If you have been an agency recruiter for any length of time, you have likely come across a candidate who has great skills and experience, but his résumé leaves a lot to be desired. I remember a time when I was an HR Director working with an external recruiter to find an IT candidate. Over the phone, the recruiter sang his praises, but when I received the résumé I was in shock.

The candidate had a photo on the résumé that looked more like a mug shot. In addition, all of the websites he worked on were highlighted in blue with links all over the page in 14-point font. There were so many bullets in a row that I felt like I had been shot by the end of the first page; and oh, by the way, there were seven pages. His title was Senior Manger of Information Technology. Need I say more?

The candidate may have been excellent at what he did; he certainly was said to have the right skills, but his résumé was a fright, and I told the recruiter I could not present it to the hiring managers in its current condition. We hired someone else, but I have always wondered, now that I am a professional résumé writer, if the result would have been different.