Pongo Blog | What Happens to My Resume After I Send It

Resume Vortex Once you submit your resume and cover letter to an employer, it can feel as if your precious career documents have been sucked into a vortex, never to be seen or heard from again.

At best, you might get an auto-reply e-mail that acknowledges your application (but promises nothing). Wouldn't it be nice to know what's happening to your resume after you send it?

While I was pondering how to approach this topic, AskAManager's Allison Green beat me to the punch. Her recent post, "How the Hiring Process Works on the Employer's Side," not only spells out what happens to your resume, it also provides a window into the hiring manager's mind. Be sure to read her whole post, but meanwhile I'll touch on some of the main points.

After your resume leaves your computer, the typical screening/hiring process will go something like this:

1) Applications start pouring in to the employer.

Pouring is the operative word. Allison is a hiring manager for a medium-sized non-profit, where they rarely get fewer than 100 resumes for any job posting; 200 to 400 is the norm. (Four hundred!) And these numbers are not unusual. No one can review that many resumes, so the vast majority of them will have to be eliminated.

TIP: Don't give them a reason to eliminate you.

2) Applications get passed to the decision maker(s).

Depending on the organization, the initial decision maker might be the hiring manager for the open position, an HR person, or a staff recruiter. Many people use hard-copy printouts of the resumes and cover letters; but larger companies are probably still keeping it electronic at this stage.

TIP: Make your resume attractive and organized, with plenty of white space so it's easy to read on screen or on paper.

3) They scan the submissions and eliminate MOST of them.

We talk a lot about the 10-second rule (you have only 10 seconds to pique the reader's interest), but Allison is generous. She says her first visual scan of the cover letter and resume lasts at least 45 seconds. At other companies, it might be a computer doing the scan, searching for certain keywords.

TIP: Don't apply promiscuously; if you're not qualified (or at least almost qualified), you're wasting your time.

4) They scrutinize the survivors and cut some more.

At this point, if you're still in the running, someone will take the time to fully read your cover letter and resume. (Yay!) But in the end, more applicants will be eliminated. (Aww.) The final candidate pool might be as few as 3 or 4 people, or as many as 10 or 15.

TIP: Previous steps were all about first impressions; this step looks for substance to support those impressions. Without it, you're gone.

5) They start contacting the remaining candidates.

This is where things start to vary from employer to employer. Allison typically asks candidates for a writing sample, a written exercise, or some other relevant material. Other companies (e.g., Pongo) go right to phone interviews, but ask for homework at a later stage. Some go straight to in-person interviews.

TIP: If you're asked to do some homework, do it, and follow the instructions to the letter. If you balk, you walk.

6) They conduct phone interviews.

The goal of a phone interview is to get a sense of how the candidate communicates, or as Allison puts it, to find out "whether or not she's crazy." More people get cut at this point, usually because they have the wrong experience, or commit some behavioral faux pas.

TIP: If they call you out of the blue and it's not a good time to talk, don't wing it. Politely ask to reschedule for a time when you can be at your best.

7) They determine finalists and schedule interviews.

At this point, the process becomes familiar, because you (the job seeker) are back in the picture. It's the usual sequence of in-person interviews (possibly 2 or 3), thank-you notes (from you to them), reference checks, and eventually – when you and an employer find the right fit – a job offer, negotiations, a handshake, and a starting date.

Now that you've got some insight into what happens on the dark side (wink, wink), I hope it's clear how incredibly important it is to make your resume and cover letter shine with a summary of your specific, relevant qualifications targeted to that employer.

Have you had any particularly good or bad experiences with the hiring process? Please share by posting a comment below.

After a recent layoff, I have been putting in applications and networking as much as possible. I recently received a call from an employer stating interest in my resume. He decided to set up an interview time to simply "get to know me" better and see if we fit each others' needs.

When I arrived and he pulled me into the room, he began by saying that he wasn't quite sure what we had all talked about on the phone. I told him it wasn't much, just a description of the positions open and an invite for the interview. He proceeded to ask me the regular questions, while always being sure to emphasize "IF" we were to hire you.

