Make your resume past through
One of the most important job hunt tool that can make you reach that elusive interview board is your resume. Your resume is your first interaction with the recruiter and therefore must have sufficient appeal to pass the first cut. Recruiters are usually stacked with piles of resumes and therefore have to look at each before taking a decision. As a result, the maximum time a resume gets to survive the first cut is about 30-60 seconds. Resumes which don’t appeal are trashed. So what does it take to survive the first cut? Check out this 30-second scan to evaluate your resume.
The first 5 seconds...
You take long to word your resume for that perfect impression. But actually, visual impact instead of content draws attention first. Without much conscious thinking, a decision is taken for and against calling you in for an interview, based on the visual appeal. So do an initial 5 seconds to see if there’s a balance between text and white space. Is the resume looking monotonous or is laced with eye-catching bullets, headings and fonts, making an easy read? Put all important information in points and not in dense paragraphs.
The next 10 seconds…
The top half of the first page is the next thing that draws attention highlighing the overview of yourself and your capabilitie to the recruiter. The resume is scanned for keywords for understanding your skills and map them against the requirements. Have an objective, which in a line or two describes the essence of who you are and what you want. Also, have a summary section bulleted with succinct words and adequately highlighted intriguing things.
The last 15 seconds…
A visually pleasing resume having an effective summary draws the employer to scan more to check whether you match the job requirements and how you work. Use section headings, subheadings, position titles, and create scan appeal by highlighting accomplishments using numerals. Check cheap cv writing services which will be created by our expert resume writers.
Test your resume for scan appeal before you send them to employers. Ask yourself the question, what should draw employer’s attention? List five things you think are important for the employer to know about you and highlight them. Now, if you think your resume is compelling enough, it can positively pass the first cut.
Some quick tips to pass the first hurdle:
- Target the job title sought. Even if you qualify for different positions, create a different resume for each job, incorporating relevant information.
- Give specifics to demonstrate your abilities, accomplishments and experiences. Any innovations, changes (especially time and cost saving) that show you produce desired results.
- Use action words to impact using no personal pronouns.
- Don't put references at the end of your resume.
- Being brief is the essence. For a 30-second scan, remember brevity works. Ideally, a single page resume has strategic advantage of arousing attention.
- Be perfect with no spelling mistakes and typographical errors.
- Don’t put marital status, gender, height, weight, etc. This information is irrelevant.