As I mentioned in class, I really do not want this to be "just" an assignment. I am interested in learning more about how the different generations use or do not use -- or may be do not know how to use (generalizations noted), online applications, specifically the upload of a resume. I currently work as a corporate recruiter, and in this capacity, I am the first screening of all applicants. If an applicant copies & pastes their resume into the applicant tracking system rather than uploading a pdf or Word doc, it loses its format and is incredibly hard to read. In fact, just today I received an e-mail from a manager asking me to contact an applicant to have her submit a formatted resume. She said this one was too hard to read, to know what she experience she had, exactly.
I wonder how many times managers do not work to read what is really there -- just because it's formatted badly, or not at all. I also wonder if copying and pasting resumes rather than uploading them has anything to do with simple ignorance on how this simple application works, and if that has anything to do with the generation in which the applicant lives. I suspect younger applicants have no difficulty uploading documents.
So, my thesis:
Even though there has been a history of the accepted format of resumes, and though online application systems offer the option of uploading nicely formatted documents, recruiters and managers should not deny an applicant an interview based solely on the lack of formatting in a resume submitted with a job application, as managers may be guilty (even unknowingly) of age discrimination.
I am very interested in learning how I can make this more solid. It feels pretty large, still, but I think I like it.
Thanks!
~Rhonda
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Nice to hear that you are taking the assignment to the next level and making it more meaningful. And, these are things we take we for granted. Can someone build a resume? Maybe. Can someone then get that resume to the best place for possible future employers to make the best sense of it? Maybe.
ReplyDeleteAkin to age discrimination, is there formatting discrimination? We have our visual biases and proclivities, but is it ethical to judge a resume by its cover page, so to speak, in that way? A boldface should not define a person. Also, employers say tell us about x, y, and z, and they do not say and present it with boldface, etc.
You're on to something--it seems to me this is ethics. As I mentioned in class, this type of thing has been written about a little in the land of electronic portfolios; that is, how the navigational scheme and design of the page can send meta-messages that keep the content from getting assessed accurately. It seems to me there's a similarity there.
Are you connecting this directly to age discrimination in particular? That'd be a tough case to make based on formatting, but maybe. That is, people of a certain age may not have the formatting skills, but more importantly, may not see today's formatting as good as yesteryear's formatting. They are, in effect, speaking another (formatting) language. Their "style" should not therefore be in question so much as their content. Yes, there's something to argue there...interesting.
Rhonda,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up an important point about how we judge people. It makes me think about Lanham's idea about looking "at" versus looking "through."
We all make judgements based on superficial criteria from time to time. But in the business world, the consequences can cause not only an applicant a job offer, but cause an employer to dismiss a stronger applicant based on the simple criteria that a resume doesn't look "good." Sometimes it's tough to peer beneath the surface when we're uncomfortable with the initial impression.
Your research sounds like it may yield some interesting results.
Interesting idea for your project. I think is might be a challenge to find journal publications on the topic? Not sure, but there may be some. I think there is a huge bias on formatting of resumes. I have seem managers not even read resumes that are horrible in style...regardless of user skills etc.....just on first look, right or wrong, it happens all the time. (I have done this....)
ReplyDelete