37 Signals Explains Why You Should Ignore Resumés
By Daniel Miessler on June 8th, 2010: Tagged as Business
Once we begin vetting candidates, we also behave a little differently. For one thing, we ignore resumés. In my experience, they’re full of exaggerations, half-truths, embellishments — and even outright lies. They’re made of action verbs that don’t really mean anything. Even when people aren’t intentionally trying to trick you, they often stretch the truth. And what does “five years’ experience” mean, anyway? Resumés reduce people to bullet points, and most people look pretty good as bullet points. What we do look at are cover letters. Cover letters say it all. They immediately tell you if someone wants this job or just any job. And cover letters make something else very clear: They tell you who can and who can’t write. Spell checkers can spell, but they can’t write. Wordsmiths rise to the top quickly. Another rule of thumb: When in doubt, always hire the better writer.
via inc.com
Brilliant stuff on how to hire people.
