15 Ways Companies Check You Out Before Saying, "You're Hired!"

You want the job. You're qualified for the job. Why can't the company just give you the job?

Did you really think it was going to be easy?

Are you kidding? Employers want to know who they're hiring, and they're going to be pretty darn intrusive in checking you out before extending you an offer. 

In case you were wondering, companies have many ways they vet job candidates before hiring them. Some you may have expected, others may surprise you. You will experience some combination of the below. Employers apply the old Reagan-ism: Trust but verify. And, by the way, this list is far from complete. There are other ways for companies to gather information about you...

1. The Resume - Your resume serves so many purposes to somebody reading it. It's a spelling test. It's a grammar test. It's a Microsoft Word publishing test. It's an honesty test. Reviewers will make several judgments about you, just based upon that 1 to 2 page resume.
2. Interviews - Grueling meetings with employees of the company. Usually includes the hiring manager, sometimes peers, human resources, internal customers, or anybody with a stake in the hiring decision.
3. Criminal Background Checks - Employers want to see if you can be trusted with the keys to the company car, or if you're going to take it straight to the chop shop first time you drive off.
4. Employment Verification - Did you really work at the company, in the role you indicated, for the pay you detailed? Let's find out!
5. Credit Checks - Another measure of trustworthiness. How do you handle your finances? If you've declared bankruptcy or have overdue bills, what does that say about your ability to manage company resources? Will your expense report be a bit padded to cover your personal expenses?
6. Physicals - It's rare (but not unheard of) to be sent to the doctor for an evaluation if either your job involves a great deal of physical activity, or if you're considered so critical to the organization that they need to make sure you're healthy.
7. Skills Testing - The job requires you to be good at Microsoft PowerPoint - would you be willing to take a timed exam to see just how skilled you really are?
8. Psychological / Personality Testing - These come in many flavors, but the purpose is the same - employers want to see how well you fit within the organization, and what are your predicted behaviors and predilections.
9. Polygraph - The old lie detector. Legal in several states, another test of your trustworthiness. Don't be surprised to take one of these when applying for security or law enforcement roles.
10. References - You provide the names and numbers of former supervisors or coworkers, and the company speaks with them to find out what a swell guy or gal you were.
11. Informal References - Major gray area; this is when somebody at the company says, "Hey, I know somebody who used to work with that guy at my old employer! Let me get the skinny!" Then they do this without the applicant's knowledge or consent.
12. Deep Background / Character Investigations - Applying to a position requiring access to top secret data? You might get an investigator or G-man poking around, asking your neighbors about your most personal details.
13. Asking Around - The hiring manager may ask people who interacted with you, how you behaved. Better have treated that receptionist with dignity and respect...
14. Your Social Media - Who says they won't find those pictures on Facebook from your drunken escapade in Tijuana? And do you know what comes up in Google when somebody enters your name? How's that picture on your LinkedIn profile?
15. Drug & Substance Testing - About that trip to Tijuana...

Bottom line: There's a lot of information about you out there, and companies won't be shy in gathering as much as they can before deciding whether to offer you a job. Be prepared!

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. He is a Human Resources professional and staffing expert with almost two decades of in-house corporate HR and staffing firm experience, and is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).

Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Did You Ever Wonder What That Recruiter REALLY Thinks About Your Resume? And What Can You Do About it?

Recruiters review resumes for a living (among other things...). A busy recruiter easily reviews THOUSANDS of resumes every month. Did you ever wonder what recruiters like and dislike in a resume?

I decided to ask them! I conducted a highly informal poll (totally nonscientific - I asked a bunch of corporate and agency recruiters and HR managers in email and on LinkedIn) what they like to see in resumes, and what they don't care for. Here are the results, according to real-life recruiting folks!

FYI, these comments reflect the feedback of 20 or so HR folks, and are listed in no particular order. I didn't leave any out, so there are some recurring or slightly conflicting themes. Ready? Let's dive in!

