Career Mentorship Colloquium Details
How to Get Your Resumé Noticed
| Author: | Ivan Lumala Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Date: | May 02, 2008 |
| Time: | 15:30 |
| Location: | 220 Deschutes |
Abstract
With the advent of online resume banks, recruiters are dealing with hundreds of resumes per every open position. Many of these recruiters are under immense time pressures because they are required to meet a certain recruiting quota. Under these circumstances, recruiters make their first decision on an applicant by only scan reading the resume. They are searching for keywords, certain kinds of experiences, and when in doubt they will just put a resume aside. On the other hand, many technical applicants believe that the entire exercise of putting together a strong resume is a marketing exercise valuable to those with weak technical backgrounds. They believe that a solid technical background will automatically open the door for an interview.
This talk will correct misconceptions around the value of a well prepared resume for technical applicants. The talk will share tips and show examples of good and weak resumes. It will also share some interviewing tips drawing heavily from the Microsoft interviewing process.
Biography
Ivan Lumala has worked at Microsoft for 16 yrs. He spent the first 12 years with the company in multiple roles including Software Design Engineer in Test on the C++ product, Test Lead on the Java Debugger, and Test Lead on the Visual Studio Help engine. During his time on the Visual Studio team, Ivan interviewed dozens of candidates for fulltime and internship jobs at Microsoft. Ivan also regularly visited university campuses to screen students who would fly to the Redmond campus for full formal interviews. For the past 4 years, Ivan has been the Academic Relations manager covering the Pacific Northwest Region. In this role Ivan regularly speaks to students on technical, and career related topics.