Comments on: 5 Job Hunting Myths That Need to Die a Horrible Death

By: Evil HR Lady

Evil HR Lady — Mon, 11 May 2015 03:56:14 +0000

In reply to librarian. That is highly unusual unless you're talking retail/restaurant type jobs.

By: librarian

librarian — Sun, 10 May 2015 12:39:38 +0000

Calling one week after applying has landed me an interview EVERY SINGLE TIME. It’s the best piece of advice my father ever gave me. I pass it on to library patrons who have been out of work for more than a year, and they bring cards to thank me. It’s made a difference for me, and I’ve seen it make a difference for others.

By: Jurassic Carl

Jurassic Carl — Mon, 04 May 2015 21:34:28 +0000

Font probably only matters for the bots– the ATS machines that job seekers mindlessly send their resumes into.

One is probably better served worrying about wearing the right shoes, the right suit, or being the right age (under 35) and race (not black!) when meeting HR. Those things make a lot more difference in today’s job market.

By: CndGrl

CndGrl — Mon, 04 May 2015 18:01:09 +0000

My biggest beef about resumes are typos – but I mean obvious ones, like misspelling my name if it’s in the ad or giving me the wrong gender in the opening line;

e.g. if the ad says :
“please send resumes to Jane Smith at email@domain.com”
and they send it in “Dear Jayne Smyth”.

or if in the above example and they send it in “Dear Mr. Smith”

The spelling is right there, check it! And It’s either obvious Jane Smith is female, so don’t call me a Mr. or if you aren’t sure, don’t put a gender – I’m not a man, don’t call me one.

Those typos shouldn’t happen and are hard to overlook. I’ve actually had both happen more than you’d think.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 03 May 2015 15:09:28 +0000

I do think that font matters – but NOT the way Bloomberg seems to say.

The issues I see:

1. (As Jeanne says) people who use really large fonts – it looks like they are trying to hide lack of accomplishments.

2. Cutesy or “artistic” fonts. Comic Sans comes in for a lot of hostility, and I do think it’s often overdone. But, it does NOT belong on a resume. Nor do “handwriting” or script fonts, decorative fonts, or anything with a name like “chiller” or “scream”.

3. Hard to read fonts. Times New Roman may be “boring”, but it’s easy on the eye. If your font is not easy to read, even a bit, then it makes the resume harder to read – and the reader may not even realize what’s annoying him. But you never want to annoy the person who screens or reads your resume.

But, I agree that outside of a graphics design type position, the rest really doesn’t matter. If your resume is clear and easy to read, that’s all that counts.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Fri, 01 May 2015 18:39:07 +0000

The only time I noticed the font was when the letters seemed to be too big to cover the page since there weren’t enough accomplishments. I don’t understand why this would matter except in some very specific jobs. Yet it’s all over the news and probably thousands of people are re-formatting right now.

All of it is great advice.

By: NorthernHR

NorthernHR — Fri, 01 May 2015 16:36:15 +0000

I don’t mind if people call to follow up – once. Usually then I will say ‘yes, I’ve received your resume. yes/no, I haven’t looked it over yet. Yes/no, we are/aren’t hiring right now. I’ll keep you on file, yada yada.’ I’ve learned to try to word it in a way that the conversation can’t be misconstrued as “we WANT you! You WILL be the next person I hire!” Anyways, it’s when the call to follow-up every.other. day that really gets my goat. They may be fantastic workers, but it shows me that they do not respect my time if they keep calling and wasting it.

I also don’t like it when they bring their resume and ‘need to see the hiring manager right now’! It’s fine (if I have a moment) to meet them, take their resume, shake their hand, say the same type of blurb and “I’ll give you a call if I need to bring you in for an interview”. But there are times when they ask to speak with me and then expect an interview right then and there, and then get ticked off because I don’t have time for it. If you get snitty with me, I will make my secret little note-to-self at the top of you resume to remind myself not to call you for that interview.

Be polite, be thorough on your resume, be genuine and honest, and it will help you have better luck on your search.

By: Parker Daws

Parker Daws — Fri, 01 May 2015 13:12:32 +0000

Just such excellent advice. There is so much crap floating out there you are like a bright beacon on this one