobiles in Milwaukee. RSS job feeds are programmed to mirror your specific wishes.

RSS job feeds are a wonderful way to get the first word when a new job is posted. And you can program the feeds to include breaking news in industry concerns, information that can put you at the head of the line in job interviews. Jobs are filled quickly these days and you know the old saying about early birds.

You can receive RSS feeds in a few different ways. You can download a free RSS reader, or use the RSS reader built into Web sites you want to follow. For example, the job search engines I describe in Chapter 7 give simple instructions on how to add their live job feeds to your computer or mobile devices.

Resume Blasting: A Really Bad Idea

Resume blasting services (also jokingly known as resume spamming services) advertise their willingness to save you time and trouble by “blasting” your resume to thousands of recruiters and hiring managers all over the Internet — for a fee, of course. The pitches are tempting, but should you avail yourself of this miraculous service? Just say no!

Resume blasting can bring you big trouble, from making identity theft easier for crooks, to irritating your boss, to making you an untouchable for recruiters. Moreover, as I explain in Chapter 6, customized resumes are a short cut to job interviews.

Privacy and identity theft problems

Concerning identity theft issues, privacy expert Pam Dixon advises being cautious with your resume’s information. Read about it on her nonprofit World Privacy Forum (www.worldprivacyforum.org), where Dixon continually updates a must-read report titled “Job Seeker’s Guide to Resumes: Twelve Resume Posting Truths.”

Admittedly, merely being careful about releasing your resume information online won’t keep you safe from identity theft in these days when the guardrails on privacy are coming down in so many ways in so many places. But do be stingy with your private information — in particular, omit your home address.

Identity theft may be the worst-case scenario, but it isn’t the only life-altering problem that can arise when you put your business on the Web. Use a resume-blasting service while you’re employed, and you may lose your current job. Experts say that employers do search for their employees’ resumes in job site resume databases.

“When employees’ resumes are found grazing in someone else’s pasture before noon,” says CareerXroads’ Mark Mehler, who consults with countless company managers, “they may be on the street by the end of that same day.”

Overexposure to recruiters

One more reason not to spread your resume all over the map: When you’re targeting the fast track to the best jobs, nothing beats being brought to an employer’s notice by an important third person — and an independent recruiter qualifies as an important third person.

Employers are becoming resistant to paying independent recruiters big fees to search the Web when they theoretically can save money by hiring in-house corporate recruiters to do it. That’s why recruiting agencies need fresh inventory that employers can’t find elsewhere. If you want a third-party recruiter to represent you, think carefully before pinning cyber-wings on your resume.

In addition to losing control of your resume, its wide availability can cause squabbles among contingency recruiters over who should be paid for finding you. An employer caught in the conflict of receiving a resume from multiple sources, including internal resume databases, will often pass over a potential employee rather than become involved in deciding which source, if any, should be paid.

Job Search Technology Is Here to Stay

Whether you’re a job seeker with a streak of ambition a mile wide or a person who just wants to go with the flow but keep an escape hatch handy if your job starts to sink, now’s the time to bone up on the rudiments of how technology can serve you in the job market. It’s not going away.