Who would you be tempted to hire -- Resume A or Resume B?

Your marketing needs to be targeted

Your value proposition must be relevant to your target market. So, it is imperative to define your target audience first. Your resume, interview preparation, blogging, books, products, applications, services, etc need to be properly targeted. Targeted resumes get much better attention than generic resume. There is no better way to explain the power of targeted marketing than a example shown below. For example,

Q. If you put yourself in a prospective employer's shoes, will you interview candidate A or candidate B?


Resume for candidate A: 

Summary: A certified, results-driven, customer-focused, articulate and analytical Senior Software Engineer who can think “out of the box”. Strong in design, application integration and problem solving skills. Expert in Java, C#, .NET, and T-SQL with database analysis and design. Skilled in developing technical specifications, user documentation, and architectural artifacts. Strong in written and verbal communications. Interested in a challenging technical track career in an application development environment.

Experienced in:

• Engineering web development, all layers, from database to services to user interfaces. 
• Integrating modern systems with legacy systems. 
• Analysis and design of databases and user interfaces. 
• Managing requirements. Implementing software development life cycle policies and procedures. Managing and supporting multiple projects. 
• Highly adaptable in quickly changing technical environments with very strong organizational and analytical skills.

Resume for candidate B


Summary: Looking for a challenging position as a senior Java/JEE professional where my experiences are blogged at http://www.myblog.com and experience in summary include:

• Over 6 years in building and solving business problems for organizations like BigInsurance1 and BigRetail2 of which recent 4+ years in Java/JEE and 2+ years in C# and .NET. 
• 3+ years in finance sector, and 2.5 years in retail sector. Spent last 1.5 years as a lead developer for a complex finance system that has over 2 million registered users. 
• Instrumental in successfully managing and implementing a mission critical .NET and C# based “Pay pass” system that increased the retail sales by 35%. 
• One of the 7 key representatives selected among 45 professionals, as a core project team contributor to provide effective technical, business, and process ideas, solutions, improvements, and recommendations to a project budgeted at $25 million for XYZ Consulting. 

I would be more temped to interview candidate B. I will also be tempted to check out his/her blog as online persona can tell a lot about a candidate. The resume for candidate A is full of fluff and no stuff. Just being certified alone does not make him/her a better candidate. It even makes you think when candidate-A prides more on certification(s) than commercial experience, if he/she is an experienced professional or not. Anyone can say she/he is an “expert in Java, C#, .NET, and T-SQL ”. Just certification or 5 year experience does not quantify you as an expert. It is your contributions and quantifiable accomplishments make you a better professional. The resume for candidate A is also not targeted. It is a very generic resume. The resume for candidate B is more focused and interesting with quantified statements. Favor multiple targeted resumes over a single generic resume.

Applying for an IT job is a numbers game, and more resumes you send, no in fact more targeted resumes you send, the better chance you have getting more interviews.