There are a lot of job-seekers out there vying for my attention. Why then do they seem to put so little time into the process? We’re a vibrant Internet company caught up in the excitement of executing on some really big ideas. The last thing I want to do is read a bland resume that feels like it’s been sent out to dozens of non-descript companies. If you’re sending me a resume, you’re interrupting me, and I’ve had many years of practice at ignoring disruptive advertising. (Thanks flashblock! Thanks TiVo!) As a job seeker, the last thing you want to do is get dismissed in the first few seconds.

If you send me a resume, here are a few things you can do to compensate me for my time:

• Customize your cover letter — I’m passionate about what I do (and what Jellyfish is doing) and I’d love to know that you are too. If I can see that you put thought and energy into the cover letter, I’ll respond in kind.
• Check your grammar and spelling — C’mon, if you don’t care enough to do this, what do you care about?
• Put relevant resume items first — If your objective is generic, drop it. Why waste my time telling me you want a position that utilizes your prior experience? Is your education important to me? If not, why is it first? Personally, I’m interested in your skillz. Show me some projects that got you fired up. Maybe they’ll get me fired up too.

If job seekers took the interruptive nature of their requests to heart and spent time individually talking to me, reviewing resumes would be a lot more rewarding. I can dream…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 19th, 2006 at 1:41 pm and is filed under Announcements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.