A recruiter’s opinion on your resume can make or break your job prospects. To land the job interview, you first need to convince the recruiter through your resume. Now an ex-recruiting expert reveals how recruiters read resumes.
Stand Out CV was founded by Andrew Fennell, who has an extensive recruiting and resume writing background. Andrew has written about the different stages that your resume goes through with the recruiters.
- Firstly, recruiters must be persuaded to open your resume
- Recruiters scan for relevant content
- Recruiters focus on your current role
- Recruiters look for numbers
- Recruiters scare easily
Recruiters receive an average of 118 resumes per job advert. They do not have time to open all of them. In this case, to have recruiters read resumes, you have to add a strong cover note. Entice the recruiters to open your resume.
A good cover note convinces the recruiter to review your resume. Still short of time, recruiters scan for relevant content on a resume. Recruiters spend between 6-10 seconds on a resume, on an initial scan. If you pass this test, the recruiter will decide to read your resume in full.
As Andrew writes in his post,
For your resume to pass this preliminary test, ensure that you are making it easy for recruiters to see that you are a strong candidate for the role:
Ensure that your resume is easy to read and looks professional
- Use a simple clean font
- Clearly divide the sections in your resume for quick navigation
- Break text up with short sentences & bullet points
Ensure that key information is highlighted on your resume
- Relevant skills and experience should be prominent, especially at the top of your resume
- Show how your work impacts employers to demonstrate the value you can add
When recruiters read resumes, they focus on the most current role.
When recruiters read resumes, they focus on the most current role. #Recruitment Click To TweetElements recruiters will be looking for include;
- Your position within the organisation
- Overall goal of your role
- People you interact with (managers, suppliers, customers etc.)
- Tools/software used (IT packages, machinery, hardware etc.)
- Work produced (reports, websites, physical products etc.)
- Targets and achievements
Where possible use facts and figures. Recruiters look for numbers and like to see the value that a candidate can bring to an employer in the form of facts and figures. If you can quantify your achievements, it gives recruiters an idea of the scale of value you can add.
Recruiters look for numbers and like to see the value that a candidate can bring to an employer in the form of figures. Click To TweetAnd finally, when recruiters read resumes, they are vary of candidates who have errors on the resume.
Recruiters have to maintain good relationships with hiring managers and clients by providing high quality candidates to vacancies. Providing just 1 bad candidate to a hiring manager can ruin a recruiter’s reputation and sometimes even deter the hiring manager from working with the recruiter again.
ht: How Recruiters Read Your CV via StandOut CV