I LOVE a resume that...

*Has enough detail of actual accomplishments, not just responsibilities. I love when results are indicated clearly.

*Is one page.

*Reads like my job requisition!

*Has achievements/metrics vs tasks.

*Is concise and to the point.

*Is organized and straight to the point.

*Provides clear details of one's work history

*Follows the STAR approach (in other words - details a Situation, Task, Action, and Result)

*I do love resumes that have the last 10 to 12 years of experience, each with less than 15 bullets, and a snapshot of skills at the top with a summary. Much easier to read and evaluate.

*When it is really focused on their expertise and their passion of what they do. Showing immediately their dream job.

*A resume that indicates contract positions and reasons why the person left a previous position. It can aid in pre-explaining tenure issues.

*Is organized and shows me what I am looking for, right away. I also like an executive summary, right at the top.

*Has a relevant work history for the job they are applying for.

*Is a clean, concise, well-constructed resume.

*Catches my attention at first glance. Good me format, experience, industry or education.

*Is visually appealing, in chronological order, has details on job duties, and is grammatically (well-written) proficient.

*Really paints the picture of what they do in their job.

*Easy to read, legible font.

*I LOVE a resume that reads like a menu and not a cookbook.

*Has proper formatting.

*Includes a hyperlink link to LinkedIn (or professional social media) profile.

*Accurate employment dates and specific job duties.

*Clearly highlights skill set.

*Clean, concise with relevant information to the role they are applying to.

*Easy to read, quick to see what you want and what you can do for me. Drolly serious bogs me down and I stop reading.

*I also like it when the candidate provides a brief snapshot of the company they worked for; # of employees, annual revenue, industry, and the title of who they reported to as well as number of direct reports.

*A resume that is easy to read (bullets not paragraphs, no small or crazy font and is set up traditionally in a proper format).

*Nicely formatted and easy to read w/ bullet points

It drives me BANANAS (in a bad way) when I see in a resume...

*An objective line that has nothing to do with the position applied (i.e. seeking a job in marketing when the job is technical).

*Their SSN#, nationality, marital status and # of kids.

*No email/phone, and spelling errors.

*Resumes with typos, gross grammatical errors, and incomplete sentences.  But what really drives me crazy is when candidates include their work history back to the 1970s and the resume is 5 pages long.

*When a title does not stand out immediately.

*When I see misspelled words on a resume

*When I see a resume for someone with 5+ years of experience, but has crammed it onto one page. That is not the way to market yourself. Having two pages does not disqualify someone - it simply makes the document easier to read.

*I do not care if you garden, or whatever in your spare time...that is up to you and won't help you get the interview.

*When a resume shows detail on personal information: Birth date, Marital Status, Religion, # of kids etc.

*When candidates don't take the time to research the company they are interviewing with.

*Incorrect job titles referenced in cover letters. We know candidates use cover letter templates but they should take the time to ensure the information quoted is correct.

*Resumes with pictures, age, gender, WEIGHT! No, no, no! This is a big trend in Latin America that is slowly creeping up here in the states.

*A picture on the resume. Unless you are applying to be a model, just no. And weird personal details also do not belong. I also can't stand non specific and useless objectives.

*Major typos, or it's poorly formatted.

*They have worked less than a month at a job and list a half page of their responsibilities.

*That is not in chronological order and does not provide detailed summary of job duties and has misspelled words.

*When a candidate writes a stock introduction in the resume and leaves the wrong title they are pursuing or company name. They batch send it to any company and they don’t take the time to change this.

*Resumes that are too long, 5+ pages.

*Illegible font.

*Cluttered resume with blatant typos

*It drives me b.a.n.a.n.a.s when I see in a resume the word "Manger."

*In different fonts and sizes (that is obviously not on purpose).

*Spelling errors.

*Disorganized format.

*Not putting months with employment dates - If you only put 2013-2014 I assume you were there for a short period of time and immediately start questioning it.

*Poor formatting.

