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Submitted by gbpfavre4 on
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I had a recruiter request that I resend my resume in Word format rather than the PDF format so that she could add her company logo. On the surface I understand that her adding her company log helps her clients understand that my submission for that job is done through the recruiting agency and not a submission on my own.

Should I be concerned about the recruiter modifying my resume in this way? I am a bit concerned about what else may being done as far as altering content/formatting, which would be unprofessional, or adding summary information that would extend my resume beyond the recommended 1 page.

Thanks in advance for the responses,

Ron

Gk26's picture

 For right or wrong, it is common practice for recruiters to do this to remove your personal info.  You can ask that you review the final changes.  Given the popularity of LinkedIn, I am not sure what the recruiter is accomplishing because one can easily search for a candidate's job title and in most cases identify the person.

jl_herrera's picture

Ron, I am bumping your thread as I find myself now in the same situation.  I have sucessfully updated my resume following the Career Tools format, but a recruiter that I am working with wants me to change it to the format that they are used to working with.

Of course I plan on keeping a version of my "Career Tools Resume", but does it make sense to have a version that fits the recruiters template out there?  I am worried that after all the work that I put into creating my one-page resume, there will be another with a different format out there.

If another employer were to find these two separate versions, would it not throw a red flag as inconsistent?

Wondering what others think.  Thanks in advance.

 

JLH

donm's picture
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"Why pay a professional for his opinion if you are not going to listen to it?"

You are paying recruiters - whether from your pocket or the future employer's pocket - to do the job of finding you the job that best fits your requirements. How they go about doing this is up to the recruiters. My suggestion would be to allow them to do absolutely anything they desire to the formatting, as long as my name and other personal information was redacted, and I had final approval rights before dissemination.

Basically, you tell them to do the task ("Find me a job where X, Y, and Z."). You should not tell them how to do the task.

All of the above being said, I would insist on seeing their submittal copy before it is sent, to insure no liberties with the truth have crept in to the verbiage. Changes in format or addition of logos are fine. In most cases, I want my resume to stand out, but if I am being submitted along with six others that are identically formatted, then it would probably be best to be compared head-to-head.

"..does it make sense to have a version that fits the recruiter's template out there?"

No. It makes sense to allow the recruiter to submit your resume to prospective employers you and the recruiter have discussed before your resume is submitted. You should not give the recruiter carte blanche to willynilly publish your resume. Their license is to submit your resume to prospective employers you have agreed to, not to be the JLHerrera Promotions Group.

Gk26's picture

Last week, one third-party recruiter modified my content, blatently lying.  She claimed I was a manager where I was not.  She added more direct reports than I manage.

I had to ask to be withdrawn, because she submitted me with the fraudulant copy.  I also let the company know what had happened.

 

jib88's picture

As a hiring manager, I hate it when I get a resume that has a huge recruitment company logo plastered across the top. It takes up space and moves all the useful content down onto the next page. Not all recruiting firms operate this way. I also think it damages the potential candidates just a little bit, simply by association with the recruiting firm that operates like this. I typically get resumes from several different recruiters, so it's not apples-to-apples with all the resumes having the same thing plastered on them.

Whether you consent to it depends on how badly you want to work with this recruiter for this position (or future positions). If this is for a specific job that you really want to apply for then you may have no choice. If this is just a general relationship you are starting as you start a job search then I would look for a different recruiter with different company policies. There are a ton of recruiters out there, and unless you are working with a firm in a retained search (unlikely below executive level), then you should have plenty of options elsewhere.

This is a good topic to bring up when you first start working with a new recruiter or firm.

-JIB