One of the main hurdles you’ll meet while applying for a job is bias. You can prepare and practice for the interview, but your interviewer may not. Bias occurs when the hiring manager has notions on you that may be incorrect. When choosing among other hopefuls, these biases may dictate to the interviewer whom to endorse. To succeed, you must understand the biases resume samples create and how to cope with them.
Resume Samples: Your Guide to Managing Biases
1) Halo Effect
This happens when the interviewer makes a positive assessment based on one good trait and letting it overlook any possible drawback.
As long as your positive trait stands out and appeals to your interviewer or hiring manager, this bias will be helpful to you. Know his or her likes and dislikes to have a greater edge.
2) Horn Effect
Unlike the halo effect, this happens when the recruiter lets a negative quality outshine other positive traits.
Stay positive and give no reason to distract the interviewer with a poor comment or behavior.
3) Contrast Bias
When this happens when human resource (HR) staff compares applicants with one another.
To stand out as a strong player, you must have what others don’t. Ask what skill set or key strengths are hard to find among other job seekers and share your work experience or strengths relevant to their answer.
4) Stereotyping Bias
It occurs when the recruiter makes notions based on his or her opinion of the applicant’s connection with a group (gender, religion, race, looks, etc.)
If you think you’ll go through such lengths, make sure you mention how you’ve met the same requirements in your past jobs.
How Resume Parts Can Create Biases
Most people are unaware, but several parts of resume samples can create unconscious biases, and you may not even be aware of them. So how would you prepare and cope with this possible scene? Plan your approach and own the interview. You can find resume samples as well to help you tell what biases hiring managers may commit if you were in their shoes.
1) Name
Your name can give hints on your race, gender, or family and such can create hidden biases against men and women of color. In addition, studies show that a handful may favor white names and male job seekers over African-American names and female applicants. Have you noticed that most resume samples depict white-sounding names such as John and Jane Doe?
2) Work History and Education
Your former employers and the schools you attended can create notions in the mind of a hiring manager and affect his decision. He/she may favor hopefuls from well-known schools and firms over those who graduated from start-ups and state colleges. Resume samples would show you how work history it is typically written, but it’s best to write your work history in reverse chronological order.
3) Personal Information
Your personal details can prompt bias, too. A link to nonprofit groups can point to religious affiliations while your location can imply ethnicity or even marital status. Likewise, jargons can describe one’s education while age can be an issue in technical job positions.
To improve your chances of landing the job, check resume samples and learn how to apply these tips.
- Include less personal details in your resume. If age, gender, and marital status are irrelevant to your target job, omit them.
- Focus on firms that make obvious efforts to build a more diverse team. They often make this message plain on their job posts, but you can check them as well by talking to their employees or researching online.
- Build a special link with your target employer outside the normal job application course. With this, you can skip the practice and turn your resume into a mere formality.
Don’t just rely on free resume samples over the internet! For more useful blogs and tips on how to improve resume examples and ace interviews, visit Resume Professional Writers.
Image courtesy of Chris Sharp at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
