Resumes
when reviewing a resume what is considered to be more pertinent; education or experience and how is it perceived if they have education before experience and vice versa?
Andrew,
I think that it depends on the position for which you are recruiting. In our sector, the accreditors are most concerned about credentials; degrees and certifications. We need to couple that with experience, though, if we want to give our students the best possible education. I don't believe that the order in which they are received is crucial as long as they have both.
Dr. Patricia Kapper
In my opinion, it depends on the job description that was created by the hiring company, the accreditation guidelines, and the company policy as it relates the specific job. For example, if the job required three years experience in addition to required education, then that should be the criterion used to help determine if the candidate is qualified. If the accreditors and or company policy indicate that education can be substituted for experience, then this of course should be considered.
If the policies do not specify education then experience or vice versa, then of course it’s up to the interview team to select the best candidate.
For me, it really depends on what position I am hiring. As a Campus Director of a small campus, I do all of our hiring, from very part-time work study to career services and faculty.
When I am looking at entry level positions, I often expect more real estate on the resume will be taken up with education since I am expecting folks who are newer to the working world (or current students in the case of work study) to apply. I still want to see what their previous work history has been and to see how they describe it, but I know there may not be much. Some description of their education will tell me how they showed up as a student which is a bit of an indicator about how they will show up as an employee.
For more advanced positions and faculty, I typically just want to see that they meet our published educational requirements but I don't usually need to see much more than that. I am much more interested in their previous career duties and accomplishments.
I have noticed that I start to take it a little personally when I look through a large stack of resumes and find many of them have typos or clearly haven't taken the job description/requirements into consideration at all. Especially in the current employment environment, when jobs can feel pretty scarce, I don't understand someone who applies to a job without doing a little bit of careful reading or research. One resume I got recently for a student services position had a career goal of being a welder.
Now that I have gotten off topic, I will rein myself in and summarize by saying that often how an applicant writes about their education and work history is often as informative as the facts they tell me.
Elizabeth,
A clear, concise job decription makes it easier to screen the applications. That job description also helps you to develop a list of questions for use in the interview process. Once that final candidate is hired and is on the job, this job description will guide the expectations that you have for that employee. Of course, every good job description has that all-encompassing phrase which says, "and other duties as assigned."
Dr. Patricia Kapper
Leanne,
You are right on target. I completely agree with you. I cannot help but circle typos because that is just pure carelessness with spell check available to them. If they do that on a resume, chances are good that they will do the same on the job. I really appreciate it when an applicant takes the time to customize their resume and/or application letter based on the job description. Your welder friend, obviously, did not do that. Unless you have little turnover, you must spend a great deal of your time recruiting, interviewing, and hiring faculty and staff. Since we are in a growth mode through new startups, I, too, spend much of my time hiring new and replacement staff. I sometimes find that I work for HR instead of Academics!
Dr. Patricia Kapper
I totally agree! I am the Career Services Director at a large campus and work with students transitioning into professionals in the industry. So many people get worked up about resumes to the point where the resume doesn't reflect who that person is but a cookie cutter version of a sample resume. I think the purpose of a resume is to get an interview and by taking the time to check for spelling errors and tailoring it to the job applied for, a one page piece of paper can get you in front of an interviewer.
Susan,
Susan--I completely agree. There are those who teach a standard format for resumes as though that is the only acceptable way to design one's resume. Everyone, however, has a different background which might need to be highlighted in some fashion. That is where the opportunity to customize that resume for that particular applicant and for that particular job is so important. So often applicants will prepare one resume and that resume is sent to every potential employer. Taking the time to tailor the resume to each employer's specific needs says a great deal about the applicant. It certainly shows initiative on the part of the applicant.
Dr. Patricia Kapper
I agree with others in the sense that it depends on what the job is- as far as the field I am in (inside sales) I believe that experience and achievements are more important thus they should go first.
Summer,
This often simply comes down to personal preference. I believe that as long as all of the parts and pieces are there, I will find what is important for a particular position. There are some resume reviewers, however, who expect consistency and accept only one way of preparing a résumé. I tend to be more flexible. What is important is to communicate those expectations to the candidate if that is really important.
Dr. Patricia Kapper
