An iPhone App for Resumes? Me Thinks Not.

A friend sent me a post last week with one question:  “Can your iPhone rescue you from unemployment?”  Included was a  link to the apps store on itunes where one can read about Vurgood Apps’ release of Resume Pro for $1.99. Here’s how Vurgood describes the program:

…a simple way to quickly build, preview and send a professional-looking PDF resume without hiring a professional or spending vast amounts of time formatting a document of your own!  This application provides “on-the-go” ability to quickly generate and send out a resume from your iPhone!  In this declining market/economy, it is crucial to be able to do this in order to get out your qualifications to companies ASAP….

And on the ad goes, continuing to discuss how fast and simple it is to plug in your skills, jobs, references, photos and cover letters to make the perfect mobile resume.  In total, the description has six exclamation points and one DOUBLE exclamation point!!  …With all those, I needed to check this out, even though the ad itself kind of made my skin crawl.

The reviews are pretty good although users are complaining that the system crashes which really sucks if you’re actually dumb enough to write your resume on your phone and don’t have it backed up somewhere, as one user seemed to do.  

The first thing that pops up when you open up the app is “Add Profile.”  To test it out, I filled in “Sales Director” and was then prompted to go to a screen where I was asked for “Basic Information.”  Name, address, phone, email, etc.    Then I had the ability to add in “Jobs, Skill-Sets, Education, References, Extracurricular Activities and Photos.”  I could scroll through each of these areas easily enough.

I put in a fake job and was then prompted to put in my “responsibilities.”  There’s no prompt for accomplishments, though, which is a pretty big faux pas in my book.  If I’m a marketing manager, I’m going to have the same responsibilities as another marketing manager at the company next door. What differentiates me from him are my accomplishments.  How I made a difference in my department or division. 

I continued to go thru the process, filling in my skills and education, etc.  Then, when I went to preview my mobile resume, BAM!! (Double exclamation.)  The application shut down.  I reopened it and the only info that was there was my name, address, contact information and company/job title. The other information was gone.  And, my contact information was at the bottom of the page, which I am not a fan of.  Your contact information should be bolded on the top so it’s in your face when you’re looking at the resume. 

As you can imagine, to test the program out, I did not do an elaborate resume.  I filled in a bit of information to see how it would work and how the program flows.  I found it extremely tedious and time consuming.  Texting on the phone is easy and quick.  While texting, we use short-cuts and abbreviations to communicate with one-another (i.e., “LOL”)  because nobody wants to spend  time typing on itty-bitty keypads.   I just can’t imagine ANYONE writing an entire resume on a phone!  Even if you write it beforehand as a word document and simply copy it to the phone, it would take forever and a day.

One other big problem I have with the program is that there is no spell check.  Can you imagine how many typos you’d make writing an entire resume on your iPhone?  That will pretty much ensure that you don’t get a single call back for an interview.   

There are some things that new technologies cannot improve upon.  This is one of them.  A resume is the single-most important tool you have, other than your network of friends and co-workers, to get an interview.  This is not something that you can “create on the go.” It’s something that needs to be thought through, pondered over, and carefully crafted.  Spend the $1.99 on an app that’s worth while, not this one.  (Oh, and one last thing.  Who puts a picture on a resume?  That shouldn’t even be an option with the Resume Pro, or any other resume-making application.)

Carpe diem…

2 Comments

  • Perfect Resume
    June 4, 2009

    I found that there are a couple of things that really increase the chances of getting a job, even now with an economic recession the basic rules still apply.

    * Use Titles or Headings That Match The Jobs You Want
    * Use Design That Grabs Attention
    * Medium Size Resume and The Use Power Words
    * Identify and Solve Employer’s Hidden Needs
    * Sell the Benefits of Your Skills – it should be pretty obvious for the employer why not hiring you would be a loss for their company

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