<p>Since we are on the topic of resume scanning, I have some questions:</p>
<p>1) Why are they scanned? Are they using computers to look for keywords for filtering bad candidates?</p>
<p>2) ^ if that is so, why come to a career fair? ( especially companies that dont even take resumes)</p>
<p>3) I am thinking of buying a certain customized font for resumes, its really good. Would that create a problem? Will it stand out?</p>
<p>I have used printer paper (and so have most of my EE buddies) and I have a job…so I think that’s inconsequential. </p>
<p>Be enthusiastic, ask questions, pass around as many resumes as you can and talk to the recruiters earnestly. Oh, and pray.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>They use it to find good candidates. If a manager needs an expert in Lean Manufacturing with a background in chemical processes, for example, he’ll search the database for those key words.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There are several reasons. First, some companies come to the career fair but aren’t hiring. Why come to the career fair if you are not hiring? At some schools career fair spots are limited and if you miss a year that puts you at back of the line (GT has a 3 year waiting line, right now). Another reason is that some companies don’t want their competition to know that they are not hiring. They want to appear as if things are normal. In that case, they scan your resume until times are better.</p>
<p>Companies will also scan your resume if you don’t get an interview but are not a bad candidate, either. Maybe you just weren’t a fit for the job (e.g. you told the recruiter that you want to work in California, but their CA plants aren’t hiring right now).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The OCR software people use these days is pretty good, so it shouldn’t be a problem. However, you can go to dafont.com and download thousands of free fonts that will stand out just as much.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I had a buddy drive home drunk one night, and he didn’t die. So there’s no reason to take a cab when you’re drunk.</p>
<p>“I had a buddy drive home drunk one night, and he didn’t die. So there’s no reason to take a cab when you’re drunk”</p>
<p>This made my day.</p>
<p>I didn’t mean for this topic to turn into a printer vs. resume paper topic. Personally, I have begun using resume paper. It’s cheap, 12 cents a sheet, and it doesn’t make me come off as a clueless freshman. At University of Illinois, which is a huge, top-ranked engineering school, I notice about 50% of people in line have it. (Usually those with higher GPAs. Coincidence?)</p>
<p>Anyhow, back to more tips! I’m glad dressing uniquely makes you memorable - I always come in a yellow suit and felt bad when I’m surrounded by people in black.</p>
<p>Gee, I am glad that the recruiters who gave me a chance to interview and the ones who finally gave me a job offer, along with the ones who did the same for my friends, didn’t reject me simply because I printed and distributed my resume on normal printer paper. Instead they focused on other inconsequential attributes likes uh…projects, academic ability, clubs I belonged to. </p>
<p>Like someone else said, it would be better to avoid and not work for any engineering firm anal people like Mr. Burdell and his supporters work for. Just a thought :rolleyes:</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - American Psycho: Business Card Scene](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoIvd3zzu4Y]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoIvd3zzu4Y)</p>
<p>I’m glad you know so much about the interview process Citran. Maybe I should take notes. It’s not about “being anal”; most engineering firms have “attention to detail” and “self worth” as important competencies in new college hires. The use of resume paper, how someone dresses, and improper grammar (like placing period at the end of an objective statement when the objective statement is not a full sentence) are ways you can judge who spent time reviewing their resume for a week, and who threw it together the night before the career fair.</p>
<p>Regardless, you guys do what you want to do. But even if you lose one job offer, is it worth saving the $10 for a box of resume paper?</p>
<p>You know one difference between companies that succeed and companies that fail? Some companies throw out talent because they used the wrong kind of paper for their resume when they were 20.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Do you know what the difference is between a high level manager in a top company and a low level grunt worker that can’t get ahead? The first guy knows how to take advice and the second thinks he knows everything.</p>
<p>I mean, if you’re going with the same logic, why wear a suit to an interview? A company shouldn’t care about what you wear. Why show up to the interview on time? As long as you have a good GPA, that’s all that should matter. Why bother having good posture, answering questions politely, or even showering? Those things shouldn’t matter.</p>
<p>The fact is companies care about more than just your technical skills. They also care about “soft skills”: communication, professionalism, personal standards, attention to detail, servant leadership, leadership, ability to take direction, etc. Not using resume paper makes you seem less professional, appear to have less attention to detail, and have lower personal standards than someone that does. What happens when you have to send a document to a client and print off something instead of using the appropriate letter head? What happens when you flippantly email clients or managers without taking time to proof read the documents? What happens when you violate company policy because you didn’t take time to acclimate yourself to the office norms? In most companies, “soft skills” are more important than technical skills.</p>
