Employers reveal how your resume is actually read

If you have used the internet to search for job search advice, you may already know that a majority of employers only spend a few seconds reading your resume during the initial scans. If your resume piques their interest within this short time, they will read the whole document. But that’s not the only thing you should know about the way recruiters read your resume.

Recruiters don’t read resumes, they scan them

This statement is only true when we talk about the initial resume scans. A large-scale employer receives an average of two hundred and fifty resumes for a job advertisement. When they want to find the best-fitting candidates to interview, hiring managers will sort through resumes quickly and spot the ones that are promising. These selected resumes get reviewed carefully and candidates are shortlisted for interviews. If you want to make it to the list, your resume should impress recruiters during the short resume scan.

The first impressions and visual impressions

There’s only so much a hiring manager can spot on your resume within a few seconds. Most of the time, their first impression is based on the visual appeal of your resume. There are four things that a hiring manager can easily spot on your resume at first glance: fonts, structure, formatting, and length. If any of these factors are a little off, your resume will not portray an appealing picture.

Keywords are important for your resume

Hiring managers read your resume to determine whether you have all the qualifications they are looking for in a candidate. If your resume doesn’t show them that you have all the right skills, experiences, and qualifications, they may not be interested in you as a potential hire. So, how can you show someone that you are qualified for the job? You use the right keywords to describe your experience on your resume. When hiring managers scan your resume for their keywords, if you have used these terms and phrases to describe your experience, you will stand out as a suitable candidate for the job.

They will look for your contact information

Fill in important information on your resume starting from the contact details. Include a working email address but refrain from mentioning work email addresses or unprofessional email addresses. The same goes for your phone number. Don’t use your work phone number for job applications. Ensure that you have included multiple channels for the employer to contact you. You can go a step further and make it easy for the employer to search for you online. Include a link to your LinkedIn profile, relevant social media, personal website, blog, or portfolio to do this.

Hiring managers pay extra attention to your work experience

The work experience section is the most important section of your resume in most cases. An interested hiring manager will read the work experience section of your resume from top to bottom to understand your level of expertise. Ensure that you mention all the important details like job titles, employer names, locations, relevant dates, and achievements for each job entry you make on your resume.

You need more than your resume to win a job application. A lot of employers prefer to read your cover letter before they get to the resume. Some employers will look at your LinkedIn profile before they make the decision to invite you for an interview. Therefore, it’s important to put together a well-balanced job application. Resume Mansion can create winning job search materials for you including a keyword-optimized resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile. Visit us at www.resumemansion.com and realize the difference we can make for your job search.