#JobSearch : 6 Recruiter Tips To Getting Your Resume Seen And Landing An Interview. FYI: Recruiters Spend Only 7.4 Seconds Reviewing a Resume.
According to the career website, Ladders, recruiters spend only 7.4 seconds reviewing a resume. Meaning, you as a job seeker have less than 8 seconds to make an impression on them.
Most job seekers want to share everything about themselves in their resume, therefore, their resume becomes cluttered and overwhelming for the recruiter. Moreover, the resume lacks a clear purpose making the recruiter confused about how a candidate’s skills will translate to the role in which they’re applying.
The career site discovered the resumes where recruiters spent the most time and focus had
- an overview or mission statement at the top of the first page
- a clear flow with title headers and marked sections supported by bulleted lists of accomplishments
- relevant keywords presented in context throughout the resume
Here are six recruiter tips you can implement right away to get your resume seen and land a job.
Keep It Stupid Simple (K.I.S.S.)
Most of the time, the people hiring for the role have never worked in that position. For this reason, keep your resume simple and make sure it’s easily understood since they’ll be the ones reading it. To get noticed at a glance, Ben Lamarche, general manager of Lock Search Group, emphasized, “be sure to bullet point your most marketable skills and relevant management experiences. Don’t go into so much detail that a reader can’t form a quick mental picture of you as a candidate.”
Deepak Shukla, founder of Pearl Lemon, an SEO agency, said “cut out any fluff or experiences that are not relevant to the position. This puts greater emphasis on the information that actually matters to the recruiter.” Also, try to keep your resume to one page, but no more than two pages. David Reitman, Esq., owner of DLR Associates Recruiting, recommended to “focus on the past 5-10 years.” He said, “anything further in the past should simply be mentioned with no more than one line describing job duties.” Avoid repeating information. If your last job was similar to your current job, don’t restate everything you did; instead say, “duties substantially similar to..”
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Article continued …
Utilize The Words In The Job Description
Job seekers often complain about not getting their resume past the applicant tracking system (ATS). The reason being is because the ATS looks for specific keywords that are already in the job description. As a job seeker, it’s important to tailor your resume to include those keywords that are relevant to your experience.
Yaffa Grace, founder of The Essential Resume, advises her clients to take a yellow highlighter and highlight words that come up multiple times in the job description. She said, make sure you only use those keywords if you have the experience reflected in that keyword. You can do this by supporting those keywords with professional experiences that demonstrate you’re knowledgable. The worst thing you could do is lie about or exaggerate your experience. The interview will uncover those lies. If the interview doesn’t, your performance on the job surely will.
Lastly, if you’re going to claim you are detail oriented, make sure to review your resume for mistakes and have someone else look it over too. The quickest way to land in the rejected pile is by contradicting what you claim.
Tailor Your Resume To The Position
Most job seekers have multiple resumes. Each resume is tailored specifically for the role in which they’re applying by using the keywords in that job description. If you have a broad background and are applying for various types of positions, it’s important you tailor your resume to speak to the skills of those positions. For example, if you’re applying to a developer position, you would want to move non-relevant positions to “Additional Experience”, personalize your summary and skills section as well as the bullet points from your current and previous positions.
Chris Waltenbaugh, payment processing expert at Payment Depot, explained “for me, the resumes that stand out are the ones that show the person has taken time to think about the position in which they’re applying and carefully crafted a document that demonstrates their understanding and what’s unique about them that will bring value to the job.”
Focus On Specific Accomplishments Rather Than Vague Responsibilities
Rather than listing out generic bullet points from the job description, use specific examples that demonstrates what you’ve accomplished not just what you did. For example, using a statement such as “Increased employee retention rate by 45%” is a stronger statement than “Improved the employee experience.” It not only hones in on a specific outcome but it demonstrates your success that can benefit the company in which you’re applying.
Petra Odak, chief marketing officer at Better Proposals, shared “one thing that is guaranteed to get my attention when I’m hiring, is samples. We hired for a lot of marketing positions recently and the candidates that stood out are those that supplied a sample of their work. Be it writing, design, marketing copy or something else. Those that went the extra mile and showed us what they can do are the ones that got an interview.” She added, “everyone can write a good resume and cover letter, but a sample shows that you can actually do the work.”
Take It To The Next Level
Grabbing a recruiters attention requires additional effort. Christy Noel, career expert, marketing executive and author of Your Personal Career, expressed, “it’s not enough to solely rely on the job board or portal to submit your application. You should network to find someone who knows a person within the company that can be sent your resume to forward to the recruiter or hiring manager.” She explained “referrals have a 50% likelihood of getting an interview, non-referrals only have a 3% likelihood, so getting that person to submit your resume is critical to your job search.” LinkedIn is invaluable when it comes to networking with people at the company. Websites such as Rocket Reach and hunter.io help to find the email of specific people within the organization so you can send your resume and cover letter directly to them.
Another way to stand out is by being original in your approach. Andrew Taylor, director of Net Lawman, said “you can make your resume stand out by creating an infographic and including a video for your cover letter.”
Craft A Personalized Cover Letter
A personalized cover letter shows the employer you’re serious about the position in which you’re applying. Lawrence Calman-Grimsdale, marketing intelligence assistant at Jump, asserted, “it’s infinitely better to apply to three jobs with tailored cover letters than 100 without.” A cover letter should be well organized, concise and explain specific points from your resume that are relevant to the position. Furthermore, if you have gaps on your resume, make sure to give a brief explanation (health concerns, caring for a sick parent, etc…) so the recruiter isn’t left wondering.
To start, make sure to address the cover letter to the hiring manager in the organization. From there, each paragraph should be broken down into how you found the role and what made you want to apply, expanding on specific parts of your background that are relevant to the role and finally, a wrap up stating your excitement for the role, how they can contact you and thanking them for their time.
Forbes.com | October 13, 2020 | Heidi Lynne Kurter