*Poor grammar or spelling.

*Contains portrait pictures.

*Lacks employment dates (Month/Year).

*Does not list dates of employment on their resume.

*Does not spell check.

*The objective is not remotely close to the role that they are applying for (please leave off the objective altogether).

*Typos, including spelling the name of your degree incorrectly. This is suppose to be the "best you" -- find friends to quintuple check your CV.

*When I see in a resume with misspellings.  What an indication that the person does not check their work.

*Generic objective statement, poor formatting and typos.

If there's a message here, it's that there are plenty of things in a resume that can annoy a recruiter and get you knocked out of the process. Here are some key takeaways to make sure your resume doesn't take an express trip to the circular file:

• Organize your thoughts. Organize them well. Tell a clear story about who you are, what you do, and what you can contribute.
• Typos and misspellings will kill your application, they demonstrate carelessness. As does putting the wrong job title on the resume or cover letter.
• Keep it short but relevant. 2 pages, maximum, unless you've got a compelling reason to go beyond that. But most of us don't. Your mommy may believe you're special, but you're not special enough to have a 5-page resume.
• Leave out the personal stuff unless geography dictates it. In some countries, it's normal to include portraits, social security numbers, dates of birth, etc. The United States is not one of them, and the same rule applies in several other countries. Know your market.
• Readability matters. Use an attractive font. Format your resume so that there is enough white space. Typeset your pages. If you can't maneuver Microsoft Word, hire somebody who knows the application well to format your resume.
• Dates of employment are important. Know them. List them.
• Consider format. There are a lot of creative ways to format a resume. Before doing something trendy or unique, ask yourself if your audience will receive it well. Some career fields, like marketing, may better accept a creative format as a sign of the candidate's own creativity. Others, like IT or accounting, not so much.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. He is a Human Resources professional and staffing expert with almost two decades of in-house corporate HR and staffing firm experience, and is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).

Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

How The $%&! Did That Recruiter Find Me On LinkedIn? We're Not Even Remotely Connected!

You're checking your LinkedIn account, and you notice you've got a note from somebody you've never heard of. She's a recruiter from a company you may have heard of, but you're not even remotely connected.

How did she find you? Aren't there limits on who people can see and connect with on LinkedIn?

I'm sure you've seen the offers for LinkedIn Premium subscriptions. These give you extra bells and whistles, and let you go a little bit further than you can with the free account. For example, you get InMails you can use to reach out to folks who aren't first level connections, or you can search further beyond your immediate network.

But did you know that LinkedIn also markets corporate subscriptions to companies big and small? These give corporate recruiters better search capability, visibility into almost everybody with an account, and a beefy number of InMails so that they can reach hundreds of job seekers.

Guess What!: LinkedIn is a job board. Whether you want it to be, or not.

In other words, recruiters are constantly combing the outer reaches of LinkedIn to find their next employee. Are you ready?

Here's how you can be ready:

• Make sure your profile picture is ready for prime time.  I'm not going to go into depth on this here, but I wrote a previous piece about the appropriateness of your profile picture. A clean, professional head shot will leave a positive impression. Don't do anything silly on your LinkedIn picture. Recruiters will make their initial judgment on your professionalism based on your photo alone, and you may never get a call if your picture is goofy or too revealing.
• Maintain a professionally constructed profile. Employers want to see a complete profile. It's essentially a temporary substitute for your resume, so make sure that it has all your key details and jobs in there. By the way, if you send a resume to a company first, they will likely compare it to your LinkedIn profile to ensure there are no discrepancies.
• Include your contact information somewhere in the profile. Not everybody checks their InMails all the time, so including an email address will often ensure a quicker response.
• If you don't want to be found, make sure your settings reflect this. Go into your settings, and turn off your profile visibility. Although, there's not really much point to being on LinkedIn if you don't want to be seen.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. He is a Human Resources professional and staffing expert with almost two decades of in-house corporate HR and staffing firm experience, and is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).

Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.