The Data-basics of Job Recruitment Platforms
Stats, math, and database access
Before spending hours on a resume, having all your data organized, standardized, and ready for recruitment systems is critical. If your online profiles are not database friendly, no one will see the resume.
When you create a profile on a recruitment system or LinkedIn, your data is formatted into a single viewable document or webpage. Employers can search the database and then access this summarized version of the data. Employers do not need to go through all the screens that you as the candidate use.
If you have a LinkedIn account, you can see what this looks like by going to your profile and selecting the following options:
The PDF will be a document generated from your content.
A few years ago, I had an HR person call me from a school. She said, “Tony, I like the letter and resume you sent but we use LinkedIn all the time. Your LinkedIn is really messy. I think you should clean it up.”
She gave me heads-up, and explained what I needed to do.
I found that the LinkedIn system reformats the content, and I used a few tricks to correct the issues. I also found out that many employers skip the resumes and just create this document.
The reason people do this is to have an apples-to-apples format for everyone they are reviewing.
You may love your resume, but it may be too time consuming for people to review in the first round.
In 2017, I had access to a number of popular recruitment databases. I helped my school search and find candidates on a regular basis.
For two years I used these systems.
What I found was that the search results buried the attachments (resumes etc) or moved them to another menu. The data I was presented was based-on what the people typed into the system and selected from menus.
I cannot tell you how many people barely wrote anything because they clearly felt their resume was more important than the data entry for the database.
Those people did not make the cut, unless, we were in round 3-4 and had no candidates.
Now, think about numbers.
I will use a K-12 international school as an example, but, I believe this would hold true for any industry.
A school with 700-1500 students could easily have 150-250 teachers and staff.
Every year, they will turn over 5-12% of these people. As a round number, I will use 10%
That means they have roughly 15-20 jobs open, some international staff and some local staff.
Within a single recruitment season, if 10 people apply for each job, that means there will be be 150-200 applications to review (In reality some positions get 50-100 applications while others barely get a handful).
For Leadership positions the applications will be three times longer than non-administrative positions.
If a small team of 2-3 people divide the work, they will probably spend about 5 minutes to shortlist most positions, and 15-20 minutes to shortlist leadership positions.
Assume shortlisting means creating the first list of people to contact and nothing more.
A 3-person Team divides the work so that is about 50 applications per person.
Applications are 5 minutes each to review, or about 250 minutes (4 hours of work). Leadership candidates add another 20-30 minutes each usually, so 5 hours of work in a normal year to create a list of people to actually contact and interview.
Obviously, the smartest thing to do is shortlist the candidates with the best profiles (the assumption being their resumes match the profiles).
Only a small percentage of candidates will be shortlisted after the 5 hours of work (15 hours total among the entire team).
For the candidate, the most important step in this process was completing the data that went into the database. This data was searched and filtered before any documents were reviewed.
This data needs to be very consistent.
You should not be entering data from memory. Every piece of information that can be searched in a database should be written into a document, checked for grammar and spelling, and copied into these systems. Always avoid typing when possible (copy-paste wins), and when you update one service update all the others.
Many people under estimate the data they need written out and ready. Here is a limited list of items you should have written into a document:
The addresses of every place you have lived in the last ten years
Every phone number you have had in the last five years
The names, addresses, and phone numbers of every applicable employer you have had in the last ten years
A list of references with their names, their current employer, their current job titles, their job titles when you worked with them, their email address, and their current phone number
A list of all your positions and the dates you held those positions
Relevant educational information including the years you attended the institutions
Relevant certifications with dates
A list recent professional development activities (within 3-5 years); include the dates and locations
A 300 word biographical statement
A 500 word teaching/education philosophy
A 300 word leadership philosophy
A 300 word story about over coming conflict
A generic 300 word statement about “why do you want to work abroad…”
This should be enough to make short work of most systems, and do the other requirements that are not as predictable.
Many people want to copy and paste from their resume. This is not a great idea. The medium is different, the writing is different, and there is a risk of damaging the resume formatting and not noticing it before you upload it.
In the end, your candidacy is subject to search terms and algorithms. Feed these systems what they need to keep your record relevant.
Make the process easy for the people spending time sifting and searching, and they will be more likely to shortlist your application.
Comment below if you have an experience or insight you would like to share.
Why is this SubStack called, Pancake on a Stick?
Pancake on a Stick is the single funniest story I have ever heard in my life. In about a year from now (Fall of 2021) , the event will be reenacted and recorded. I named the SubStack after the story, because every time I think of the name, I smile and laugh. This helps with my writing and tone, and makes me always remember the most important things in life.
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Most social media is dead to me, but you can find me on LinkedIn and Youtube.
LinkedIn (A bastion of boredom but mostly on mission)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tdeprato/
Email
info@tonydeprato.com
My video series on Expat Recruitment is BORING but useful Listen or Watch and you can master this process.