Technology: Foe or Friend?
March 8, 2012 by Jon Ciampi · 3 Comments
Resume keywords can fool your eye
Can you identify keywords better than a computer? Try it here.
Job seekers and experts in the field are familiar with résumé keywords. However, identifying keywords to make your résumé standout is not as easy as you think.
Let’s look at an example. If you are applying for a sales manager position, commonly held views are to include “sales” and “manage” in your résumé. However, to quote Brenda Bernstein, a professional résumé writer and owner of TheEssayExpert,
“Pardon me for saying so, but the above advice is 1) rudimentary, 2) a no-brainer and 3) limited in its value. The problem is that 99% of the people applying for a sales manager job are going to have the words “sales” and “manage” in their résumés! Therefore, you will not get higher on any list by including these keywords.”
Brenda’s statements are accurate. Over 80% of all hiring companies use computers to screen and rank résumés. These computers have created new hurdles for job seekers. Therefore, we wanted to evaluate the best ways to identify keywords.
So what is the best way to identify keywords?
The Résumé Keyword Test
We created a test to compare the effectiveness of a professional résumé writer and Preptel’s Resumeter to determine the best method for identifying résumé keywords.
We had each identify the keywords from a job description. We added the job keywords to a résumé and submitted the résumé. The judge of each résumé is the hiring system at a Fortune 500 company. The hiring system, known as an ATS, ranks candidates based on their résumé (learn more about ATS systems). To keep it fair, we used the same base résumé and only added the keywords.
The Job Description
Below is our test job description.
Clinical Researcher
May monitor study sites for data collection, source data verification, review of regulatory documents/files and drug accountability.
May review and edit documents including protocols, informed consents, case report forms, monitoring plans, edit specifications, abstracts, presentations, manuscripts and clinical study reports.
May write protocols and protocol amendments, with supervision.
Will present at investigator meetings.
May manage CROs and/or contract CRAs with guidance from CPM.
Chair or participate in meetings or conference calls with CROs and multi-disciplinary study team.
Assist in review of data and preparation of safety, interim and final study reports, and resolution of data discrepancies.
Assist in setting and updating study timelines.
Participate in abstract preparation, presentation preparation and manuscript development.
Train clinical site staff to ensure protocol and regulatory compliance.
May assist in training CRA I and CRA Assistant
Requirements
Bachelors degree in a relevant scientific discipline or equivalent.
At least 2 years of relevant experience as a CRA in the biotech / pharmaceutical industry.
3+ years CRA experience is preferred Knowledge of GCP and ICH guidelines
The Professional Résumé Writer Keywords
We want to thank Norine Dagliano for participating in our test. Norine is a professional résumé writer, certified by the NRWA, and oversees certifications of other résumé writers.
Below are the keywords identified by Norine. We have marked them in yellow highlights.
Clinical Researcher
May monitor study sites for data collection, source data verification, review of regulatory documents/files and drug accountability.
May review and edit documents including protocols, informed consents, case report forms, monitoring plans, edit specifications, abstracts, presentations, manuscripts and clinical study reports.
May write protocols and protocol amendments, with supervision.
Will present at investigator meetings.
May manage CROs and/or contract CRAs with guidance from CPM.
Chair or participate in meetings or conference calls with CROs and multi-disciplinary study team.
Assist in review of data and preparation of safety, interim and final study reports, and resolution of data discrepancies.
Assist in setting and updating study timelines.
Participate in abstract preparation, presentation preparation and manuscript development.
Train clinical site staff to ensure protocol and regulatory compliance.
May assist in training CRA I and CRA Assistant
Requirements
Bachelors degree in a relevant scientific discipline or equivalent.
At least 2 years of relevant experience as a CRA in the biotech / pharmaceutical industry.
3+ years CRA experience is preferred Knowledge of GCP and ICH guidelines
The Preptel Resumeter Keywords
Preptel’s Resumeter is a computer-based approach to identifying keywords. Resumeter uses the same approach hiring systems use to identify job keywords.
Below are the keywords identified by Resumeter.
Clinical Researcher
May monitor study sites for data collection, source data verification, review of regulatory documents/files and drug accountability.
May review and edit documents including protocols, informed consents, case report forms, monitoring plans, edit specifications, abstracts, presentations, manuscripts and clinical study reports.
May write protocols and protocol amendments, with supervision.
Will present at investigator meetings.
May manage CROs and/or contract CRAs with guidance from CPM.
Chair or participate in meetings or conference calls with CROs and multi-disciplinary study team.
Assist in review of data and preparation of safety, interim and final study reports, and resolution of data discrepancies.
Assist in setting and updating study timelines.
Participate in abstract preparation, presentation preparation and manuscript development.
Train clinical site staff to ensure protocol and regulatory compliance.
May assist in training CRA I and CRA Assistant
Requirements
Bachelors degree in a relevant scientific discipline or equivalent.
At least 2 years of relevant experience as a CRA in the biotech / pharmaceutical industry.
3+ years CRA experience is preferred Knowledge of GCP and ICH guidelines
The Comparison
To compare the job keywords, we show both our Professional Résumé Writer’s and Resumeter’s keywords.
Clinical Researcher
May monitor study sites for data collection, source data verification, review of regulatory documents/files and drug accountability.
May review and edit documents including protocols, informed consents, case report forms, monitoring plans, edit specifications, abstracts, presentations, manuscripts and clinical study reports.
May write protocols and protocol amendments, with supervision.
Will present at investigator meetings.
May manage CROs and/or contract CRAs with guidance from CPM.
Chair or participate in meetings or conference calls with CROs and multi-disciplinary study team.
Assist in review of data and preparation of safety, interim and final study reports, and resolution of data discrepancies.
Assist in setting and updating study timelines.
Participate in abstract preparation, presentation preparation and manuscript development.
Train clinical site staff to ensure protocol and regulatory compliance.
May assist in training CRA I and CRA Assistant
Requirements
Bachelors degree in a relevant scientific discipline or equivalent.
At least 2 years of relevant experience as a CRA in the biotech / pharmaceutical industry.
3+ years CRA experience is preferred Knowledge of GCP and ICH guidelines
The Results
As shown above, even though many words were marked as keywords by both approaches, our research shows significant differences in how hiring systems rate résumés based. To demonstrate this point, let’s see how they ranked.
We added the keywords from our Professional Résumé Writer to a base resume and named the person “Julie Wilson“.
Next, we added the keywords from Resumeter to the same base résumé and named the person “Peter Comp“.
We submitted both résumés for this job.
To see which one ranks higher, we then logged into the hiring system. For those not familiar with these hiring systems, when a hiring manager or recruiter logs into the hiring system and chooses the job, they see a stacked list of candidates based on Job Fit. Job Fit is the hiring system’s evaluation of how well the résumé fits the job.
Based on the results and screenshots below, Resumeter outscored our Professional Résumé Writer by 34 percentage points. Resumeter scored a 83% job fit rating, and our Professional Résumé Writer scored a 59% job fit rating.
Implications
This test does not diminish the value of a professional résumé writer. In fact, Professional Résumé Writers are the best way to create your résumé and are experts on industry best practices.
This test and results demonstrate the need for job seekers to 1) tailor their résumé to each and every job, 2) understand the different approaches to identifying keywords.
Most of the advice you may find on the web is outdated. This test demonstrates the difficulty in identifying keywords and how just a few keyword differences may significantly alter your success.
About Jon Ciampi
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