In general, when analyzing one should pay attention to educational institution the candidate graduated from, which faculty he studied, which specialty he mastered, in what city, how long did he study, whether it is a specialized or non-specialized education (whether it is necessary for this very position), and which skills and knowledge it provides.
Family status
Some employers also look at this factor and take into account the fact that a man of 45 years old has not been married and has no children.
It is not uncommon for young girls to seek employment in large company with an officially declared salary and a good social package with only one goal – to work for a while and go on maternity leave. When ordering verification clients often want us to ask the candidate this question: «Are you going to get pregnant in the near future?». Here, of course, we explain that there are things that you cannot plan, and the answer to such a question will be useless.
Working experience and previous jobs
An important point. We are interested in finding out at what places the candidate used to work, and whether they were similar to one another. For example, if a person began working as a laborer, and then he became a shop-worker in the same company, then a shop foreman, and eventually the head of a company, then we can see consistency and procedural character.
The opposite case: the resume shows the frequent change of places, the candidate worked in many companies but not in one did he stay for a long time. What is the matter here? We will list several reasons. First, it can be the meta-program «Differences», when a person does not want to work in one place for a long time, he wants to develop and is longing to go forward. The meta-program «Opportunities» should not be excluded, especially when places of work do not cross over and official duties do not overlap. Besides, a risk factor might be a reason (alcohol, conflicts). If a candidate has changed 3—4 places in 10 years it is not so bad, 2 places are actually excellent. This suggests that a person is stable, appreciates orderliness in his life and is not used to changing places of work so often.
Additionally, consider the spelling in the questionnaire. For example, a person applied for an assistant manager position, but in five lines he made three mistakes. In fact, what does the position of assistant manager imply? Attentiveness, commitment, multitasking, responsibility, nuanced approach. For instance, his responsibility might be ordering tickets, organizing transfers for partners from other cities, monitoring services operation to complete the tasks set by the manager and much more. But if a person wrote a resume and did not even recheck it, then there is a high probability that he will continue to make mistakes in the future. For example, time of the meeting important partners will be wrongly appointed and it will negatively affect the work of the manager and the company as a whole.
Hobby
Hobby is a remarkable thing. Up to this very point in the questionnaire everything is usually structured, a person writes things that he wants to be known. For example, skills, knowledge of languages, etc. Here you can write anything of these, it is impossible to check it just relying on the questionnaire. But the hobby speaks of that part of the personality that the candidate is trying to conceal. What do you think a hobby like collecting might say? If you think about it, this may speak of patience, desire for deeper understanding, or when a person wants to know something – he begins to «dig» and hunt down the topic. This may also speak about diligence and goal orientation. This hobby often indicates that the person is ready to follow procedures and processes.
Once we analyzed a resume for the position of development director, in which the candidate wrote that his hobby was collecting orders, medals, badges, any lapel pins and working with archives to study family history. It is not difficult to guess that we did not invite the candidate to this position, because his hobbies are connected solely with the past.
A versatile multi-faceted person with different interests will suit us for creative professions. Such type of hobby as extreme sports (for example, rodeo, rock climbing, rafting, etc.) speaks about adventurous nature in a way, about risk appetite. It is important to consider what position you are hiring the person for. For positions that require risk (for example, when working with new directions) this hobby is rather a benefit. If we select a candidate for the position of a risk manager, where a person must predict, foresee all negative aspects, such hobby might tell us that a candidate has some undesirable personal traits.
Additional information / portfolio
In the resume candidates also often add additional information about themselves, including various certificates, awards, credentials. It might say that such a person is longing to learning, self-development, he is quite active, able to present himself and his abilities, and most often such people are ambitious. This information will give a clue as to the candidate’s area of interest: whether certificates relate to different fields and areas, or each certificate is a logical continuation of the candidate’s training in one area, which reveals the desire to study the subject deeper. Also, if the candidate has included all this in the resume, it is possible that he wants to show how he will cost the labor market.
Concerning strong qualities, which candidates use to describe themselves, there is an excellent saying of by L.N. Tolstoy «The more the person is satisfied with himself, the less satisfying things can be found in him.» It is difficult to assess yourself. To convey your assessment objectively is not an easy task, too, since everything is relative. If you ask a 19-year-old girl from the village if she considers herself to be goal-oriented, she will answer «Yes» because she graduated from the 9th grade, unlike her friends who dropped out of school in the 7th grade. All of us once achieved a goal, even a small one, but to assert that all people have this strong would be hastily and biased.
And here I want to recall the experiment of Bertram Forer. In 1948 he showed the results of this effect. Forer gave his students a special test in order to analyze their personalities. However, instead of the actual individual characteristic, he gave each student the same text written in a generalized language, which is often used in drawing up a horoscope.
Here is the text that students received:
«You have a great need for other people to like and admire you. You have a tendency to be critical of yourself. You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not turned to your advantage. While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them. Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside.
At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others’ statements without satisfactory proof.
You have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be pretty unrealistic. Security is one of your major goals in life.
Then B. Forer asked each student to evaluate the accuracy of this description according to their personal reality on a scale from zero to five, and surprisingly, the average evaluation was 4.26.
Most surely you also,