New Technique for Getting Your Resume Noticed | Hacker News Reader

New Technique for Getting Your Resume Noticed

scottporad.com

17 pointswebwright20 comments

It's a big ol' world, and I'm sure you can find an example of _anything_ working at least once, but this is not a good idea.

This isn't because its right, wrong, or indifferent, it isn't because how you look should or shouldn't make a difference. It's because this is the way the world works.

The conceit is that someone is being considered based upon what they've done, not on the way they look. I've known HR departments to block out faces with markers on resumes under review. When I'm confronted with a resume with a face, at least for the first cut, I have to worry whether I'm selecting for the face or the accomplishments. Later, when I actually meet the person, _thats_ when that all important first impression happens. First impressions should be based on the way someone _acts_ not on the way they _look_.

(And personally, if I'm impressed with their stats, even if they make a poor or mediocre first impression, I try to go back and give them another chance; a potential good employee is worth the extra effort.)

The only type of job for which this would be a good idea is for a job as an actor/actress/performer. In their industry including a photo is routine.

Showing photo and age will make it stick out but precisely because you're telling them age and (usually also) race and gender you're going to trigger problems due to hiring and civil rights laws, esp if a large corp or HR is involved.

Stick out? Yes. Bad way? Probably sometimes.

Based on feedback, I followed this up with another post: http://www.scottporad.com/2010/06/24/getting-your-resume-not...

I've tripled posted this already, but I don't like faces on resumes -- it can be practical (if it shows the person in a manner that resonates with your company culture), but the odds of that happening seem pretty remote, since it can't be a good photo for all involved.

I think I'm starting to show my stodginess because I like resumes looking like they've always looked.

This may work well once your resume makes it to the hiring manager, but chances are that it won't get that far. Most corporate HR departments will eliminate resumes with pictures to avoid any potential EEOC issues.

I was thinking that if any company required photos with resumes, that they would get into trouble if they kept picking white males.

It would be interesting if people could submit resumes anonymously, without a picture or name.

The anonymous submission thing is interesting to me, despite the fact that I liked the photo idea.

I would genuinely be interested in participating in an experiment to compare all resumes with pictures versus all resumes that are anonymous. I would like to be the subject...to review the resumes and see if I'm biased or not. I think that would be interesting.

Would probably make most sense if you were applying to a small organization where a senior person was doing the review. Otherwise it becomes 1) I don't like how this person looks or 2) this person is just using a picture to compensate for some other shortcoming in the resume...

Interestingly, adding a picture to your application was (still is?) standard in Germany. And you still give your date of birth in your resume. And in former times it was even customary to state the jobs of your parents.

The picture is still standard in Germany, although it usually goes on a covering sheet. As a non-german living in Germany I find it laughable what passes for a resume in Germany.

I see PhDs listing which elementary school they attended, and they start in chronological order so the elementary school is listed first and you have to turn the page to see the PhD.

Frequently no attempt is made to clarify what their previous activity means. PhDs who merely write the title of their thesis to account for those 4 years (applying for first job directly after PhD outside of academia), who the hell knows what they are talking about?

The amazing thing is these (in my opinion) crappy resumes actually landed these people decent jobs.

Yes. And this thing is called a "tabellarischer Lebenslauf" (resume in table form). Earlier a resume ("Lebenslauf") was meant to be a prose text written by hand. I guess it's progress of a sort? Or is it?

It's also a great way to start discriminating based on looks/gender/physical appearance (fitness, for example)

From the article:

"literally anybody and everybody could do this and improve their resume in a matter of minutes."

...and then it would no longer be a technique to make your resume stand out.

There's probably a good way to do this. The one time someone gave me a resume with a face on it, it came across as creepy and desperate, and I ditched it immediately.

Maybe LinkedIn/Facebook is making this more socially acceptable. I sure would like to picture a potential employee before phone screening/in depth interviews.

Are you in a technical area? Why would someone's appearance matter? I can understand if you're hiring for Hooter's (or sales, not too different).

The appearance of judging based on pictures can also open your company up to EEO lawsuits.

Appearance doesn't matter, and in the post, I don't think I ever said it did. (In fact, what I said was, "it wasn’t his pretty face that was the deciding factor; he was a very qualified candidate who would have passed our screening regardless".)

I know nothing about this guy's skills other than what his resume says. But, what I do know is that he's a person, compared to every one of these other resumes that are an abstraction.

And you also know that he's an early-middle-aged white male, which likely influenced you to some degree, however minor, in whatever direction. You've even labeled him a "guy". Why "guy"? Why not some other term? A sense of familiarity?

Hence the EEOC issues.

Yeah, but most of the time, the name is going to give you strong clues about gender and ethnicity anyways. And education and job history probably give you good ideas about the applicant's age. People already have plenty of opportunity to discriminate even without the photo.

Very true.

I've long thought that I'd love to make / have a hiring-tool which just hashes names and hides them (as there's still rare uses) and all racial data to hide this sort of bias. I wonder what it'd do to hiring stats.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com