<p>If you have a 4.0 GPA, five excellent internships with multimillion dollar results, and won major university and national awards, then it won’t matter in most cases. But, the vast majority of students are borderline cases: there are dozens of 3.2-3.5 GPA students with one or two internships that produced OK results, and that have a few scholarships. In that case, the interviewers have to make a cut somewhere, and things like the paper used, spelling errors, effort that went into the objective statement, etc. are often the cut-offs used. Remember: the people deciding who to interview often aren’t the people at the career fair (and even if they are, they tend to forget you). Your resume has to stand on it’s own.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Bingo. While firms may not explicitly consider resume paper vs regular paper, it may affect them in a subtle manner. Why risk it?</p>
<p>I think a lot of people are looking at G.P.'s advice the wrong way; it isn’t just about the paper. All of these small details are meant to help your overall image. If you happen to forget to wear a brown belt instead of a black one, clearly it wouldn’t matter as much as wearing a yellow suit (I mean it’s just damn tacky). Every little bit helps, everyone knows that age old lesson. That’s all it is really, cleaning up the rough around the edges so that you look as good as possible… I mean, why wouldn’t you want that?</p>
<p>FWIW, a good friend of mine who spent a significant part of her career doing hiring (primarily CS majors for an IT/software development department) told me that using printer paper certainly wouldn’t sink you, but using nice resume paper would make her think “this person spent a little bit more time and put in a little extra effort.” In other words, if two equally qualified candidates compete for the same position and one used resume paper and one used printer paper, that one with resume paper would get the nod.</p>
<p>It may seem nitpicky and somewhat irrelevant, but if it is something that easy to do that could give you even the slightest edge, then I don’t see what is so hard about just doing it.</p>
<p>it can’t hurt, and I guess for interviews it would be a must…I’m thinking of giving normal resume paper at CF and then for interviews ‘upgrade’ to something real nice and perhaps customize it towards the company’s more…</p>
<p>all this talk about paper, hahaha…I guess all the other stuff is obvious like firm handshakes; which I won’t be able to do cuz i got 5 stiches on my right hand now, dang.</p>
<p>^ can you hold a resume?</p>
<p>yep, just got to have break past that odd moment of ‘oh what happened to your hand’…</p>
<p>“… Well, I walking home from giving my professor a lesson on quantum mechanics when a man with a knife took two women, a baby, and a puppy hostage…”</p>
<p>Lol, cyclone if anything, your more memorable when it comes to appearance. The guy with the injured hand.</p>
<p>Ok, now that we’re all settled on the resume paper thing (lol) I just got back from yesterdays fair, and have another coming up. These Q’s popped into my head yesterday:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>How do you personally treat old vs. young recruiters? I saw the facebook guys and they were hyper, 18-year old-lookin dudes, vs. an old man that I talked to for like 10 mins. What parts of your experience should you focus on depending on their age?</p></li>
<li><p>If you have a crap GPA (mine’s 2.97), should one lean towards a small company (~100 ppl) or a large one? i.e., where do people with low GPAs have better chances of finding an internship.</p></li>
<li><p>I found a couple companies that I’m interested in (and I think they like me) and started thinking about a cover letter. I see this issue brought up many times, even during the fair people think they should write cover letters. But, really, at what point do you write one? After the phone interview? Before?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Peace ~ and thanks to all that have responded to this topic.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Cover letters are designed to provide additional information not found on the resume and specific to the company. For example, if a company lists a need on the job description that matches your skills, you might include a paragraph explaining why you match that need, and you might give examples. Two to three things like that + opening + closing + a paragraph why you’re interested in the company.</p>
<p>Since cover letters are company specific, they’re generally not something you hand out at career fairs. If there is a company that you are really targeting, you might have one for them, but you wouldn’t have a “general cover letter” that you hand out to people. Your resume should speak for itself in that regard.</p>
<p>If you are going to include a cover letter, you would do it with the initial resume submission, not after an interview (the point of the cover letter is to get an interview). If there’s something you want to highlight that didn’t come out in the interview, you would do that in a thank you follow-up note.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Try them all and see who offers an interview. There’s probably not that many companies that you have to pick-and-choose where to submit a resume. Once they give you an interview, don’t worry about your GPA anymore.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You have to feel out each recruiter. Usually, I’ve found that younger recruiters are more concerned with technical skills and older recruiters are more concerned with non-technical skills.</p>