However, it started to get weird when he continued to say, "I'm liking what I'm hearing" multiple times, and began to ask me what I thought after multiple spiels about the position. My answer was the same each time: That I would have to think about the pros and cons (the position was okay, the pay was not) and see if I could make it work. Still, I had to emphasize this for a third time, and he concluded the interview letting me decide when I wanted to call him because he has had other interviews and *made a face*.

In other words, I think he offered me the position without really saying it because of his desperate demeanor, and when I asked him to give me a general time frame, he told me whenever I could, as soon as possible.

The red flags led me to believe there was a reason for so much desperation and so much short-handedness on the company's part. And, companies are allowed to have their low points...but the hiring staff needs to know how to lure the talent in. This was a prime example of how to scare it away!

The company recently closed the division I was working for . After 26 years , it is the first time I have ever been unemployed. I answered an online posting for a position which suited my skills to a "T" , and I received an e-mail requesting a phone interview. The phone interview was great and the HR person requested samples of my design work online--I did what was asked and landed a 1st interview. I met with the Design Director,then the HR person, all in all , the interview process lasted 2 1/2 hours! I was overqualified for the position,but the salary was decent and the commute was very close to where I reside. When asked why I wanted to step back in my career, I explained that This company was a solid , professional company, with a proven track record , and I would like to be a part of the team and that money was not the issue .3 days later I received a call setting up an interview with the SVP of design, and to please bring the same portfolio as before. When I arrived there for the interview the assistant HR person said it looked really good, and that I was the only one they called back. As you can imagine, I was thrilled , but when the SVP arrived, she flipped thru my book, asked me why I was here and then abruptly ended the interview with a " we have other people to see" I was floored, and even the assistant HR person ( who sits right outside the interview room) had a shocked look on her face. Two days later, I am sitting at my computer looking at the job sites and their ad appears again---That was a hard thing to handle, so I called the HR person just to see where it all went downhill. All I recieved was a short e-mail stating that they not proceeding with my interview process . My question is this--Why as applicants, that have proceeded through that far, and are clearly qualified for the position, aren't we at least given the respect to know why they are halting to process? I am sure there are many out there that feel as I do, we are humans and need to learn and grow if we are to succeed. There is nothing wrong with constructive criticism or even, we feel you have too much experience for this position---something!!!I am not asking to be coddled, but just so I can learn to be better and work on my strenght and weaknesses.

"The company recently closed the division I was working for . After 26 years , it is the first time I have ever been unemployed. I answered an online posting for a position which suited my skills to a "T" , and I received an e-mail requesting a phone interview. The phone interview was great and the HR person requested samples of my design work online--I did what was asked and landed a 1st interview. I met with the Design Director,then the HR person, all in all , the interview process lasted 2 1/2 hours! I was overqualified for the position,but the salary was decent and the commute was very close to where I reside. When asked why I wanted to step back in my career, I explained that This company was a solid , professional company, with a proven track record , and I would like to be a part of the team and that money was not the issue .3 days later I received a call setting up an interview with the SVP of design, and to please bring the same portfolio as before. When I arrived there for the interview the assistant HR person said it looked really good, and that I was the only one they called back. As you can imagine, I was thrilled , but when the SVP arrived, she flipped thru my book, asked me why I was here and then abruptly ended the interview with a " we have other people to see" I was floored, and even the assistant HR person ( who sits right outside the interview room) had a shocked look on her face. Two days later, I am sitting at my computer looking at the job sites and their ad appears again---That was a hard thing to handle, so I called the HR person just to see where it all went downhill. All I recieved was a short e-mail stating that they not proceeding with my interview process . My question is this--Why as applicants, that have proceeded through that far, and are clearly qualified for the position, aren't we at least given the respect to know why they are halting to process? I am sure there are many out there that feel as I do, we are humans and need to learn and grow if we are to succeed. There is nothing wrong with constructive criticism or even, we feel you have too much experience for this position---something!!!I am not asking to be coddled, but just so I can learn to be better and work on my strenght and weaknesses."

Keep in mind that credit checks and background checks are being done all the time now and they certainly can be a determining factor. If one minute everything is fine and the next they have a funny look on their face this could be why

What Happens to My Resume After I Send It?