ExecuNet White Paper: How to Make Your Resume Recruiter Ready

ExecuNet (a national business referral network with a private membership site) is offering job seekers a free report, "How to Make Your Resume Recruiter Ready" by ExecuNet Contributing Editor Marji McClure (presumably as a way to build up their opt-in e-mail list -- a great technique, by the way!). Thanks to Kathy Hansen of Quintessential Careers for bringing this to my attention in her Feb. 14 blog post on the subject.

The special report is an excerpt from a full-length article available only to paid subscribers of the ExecuNet service. While the special report is interesting, I will caution you about directing your clients to the special report, as it is focused on making the resume recruiter ready. Because the survey subjects were primarily recruiters (as opposed to hiring managers specifically or HR personnel), they often have special needs/requirements for the resume that other target audiences might not express as preferences... and, consequently, things you might not put into the resumes you write that aren't being sent to recruiters.

For example, "some recruiters" in the survey want candidates to include specific years of employment dates and college graduation dates -- and while there is some disagreement within the careers industry on this practice, certainly most resume writers will disagree with one expert quoted in the article who says that 30 percent of the resume should focus on the job seeker's work history from 10-20 years ago, and 10 percent on 20+ years ago. Conventional wisdom in the resume writing field is that the resume should include the work history for the past 10-15 years, unless there are compelling reasons to go back any further in time than that.

There is some good information that should be shared with job seekers in the report.
What can resume writers do with this report?

• Quote from it. I'm always looking for research that dispels the One-Page Resume Myth. I'd prefer the raw data to use to substantiate this, but you could cite this report as another example of one in which hiring experts feel that the resume length should correspond to the accomplishments of the job seeker.
• Use it as inspiration for conducting your own research and writing your own report. You could do a survey within a specific industry you specialize in (finance, for example) or within your geographic target area.