SMALL BUSINESS | Selecting New Employees
Selecting New Employees For Your Small Business: Do Your Applicants Resumes ROAR by Dr. Ronald G. Shapiro
are they Results Oriented And Relevant? Are you looking to expand your Small Business by hiring new employees for professional positions? If so, you are likely to receive numerous resumes once people find out that you are hiring. How do you begin to sort through all of the resumes? Perhaps, the first point to remember is that a resume is a sales pitch designed to show you that the applicant understands what you need and is the best prepared person to deliver it for you. Thus, the resume is like any other form of advertisement. The successful applicant’s resume conveys the appropriate content to convince you that they are the best qualified one for your business. Fortunately, resumes may be read relatively quickly. Indeed, some professional human resource people who look through numerous resumes only need to spend seconds on each one.
A good resume will ROAR, much as a lion will ROAR. Once you look at the resume it will command your attention. A quality resume will have two key attributes. It will be: • Results Oriented. The body of the resume will tell you about the applicant’s job relevant accomplishments in previous jobs, at school, as a volunteer, and/or a leader in civic and community organizations. • And Relevant to you. The resume will begin with a clear statement which shows the applicant understands your business, what you need to have done, and it bridges the relevant experiences in the body of the resume with your business needs. The statement will also convey the applicants interest in doing the job you need to have done. Alternatively, some applicants may include this in a separate “cover letter” rather than on the resume.
When I review a resume I check to be sure that the applicant conveys that: • They understand their potential employer’s business • They have explained their previous job relevant accomplishments • They have shown that their job relevant accomplishments have prepared them to be the best qualified employee for the potential employer’s business • They are interested in doing the work
You might quickly set aside resumes which: • Contain a general statement explaining the applicant’s needs rather than your needs. For example, a recent graduate states: Looking for an entry level position to increase my sales ability. • Describe an applicant’s job responsibilities, rather than their accomplishments. For example, a cashier lists their assigned tasks: count money in cash register. run customer items over scanner and place items in bags continues on page 65
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