It’s common knowledge nowadays that most hiring managers or recruiters spend anywhere from 6-10 seconds scanning your resume before they decide to keep it or discard.
It’s common knowledge nowadays that most hiring managers or recruiters spend anywhere from 6-10 seconds scanning your resume before they decide to keep it or discard. That is, if your resume has even made it through the “applicant tracking system” (ATS), an automated recruitment software that sorts and selects resumes as a first step before making into human hands.
One recent study even found that 40% of employers today use ATSs to weed out supposed unqualified resumes during the first stage of the hiring process, so making sure that your document is optimized and customized for these initial screenings has never been more important.
In fact, your invitation to the job interview depends on it.
Before you submit another resume, be sure to check for these 5 make-or-break factors so that your job application materials get past the first screening stages, land you the interview, and put you in the position of front-runner for your next job:
NO ERRORS
While an ATS may not spot errors in things like spelling, grammar, or formatting, your human reader surely will. Common, avoidable mistakes on a resume are one of the primary reasons a resume is rejected, particularly for highly competitive jobs or positions in academia. Having an error-free resume (and cover letter, for that matter) may seem like worn-out, common sense career advice, but this is still one of the most frequently cited complaints from hiring managers or committees. Do whatever it takes to make sure your resume is error free, which includes having a few other people (who have good editorial eyes) proofread your document before you submit.
RELEVANT KEYWORDS AND PHRASES
Great resumes always contain keywords and phrases that mirror the language in the job description and also the field/area of specialization to which you are applying. Not only will this help get your document past any ATS, but mirroring the language of the job description (while, of course, backing it up with substance and experience from your past positions) will stand out to hiring managers and provide easy-to-reference talking points to your interviewer when you make it to that stage.
THE RIGHT LENGTH
While these page limits don’t apply to CVs and most academic jobs, if you’re creating a standard resume, you’ll want to keep it under a page if you’ve had less than 10 years of work experience and ideally no more than two pages if you’ve had more. Executive-level resumes can sometimes roll over to three pages but never more than that. Limit your content to only what is necessary and relevant for the position you’re applying to. Don’t be afraid to leave things off, especially older work experience and or past jobs that are completely unrelated to your current field.
EASY TO READ
Formatting may seem like an afterthought and something that surely wouldn’t have that big of an effect on your candidacy… but this is not so. If the look and feel of your resume is clunky, confusing to read, inconsistent, full of mistakes, amateurish, outdated, or doesn’t align with industry standards, anyone who reads it will be instantly put off by its inappropriateness and turned off to considering you as a serious contender for the job.
When you’re creating or optimizing your resume, the content should naturally be your top priority. However, after you’ve finished perfecting the substance of your document, don’t ignore good formatting. Think like a marketer here: the look and feel of your resume should provide an excellent “user experience” to its readers, making the task of identifying your strengths and key skills easy, fast, and intuitive and leading them to be more receptive to your “brand.”
WRITE A GOOD SUMMARY
Rather than write the traditional resume objective, which is somewhat falling out of fashion, a brief one or two sentence summary at the top of your resume can be a powerful tool to capture the attention of your reader and signal to them right away that you’re a potential good fit for the role.
Unlike an objective (which states what you’re looking for in your next employer or role), the resume summary briefly lays out your own area of expertise and the most important skills or experience you can bring to a new employer. Think of it as the discursive version of your “elevator pitch,” where you’re able to sum up your professional profile in a few sentences or less. The summary is more effective than an objective because it briefly and succinctly communicates your core competencies and lets your reader know what you’re prepared to bring to the table in the new position.
