The average time a recruiter spends looking at your resume is 6 seconds. That’s a short amount of time grab someone’s attention. Is your resume up to the challenge? Here are 5 tips for getting your resume past the 6-second mark.
1. Format
Make the hiring manager’s job easier. If you’re not looking for a career in graphic design, then anything that makes reading or deciphering your resume extra work will mean more attention on the formatting, and less on your work experience.
- Use a clean font in a size 9 to 12, black ink on white paper with wide margins.
- You can play around with bolding your name or a company name and making the font a little larger, but stay way from overdoing the underlines, italics and bolding.
- Use clear headings.
- Use bullet points to call attention to important points.
2. State What You Did, and WHY It Was Important, Not What You Were Hired To Do
About the worst thing you can do is cut and paste the job description from when you were hired into your resume.
- State your accomplishments from the job, not just what you did.
- Quantify your accomplishments. Use numbers, percentages, or projects that were able to move forward because of you.
- Highlight achievements that tell the story of you as an employee.
3. Target your Resume
If you are applying to jobs in multiple fields, it’s a good idea to have a resume for each. Whether you are going into sales or marketing or retail, make sure to have highlighted relevant experience. You can do this by using your headings to clarify ‘Marketing Experience’ or by including skills and interests from outside of work that cater to a specific industry.
4. Use the Top of the Page Wisely
It used to be that the top of every resume had a paragraph on objectives. Trash it. Instead, write a Career Summary – this gives you a few lines to tell a story, highlight accomplishments that didn’t fit anywhere else or outline a skill set you know the hiring manager is looking for
5. Watch your Buzzwords
The hiring manager that is reading your resume has already read a stack just like it. Stay away from vague, descriptive words and try using instead quantifiable, action words.
Overused Words
- Go-getter
- Synergy
- Results-driven
- Team player
- Best of breed
- Strategic thinker
- Detail-oriented
Fresh Words
- Achieved
- Improved
- Trained
- Managed
- Created
- Influenced
- Increased/Decreased
Now that you have the fundamentals down, pull out that red pen and start editing. Don’t be afraid to ask friends and coworkers for help – a fresh set of eyes might be just what you need to get your resume to the top of the stack.
Do you have any resume writing tips we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments section!
Madison Approach 