For grammatical errors, we are looking out for spelling and punctuation, but also need to check for proper verb tense. Candidates have one resume that they keep adding to from one position to the next. A common error that you will find is when they move into a new position, they will forget to change the verb tense from present to past.

For formatting, we need to ensure that the resume’s formatting stays consistent. Common formatting issues you will see are different style bullet points used or inconsistent use of bullet points, inconsistent use of paragraph indentions, font changes throughout resume, and the list goes on.

If you review a resume and identify one or two grammatical or formatting errors, it doesn’t typically raise a red flag. Should you come across a with multiple errors throughout a resume you will need to assess the following:

Does the candidate lack motivation?
Does the candidate lack attention to detail?

Lack of Motivation

Candidates who lack motivation are hard to assist. They will want you to do everything for them and can be extremely difficult to work with. Some questions you need to consider:

Will they care enough to complete the paperwork you will send them?
Will they show up for an interview?
If you get them a job will they really care about the work they do for that company?

If you feel like the answer is yes to any of the questions above, you should consider passing on this candidate. Remember that you are here to provide exceptional talent, and there is nothing exceptional about an unmotivated individual.

Should you decide to move forward with this type of candidate because they are technically qualified, before submitting them to a client you may want to take a few extra steps to be sure that submitting them is the right decision.

Have the candidate complete the onboarding paperwork prior to you submitting them. Normally, you would send the candidate the onboarding paperwork and immediately submit them, giving them a day or two to get the documents back to you. Telling the candidate that you need them to complete the documents prior to you being able to submit them will help you gauge how motivated that candidate is to get a job and how willing they may be to work with you.

Be sure to let the candidate know that the position is moving fast and that the sooner they are submitted the better their chances of being considered for the role. Then, ask them when they can have the documents completed and returned. If the candidate requires anything over 12 hours to complete the documents, odds are you need to cut your losses and move on. If they are willing to quickly complete the documents and return them to you in a reasonable amount of time you should feel much better about submitting them to your client. (Provided the documents are properly completed.)

Check their references prior to submitting them to the client. Normally, references are requested at the end of an ISGF interview but not necessarily completed prior to submitting the candidate (more information on references will be covered later in this guide). If you have a concern about the candidate’s level of motivation it may be a good idea to call that candidates past employers to hear that they have to say.

If the references tell you that they had issues with the candidates work or with them calling out, your intuition about the candidate’s motivation was correct. At this point you would need to “Recruiter Reject” the candidate and find someone better. If the references all have great things to say about your candidate, then you should feel much better about submitting that candidate to a client.

Two: Does the candidate lack attention to detail?

If you are reviewing a resume and notice consistent errors throughout, the issue may be that the candidate lacks attention to detail. Depending on the severity of the issue, this may not be a deal breaker. It depends on the role you are considering the candidate for and what the client is expecting. As a wise old man often says, “there’s a lid for every pot and a pot of every lid”. We just need to determine if this issue will hinder the success of the candidate within this role.

Calling a candidate’s references prior to submitting them to a job opportunity can help you determine if this may hinder their success in a new role. Directly asking questions about their attention to detail on projects will add clarity to the quality of work they provide. If the references tell you they constantly had to review and correct the candidates work, your hunch was correct, this may not be the best candidate for you to represent. If the references tell you they never had any issues, then maybe you can chalk the resume errors to be a one-off and continue moving forward in the submittal process.

GAPS IN EMPLOYMENT

Anytime you see a gap in a resume, whether a short gap or a long gap, it is always a best practice to ask why. We never want to make assumptions and should allow the candidate an opportunity to ask an explanation.

Some common reasons for a career gap include but are not limited to:

Short job gaps
- Consistently work contract jobs and was in between contract roles
- Took time off transitioning from one job to the next
- Laid off and in between jobs
- Quit a job without having a new job lined up
Long job gaps
- Attended school
- Serious Illness
- Taking care of family or friends
- Laid off and unable to find a job within their field

Two follow up questions you can ask to clarify a career gap are:

What types of jobs did you apply for?
- If the candidate tells you that they were applying for jobs similar to the one you are calling them about then you know you are on the right track.
- If the candidate tells you they were applying for jobs unrelated to the one you are calling them about then it would be a good idea to find out why they were applying for those types of roles and what changed.
How many jobs did you apply for during that transition?

