Red flags and green lights on a resume

"Reviewing resumes is an art, not a science," says Cathleen Faerber, managing director at search firm Wellesley Group Inc. in Buffalo Grove. Ms. Faerber and Lori Kleiman, managing director at HR Topics in Glenview, tell how to spot red flags and green lights in that pile of resumes. RED FLAGS Sloppiness. Typos and half-baked thoughts are "the first thing I look for," Ms. Faerber says. "You question the person's communication skills if they can't construct a thought and put it on paper." Stagnation. "If someone's been at the same company for 15 years, I want to see that they've been promoted," Ms. Kleiman says. "But if they've been a customer service rep for 15 years, you're probably getting someone who's complacent." A hop-scotch career path. Times have changed and people no longer stay in jobs for years on end. Still, "when you see successive job changes from day one of their career, that's a red flag," Ms. Faerber says. The applicant lives way out of state. Relocating to Chicago from Detroit or Milwaukee is one thing; from Miami or Seattle, quite another. "They'd have to explain why in the cover letter," Ms. Kleiman says. Geographic job-hopping. "Are they chasing the dream and that's why they're moving all over?" Ms. Kleiman says. "That's a big red flag." GREEN LIGHTS Short and sweet. "I'm absolutely crazy about one-page resumes," Ms. Kleiman says. Foreign-language skills. "You might not need them today, but you never know," Ms. Kleiman says. Steady career progression. "Someone whose job titles show progression of promotion, at the same or different companies—they're constantly tapped and they're interested in going to the next level," Ms. Kleiman says. This story first ran in Crain's Chicago Business.