According to ABC News, recruiters aren’t looking at resumes for nearly as long as they estimated they are. When asked, the average executive recruiter thought that they examined a resume for four to five minutes. According to eye-tracking software used by TheLadders, however, this proved to be anything but accurate — their study showed that recruiters only gave resumes about six seconds of scrutiny.
Does this means recruiters aren’t doing their job right? Not really — it just means that they’ve become very focused on looking at what matters first, and only checking the “fluff” if the first part checked out. The eye research showed that “hot” details included your name, current title and company, previous title and company, and your education.
What didn’t recruiters pay attention to? Details like your interests, photo and community work tended to inspire less attention. It’s worth noting that including a photo really isn’t a good idea — many recruiters will automatically discard your resume so as not to be accused of age, gender or race discrimination.
Are you interested in spicing up your resume or CV in order to make it executive search and selection worthy? Here are three quick tips.
1. Sometimes, Less is More
It can be tempting to put in everything you’ve done at previous jobs in your resumes. You want to show you’re qualified, and you’re proud of what you’ve done. However, big blocks of text can be a turn-off visually, and over-selling yourself will make executive search recruiters people question your true value. Be succinct, and cut out the overly-promotional bits.
2. Eliminate ALL Errors — We Mean It
Did you know that 61% of recruiters will automatically throw out a resume with typos, according to Careerbuilder? And according to Behiring, an unprofessional email address will get your resume rejected an incredible 76% of the time. Have a friend look over your resume for errors, and keep your email handle short and simple — ideally, your name @ gmail.
3. Have a Strong LinkedIn Profile
LinkedIn might be the social networking site you don’t exactly enjoy logging into, but it can help reinforce the strength of your resume to recruitment firms. Many recruiters and hiring managers will check your LinkedIn profile to either verify information or look for additional data. If your profile is fairly dead, unorganized, or lacks a photo, you may want to do some editing.
Do you have tips for appealing to an executive search recruiter? Let us know in the comments.
