15 Jul What Recruiters Look For in a Resume
What Recruiters Look for in a Resume
What’s the average amount of time a recruiter spends on the initial review of your resume?
7.4 seconds
That is not much time to grab attention and engage their interest and get added to the “review further” pile.
The study that concluded a recruiter does their initial resume review in 7.4 seconds also identified what catches the eye of recruiters (and what doesn’t). With this information, you can not only arm yourself to increase the chances of your resume being read but also be selected for an interview.
What makes a resume jump out in 7.4 seconds?
✅ Titles & Accomplishments: Bolded job titles supported by short bulleted lists of accomplishments (not paragraphs). Recruiters spent more time focused on job titles than any other aspect of the resume.
✅ Skills Summary: Keep a recruiter reading your resume with a summary that includes your skills and experience connected to the job description.
✅ Clean and simple: Clear fonts, simple layout, and clearly marked sections and title headers.
✅ Two-pages max: But if the first page isn’t compelling, a recruiter won’t make it to page two.
What to avoid on your resume?
❌ A cluttered resume with very little white space
❌ Lack of clear sections and job headers
❌ Keyword stuffing – use of keywords should appear in context
How to Optimize Your Resume
Take advantage of the 7.4 seconds your resume gets in the initial review. Align your experience to the job you are applying to. Highlight the skills you have that are in the job description. Listing your job responsibilities is not enough, include your accomplishments (in bullets). And present it all in a clean and simple format that is easy to read and digest.
Yes, it’s time-consuming to craft a resume and cover letter for each position. But as the research shows, it’s critical to customize them for the position you are applying if you are going to capture the attention of the recruiter and get a more thorough review than 7.4 seconds. Which leads you one step closer to an interview and a new job!