Resume review & advice: what I look for in a resume

Posted Jul 27 2010 4:45 AM by Kenji Yamaguchi

KenjiResume review & advice. Part II of II. (read Part I)

Resume review actually consists of several different “layers” of consideration.

There are multiple factors that I consider simultaneously and all need to be accounted for before I make the decision to contact a candidate for a phone interview. What I’m looking for is a resume that “pops out" at me on multiple layers. 

The first thing that I look for when reviewing a resume, are the basics: does this candidate meet the minimum requirements for the position? Keep in mind, for many positions there are two sets of requirements – the bare minimum required – and the bonus qualifications that I’m ideally hoping to find. In this layer, I’m only looking for the former – but I’m militant in my resolve. If I need a year of experience, and you have six months – sorry, I just clicked “NEXT”.

The next thing I look for is relevance. This is where some of the bonus qualifications start to come into play. Again - I’m not looking for everything here – but I’m looking for a combination of factors that will make this resume look better than the last one I just read. As such, resumes which fail this step don’t get completely ignored. They just go into my “secondary” list of people to look at when I’m done reviewing the rest of the stack.

Relevance further revolves around job-specific behavior. Beyond technology match, did this person work in a similar product space?

Do they seem to have similar passions & interests?

Have they shown growth over the course of their career?

Do they show job stability (which implies domain expertise)?

Do they appear to be a driver for the project or someone who takes tasks and implements them?  

These are all issues with a huge degree of subjectivity and gray area. It’s impossible for me to know with 100% certainty how many of these are true just from a resume – so I try to look for as many indicators as possible and then flag those resumes for follow up.   

The last layer of consideration is completely comparative in nature – and dependent on how many resumes made it past the other layers of review. If I have 20 resumes that made it this far, I might only have time to contact 10 or 15. If that’s the case, I need to stack rank the resumes and will call only those candidates I can fit in my schedule. Fortunately, if I end up with extra time, have co-workers with similar positions, or the original candidates I call don’t make the cut – this is the first group that I revisit and try to find placement.

Obviously, this isn’t a perfect science, and the most difficult part is the lack of transparency and knowing where your resume might sit in this process. To me this is an obvious area of improvement on which many companies need to continue to focus. I can’t make any promises – but will do what I can to make this better in the future.

Keep an eye out for my next post where I’ll go a little more in depth into things I look for in a resume and provide some more specific feedback on how to improve and “Stand Out” from the crowd.

-Kenji

Work at Microsoft!

9 Comments

  • Bangladeshi said:

    Thanks for this post. It really helps me to give me a idea about making my resume.

  • Nikhil said:

    Hi

    I am from india, So can i apply for job as a SDE in US opening.!!

  • Nikhil said:

    Hi

    I am from india, So can i apply for job as a SDE in US opening.!!

  • Saranya said:

    Hello Kenji !

    Great post as usual ! Thanks ! I had one question, which I had posted in FB earlier and then was redirected to post it here.

    So lets say I am getting into a career for now which does not involve testing. Later, if I want to apply in there @ Microsoft, I understand it will be a general application for SDE, SDET and PM. But, will my resume not be considered for the SDET position when compared to other applicants, because I do not have Testing experience and others do ? ( for any level )

    Thanks for any or all time & efforts !

    - Saranya

  • Kenji said:

    @Saranya,

    Thanks for the feedback! To answer your question, it depends. Different SDET positions will list different requirements for consideration. Some may require previous testing experience, while others would not.

    Personally, most of the SDET positions I hire for are looking for people with "Test Aptitude," rather than formal experience. This is something that we try to evaluate through the interview process and generally not something that is immediately apparent from reading a resume.

    -Kenji

  • Saranya said:

    Thanks a lot Kenji ! That was helpful.

    - Saranya

  • Andrea said:

    Dear Kenji,

    Your blog post was really helpful because we are always wondering how to just get the call-back. When now it seems all we needed were the right key words (and experience of course)! I find your blog super relevant to job searchers, especially because I am involved with helping people find jobs as well. I work for www.jobspice.com, and we want to help students and professionals build amazing resumes that only take 15 minutes. If you took a look at our site, I would love to get your feedback on what you think, because we are always looking for constructive feedback.

    Thank you,

    Andrea

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