I’ve heard it said various ways: you get a 5, 7, or 30-second initial resume scan from the hiring manager. I can tell you, when I was an HR manager and had 100 resumes to go through. My initial resume scan was about five seconds long, and I was looking for something to catch my eye.
Making It Past The 5-Second Resume Scan
Here are the three areas I looked at when considering whether to invest more time:
Professional Formatting
When you’re reviewing 100 resumes a day, the ones that really stick out are the ones you can tell the person invested time into creating. The professional and executive resume formats that were well-organized, easy to read, and perfectly laid out really made reviewing the resume easier—and definitely caught my attention.
When you’re comparing a professionally organized and strategically laid out resume to a messy, unprofessional, and disorganized one, determining which one to invest time into reading becomes a no-brainer. After all, why waste time searching through a document trying to find the information you need when someone else has clearly laid it out for you?
Easy-To-Find Requirements
When I posted a job ad online and was deluged with responses. I was appalled at how many people just shot me a resume that said absolutely nothing about the requirements. I had spent so much time deciding what to include in the ad. Normally, when I posted a job ad I would include: REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS and PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS.
At the very least, to even be considered, the person had to possess the required qualifications. The resumes that caught my attention were the ones that made it easy for me to see they did indeed meet the requirements—either by listing them in the top or calling attention to them in a bold, underlined, or italicized font, and placing them throughout their resume.
Want to put the nail in the coffin? Call attention to the fact you also meet their preferred qualifications. Meeting the required and preferred qualifications—and calling attention to this fact in your resume—makes you a perfect candidate for the job.
Compelling, Easy-To-Read Content
Long paragraphs on resumes serve one purpose… and that’s to lose the hiring manager’s attention. If you’re using paragraphs with 5+ sentences, then you not only lost my attention, but now the information I need isn’t readily accessible. It’s buried beneath an enormous amount of text density that I don’t have the time to wade through.
Keep it concise, cut out the mundane, and highlight your accomplishments. Don’t go super crazy with the bold, underline, or italics. With that said, use them when it fits, and use them to call attention to the most important information.
Just to review—here’s how to make it past the initial 5-second scan:
Professional, polished, and well-organized format (colors and white space, good—messy and distracting, bad).
Make it easy for the hiring manager to find exactly what he or she needs—and to find it quickly.
Keep the content concise, and highlight the critical information the hiring manager needs in order to make the decision to call for the interview.
Other strategies come into play when creating a compelling resume that will secure interviews. So, if you’re not sure your resume has the right stuff—and if you haven’t heard of personal branding or incorporated it into your resume—it may be time to call a certified resume writer and get a resume checkup. If it means the difference between three interviews next week or three more months of job searching, you may want to consider speaking with a professional.
Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
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Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
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Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
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Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.