In some situations, a candidate may take a job just because they need the paycheck, not because it’s what they want to do. You never want to place a candidate on a long-term contract or a direct hire position where they will be unhappy in the role. They may take the job but they will keep looking for something different and leave as soon as they find it. The only exception to this could be a short-term contract.

PROGRESSIVE EXPERIENCE

When reviewing a resume, you need to pay attention to the candidate’s career track including title changes and consistency in job function.

When looking at title changes from one position to the next, the main thing you are looking for is that the titles are consistent and progressive. Most of the time when we see situations in title changes, we see something similar to, Manager to Director then back to Manager. This could be because the same type of role can be titled differently based on the company or it could be because the candidate was not qualified for the senior level position.

For consistency, we are looking to see if the roles are similar in nature. If the roles varied drastically, we want to dig into why and what caused the change. Example: 10 years as an IT Developer, then 2 years in sales, then back to IT development.

SHORT JOB TRANSITIONS

In the contract world, seeing short job transitions is a common occurrence. It’s not unusual to see a career contractor with numerous positions held over a relatively short period of time. In most cases, on a resume a candidate will list a position as “contract”, but when speaking to a contract candidate never assume that every short job stint was a contract assignment. The red flags arise when you encounter short job transitions outside of contract positions. When you discover a situation like this you always what to know why the role did not work out for the candidate.

In most cases, one short job stint is normally not a concern, sometimes jobs just don’t work out. What you are looking for is multiple, consecutive, non-contract, short job stints. When this occurs, you need to identify the underlying reason as to what is causing the move from one job to the next. Typically, when you see rapid transitions with direct-hire jobs you need to look out for three major problem areas.

Does the candidate not work well with others? A common reason why a candidate may not be able to hold a job is that the candidate does not work well with management or colleagues.

Does the candidate jump ship every time they find a job that will pay them more money? Candidates will openly provide this information. To the candidate, this is not a big deal, but to us and an employer, it is because candidates that are only motivated by money are extremely hard to control through the interview process for the following reasons:

They will have no loyalty to you representing them and will constantly be on the lookout for other higher paying opportunities.
- Because they are only motivated by money they will also not care what benefits or culture a company offers. This means that you have nothing to leverage besides the pay, which in never a good situation to be in.
- Also, to an employer, a person who only cares about money will never be loyal to the company and is viewed as a flight risk.

Is the candidate not really qualified for the roles they are hired in? Some people look really good on paper and interview extremely well, but after being hired, simply do not perform as expected.

RECENT AND RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE

When reviewing a candidate’s work history, you need to pay special attention to the candidates last few positions or type of work over the last few years. This is important for a few reasons.

First, this is what a hiring manager is going to look for. You need to make sure that when submitting a candidate to an open position that we show relevant work experience pertaining to that particular opportunity. In many cases, a candidate does not list everything they have experience with on one resume. If they do have experience in a relevant area and it is not listed on their resume you need to be sure to add it in.

Secondly, especially when dealing with IT roles, experience that may have been relevant 2 years ago may be obsolete now. That is why, depending on the role you are working, a candidate having that relevant experience can make or break a deal.

EASY TO READ

This one is simple, If the resume is difficult to read or follow for you, it will also be difficult to read and follow for a hiring manager. You always want to make things as easy as you can for a hiring manager; this includes providing them with a clean, easy to read, well-organized resume.

Sometimes this can prove to be difficult, especially when dealing with highly technical candidates, you just need to do the best you can. More on this topic will be covered in later sections.

VALUE ADD

Candidates often only list what they did but not what they accomplished and how they added value to an organization in their resume. These three things should be included on a resume:

Saved – Did a candidate save a company time or money? How?
Achieved – What accomplishments did the candidate achieve in their time with an organization?
Made – Did the candidate generate revenue that impacted the bottom line? Did they create something that contributed to the overall growth of the business?

We charge our clients a fee for the service we provide, and the quality of service is reflected in the resumes and candidates we present. We want to ensure our premium is justified and it is critical we present exceptional talent.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

How much time should you spend screening a resume before determining whether or not to call the resume owner?
What are two potential reasons a person has poor grammar or formatting on their resume?
List three reasons why someone would be out of work for an extended amount of time.
Why is a progressive career track important on a resume?
What are 3 reasons why a candidate would have a career gap on their resume?
What three things should be included on a candidate’s resume to show their value add to an organization?

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