The Importance of Leveraging a Resume Database

The days of waiting for job seekers to find you are coming to an end. Employers are expected to reach out to prospective candidates through the digital job market, yet the number of job seekers can seem limitless—a never-ending stream of resumes that’s simply impossible to appraise meaningfully. Enter the resume database, an online tool designed to glean those imposing numbers down to something far more manageable.

Thinking of leveraging a resume database? Here are some important reasons why you should.

The Data Basics

A database is a collection of data organized in a way that allows for quick search and retrieval of that information. By simple extension, a resume database is a collection of resumes organized in a way that makes it easy for employers to locate and review them.

Think of it like a phonebook dedicated exclusively to listing job seekers. Unlike the phonebooks of yesteryear, however, it’s updated regularly to contain only active seekers, it can be reorganized on the fly to present top talent that meets your specific needs, and the results are available instantly.

Modern resume databases are also incredibly intuitive and user friendly. You log in keywords that apply to the position you want filled, and the database scans thousands of resumes before presenting you the ones that match. This reduces your filtering responsibilities, saving you valuable time when compared to waiting on job seekers to send in their resumes.

For example, imagine you’re looking for an electrical engineer, and someone applies whose only engineering experience is fixing the office fro-yo machine. You waste a few moments scanning his resume. As a single incident, that’s no big deal—probably a minute of your day—but the minutes add up for every fro-yo guy you indulge, searching for a good fit.

A resume database gives you back this time by filtering out the fro-yos of the world. Unless, of course, that’s one of your keywords.

Ways To Leverage A Resume Database

Saving time and energy is perhaps the most important reason to leverage a resume database, but there are several other benefits you should consider.

A Targeted Approach

Even with judiciously chosen keywords, a well-stocked database will net hundreds of hits. To cull unlikely candidates further, databases provide additional search options for a more targeted approach. These options allow you to add search criteria beyond keywords and typically include preferred location, desired salaries, education levels, military experience, and previous career roles.

By using these, you can hone your search, precisely targeting the best candidates for the position and company culture. You can also ensure that you’re offering an employment package that will meet the candidate’s needs. You can also ensure that you’re offering an employment package that will meet their needs before going too far with them. After all, information like desired salaries and preferred locations is important for determining fit, yet many job seekers don’t feature it on their resumes.

A good database will allow you to actively seek out this information, rather than betting on luck to place the right job seeker in your path.

Portfolio Building

You can create portfolios of promising candidates by categorizing the database hits. Typically, these shortlists will be of qualified candidates for a currently open position, but the potential here is far greater. You can create portfolios of promising candidates for future positions, or portfolios of professionals specific to their geographic location. The breadth of these portfolios is up to you.

A View from Above

Researching on resume databases can be an effective way to explore the current job market landscape. Comparing and contrasting resumes with similar career paths will tell you which skills are common among job seekers and which are more specialized. You can then use that information to tweak the position’s responsibilities accordingly or perhaps decide you’ll need multiple positions to meet the company’s goals.

You can also use the information to evaluate how your company can attract top talent. If you want to hire that electrical engineer for $80,000 annually, but the average engineer lists $110,000 as his preferred salary, then you may need to consider bumping up that pay to stay competitive. The reverse can also be true. Either way, you’ll be saving yourself time, money, and hassle by using the database for preliminary research.

By now, the importance of leveraging into a resume database should be evident. It provides you an employer-friendly approach to finding qualified job seekers, allowing you tweak the search results to your liking and categorize the job seekers as needed. This not only saves you time but offers valuable information you can use to hone your search. And, of course, one of those lucky job seekers may just find an exciting new position at your company. It’s win-win.

If you have questions about how Washington Post Recruitment Solutions can help you leverage a resume database, please contact Lonzell Offutt at Lonzell.Offutt@washpost.com.