What to call your resume?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified)
in
Career Management
Just a piece of random advice which occured to me today while I was looking through 100 odd resumes on my hard-drive at work (maybe a month's worth): name your resume "Your Name Month Year.doc". Of the 100 resumes I must have 20% with initials, and I can't remember who they were, 20% begin with Resume then have the name, and of course they all sort under 'R', 20% My Resume or Resume number or Resume Function... and 10% that are so random I can't begin to understand what the naming convention was.. and 30% that sort beautifully by name. Be kind to recruiters, name your resume with Your Name :-) Wendii
Submitted by Chris Donnachie on Tuesday June 10th, 2008 6:58 pm

wendii, good advice, but don't forget to include a reference to where it went or the job seeker ends up a folder of 20 CV's all identically named.

It also shows that the CV have been tailored to the job in question.

Chris

Submitted by Wendii Lord on Wednesday June 11th, 2008 12:16 am

Rob - I prefer first, last, because that's how I remember names. Last, first would be better than something completely random!

Chris.. good point!

Wendii

Submitted by Inactive Membe… on Wednesday June 11th, 2008 5:03 am

..AND put the word "resume" in the document title, so the Hiring Manager can tell it apart from the similarly-named cover letter, references, etc that you might also be submitting....

-Hugh

Submitted by Chuck Tomasi on Wednesday June 11th, 2008 6:17 am

Excellent idea. Using David Allen's two-minute rule, I just took out my thumb drive and renamed it. Thank you!

Submitted by Asterisk RNTT on Wednesday June 11th, 2008 7:03 pm

I have my main resume, which I call Asterisk RNTTs' Career Management Document, June 11 2008. When I update it, I rename it changing the date to the current date and delete the previous one. I keep this resume in a folder of its own called CURRENT.

When I am tailoring a resume for a new opportunity, I rename it for the person I am sending it to. Asterisk RNTT's Resume for Wendii Recruiting G*dess, Director of Marketing, Globe and Mail (Source of the posting or referral), June 11 2008. I save this document to a separate folder named 2008 (or whatever year).

I find this helps both me and the recruiter.

*RNTT

Submitted by Jerel Bonner on Friday June 13th, 2008 7:28 am

Great advise,

It's the little things we learn here that make us all better.

Cheers Everyone! :D

JHBChina

Submitted by Nik Friedman T… on Saturday June 14th, 2008 1:59 pm

I've always assumed that having the company name or position in the resume title would just make it too long. I've always used "Friedman TeBockhorst Resume.doc" as the title of the file I send out, but have it saved under a more descriptive name on my own hard drive.

Based on this discussion, I'm wondering if it would, indeed, be better to include a more descriptive name. I can see how having that information, and even the job ID number (if there is one) in the document title would be quite useful to the HR person receiving all the resumes.

Thanks for the tips!