What do recruiters look for on your resume?

It is a well-known fact that recruiters spend less than a few seconds reviewing a resume initially. When you are applying for an executive position, your resume must make the best of first impressions within that very short time. So, what makes a resume stand out in a recruiter’s mind in just a few seconds?

Bolded job titles and company names

Bolded job titles and company names stand out easily when you are scanning a resume quickly. This is why it is important to use text formatting tricks to highlight important information on your resume. If you have worked for name-brand companies or business giants in your field of work, highlight the names of the employers on your resume.

Bulleted accomplishments

Are you one of those job seekers who mention their professional accomplishments all together in a long paragraph under each role? Then, most of your achievements will go unnoticed by a busy recruiter. The best way to bring out your accomplishments on a resume is to highlight them using bullet points so they stand out.

Dedicated accomplishments section

Want to ensure that the recruiter won’t miss your accomplishments? Create a dedicated accomplishments section for your executive resume. You can highlight the most relevant and most impressive achievements of your career through this section. Use numbers, percentages, and metrics to quantify your professional achievements.

Professionally written summary statement

The resume summary statement acts as a preview of your resume. A busy recruiter would most of the time read your summary statement before deciding whether your resume deserves a chance. Therefore, it is important to write a personal brand-oriented summary statement for your resume. Highlight one or two of your best related professional achievements and mention a good number of keywords.

Strategically placed keywords

Recruiters want to know whether you have the skills and experience that they are looking for in an ideal candidate. To know this, they will scan your resume for certain keywords. You can find these keywords in the employer’s job description. Identify the right keywords and use them to describe your experience on your resume. Ensure that you mention keywords in the skills, work experience, summary, education, certifications, and accomplishments sections of the resume.

Clean and simple layout

Recruiters don’t want to read the whole document to spot one tiny detail on your executive resume. This is why your resume should follow a clean and easy-to-read format. The resume format and template you use will largely determine the readability and ease of navigation of the content. Avoid using fancy resume formats that include multiple design elements and figures. Go for a simple and ATS-friendly resume format.

Tailored content

Recruiters don’t want you to apply for every single job with the same resume. Job seekers who take the extra time to tailor their resume to the job easily stand out in the hiring market. If you want a recruiter to pay serious attention to your executive resume, you should tailor it to the job. This includes using the right keywords, excluding unnecessary experiences, mentioning the most relevant jobs, and streamlining the skills.

In a rush to apply for an amazing executive position? Why waste time writing your own resume? Resume Mansion can create a winning executive resume for you. Visit www.resumemansion.com today and reserve your own professionally written resume.