The quality of your resume database

In the everyday bustle of dealing with your employers, it’s easy to forget about your resume database. Easy, but not advisable. Long commoditized and scorned by many recruiters because of poor quality and short shelf life, resumes actually provide you with the opportunity to truly differentiate yourself from the hundreds – no, thousands – of mediocre career sites out there.

Here are three simple steps to elevate the quality of your resumes:

1) Have a resume submittal process that ‘pre-qualifies’: This doesn’t need to be complicated – for example, include a drop-down list of typical licenses and certifications for your target job seeker. The more form-driven you can make it, the more likely the job seeker will use it – and the easier it is for your employers to use as well.

2) Screen the resumes: I can hear the teeth gnashing already! If you get 1000 resumes a day, this will require some programming. But at a minimum, cull out the ridiculously short or obviously incomplete resumes. Communicate back to the job seeker – encourage them to resubmit. They’ll be amazed to hear from an actual person at a job site!

3) Talk to your employers: Don’t give them what you want; give them what they want. Call them up. Send them a survey. No matter the method – just ask them what they think is missing from the resumes, and then adjust accordingly. The extra communication with your customers rarely hurts.

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