RESUMES STILL RULE. MAKE SURE YOURS ISN’T REJECTED.

Even in the internet age, the good old resume can make or break your chances of securing a first interview. You need to make sure your resume stands out and is too good for busy recruiters to ignore.

IT’S 2018. DO I NEED A RESUME IF I AM ON LINKEDIN?

Yes, for most jobs applications you’ll be asked to submit one or fill in an online form. As you’ll read in this guide, how you write your resume and tailor it to specific roles, is critical.

WHY RESUMES MATTER TO RECRUITERS

A recruiter’s effectiveness is often measured by ‘time to fill’ which, as you’ve probably guessed, refers to the time it takes to fill a vacancy. Obviously the quality of the candidate counts too, but the longer it takes to find a new employee the more the bottom line suffers. And that’s what really matters in business.

Since the internet revolutionised how jobs are advertised and searched for, making them more accessible to more people, the number of applicants per role has dramatically increased. To cope with the extra workload recruiters are turning to technology for help. This means your resume is likely to be analyzed by an applicant tracking systems (ATS) when it’s submitted online. And it needs to tick all the right boxes to survive the first cull.

Unfortunately getting past the bots is just the start. Most employers predict they’ll be hiring more people in 2018/19 but recruitment departments will stay the same size, or shrink. That means a recruiter is going to have even less time to read your resume and when they do, being human, they might miss critical information, make mistakes or show bias.

But a cleverly written resume can reduce the impact of these issues and entice a recruiter to call you in for an interview. And once you’re through the door, even if you’re unsuccessful first time around, a good performance will increase your chances of being asked back: the 2016 JobVite Recruiter Nation Report found that 59% of corporate recruiters will keep in contact with candidates they have interviewed who are a good fit for the company.

Your resume is the key that unlocks that door. Keep reading to find out why your resume might be rejected and how you can improve its chances.

THE COMPETITION IS FIERCE

Whatever job you apply for your resume is likely to face stiff competition. The stark fact is, out of 100 people who apply for a job a maximum of six will be shortlisted.

GOOD CANDIDATES DON’T ALWAYS MAKE THE FIRST CUT

If your resume doesn’t include enough, or any, of the keywords an ATS looks for it’s not going to get very far. To prove the point, a multi-national engineering firm once put the resumes of their five highest performing engineers through their ATS screening process, which promptly rejected two of them.

If it makes it through to a human recruiter, they will spend between two minutes and a (slightly demoralising) six seconds looking at it. According to the Wall Street Journal, more than 50% of people who apply for a job are inherently unqualified and a recruiter will only read your resume in more depth once they’ve decided to give you a call. Even if you’re a strong candidate you’ll be rejected before a recruiter starts dialling if your resume doesn’t catch their eye.

SO WHAT ARE RECRUITERS LOOKING FOR?

A US study used eye-tracking technology to investigate how recruiters read resumes. It turns out they don’t read them at all – they scan in a similar way to an ATS, looking for key information:

• Your name
• Your current job title, the company name and the start date
• Your previous job title, the company name and the start and end dates
• Highest education

If that grabs their attention they’ll look for:

• Relevant work experience. If your current job title is nothing like the job title you have applied for, you’ll probably be rejected.
• Timing. Is this the right moment to be looking for a new job? If you’ve only been in your role for a few months, it will raise alarm bells.
• Qualifications and skills. If you have no relevant qualifications and/or skills, you will most likely be rejected.
• Company recognition. Do they know your employer and their size? This gives a recruiter an idea of the culture, pace, size, scope and types of projects you are used to. If you aren’t working for a well-known company, you need to give them some context.
• Logical career progression. Does this role make sense for your ongoing development?
• Are specific key skills clearly visible?
• Have you jumped around? Are there gaps in your employment? If you have had a career break, that’s fine but you need to briefly account for it
• Logistical issues. Such as location and citizenship. If a Sydney-based role needs to be filled urgently, the fact you are based in another country will count against you.

Getting all that information in your resume is important, but even more crucial is making sure it’s easy to find and read. How? Well here are a few pointers:

1. Use bullet points effectively. The human brain absorbs information more easily when it is in a list.
2. Cover the essentials in the top half of your first page. With as little as six seconds to get your key points across, you need this part of your resume to shine.
3. Use white space to break up your text. If it is too dense it is hard to process.
4. Stick with a professional sans font. Use one that is easy to read such as Calibri or Arial – this is not the time to experiment with Brush Script – and make subheadings stand out using bold or italics.
5. Keep it concise. Think of it as a marketing document rather than an autobiography and try not to exceed two to three pages, keeping to two where possible.
6. Save it as a word or PDF document. An ATS is likely to be analyzing your resume in the first instance so upload a file it is most likely to be compatible with.

For more detailed advice on writing your resume, read the guide How to write a great resume.

AND WHAT WILL TURN A RECRUITER OFF?

It doesn’t take much to get your resume put on the ‘no’ pile. Don’t include:

• Personal information. Such as a photo, date of birth, religious affiliation, or marital or family status. This differs in different countries, but recruiters usually don’t expect to see them.
• Spelling mistakes. The kiss of death in recruitment. 61% of recruiters will automatically reject a resume with typos. Don’t rely on spell check, ask a friend or two to proof read it.
• High school grades. Unless you are a graduate, recruiters don’t need to see them.
• Large sections of wording taken from the job advert. They want to see you can think for yourself rather than copy and paste.
• An inappropriate or unprofessional email address. Possibly one you came up with as a student.
• A list of responsibilities. Rather than achievements.
• They’re not required at this point.
• Personal interests. Recruiters won’t be swayed by your passion for travel or stamp collecting. Unless it is 100% relevant to your profession – you’re fluent in a second language or a member of a relevant committee – leave it out.

Once your resume is in good shape, check that it complements your online profile and edit out any inconsistencies in dates and details.

PERFECTED YOUR RESUME? NOW PERFECT YOUR NETWORKING

The majority of candidates aren’t looking for jobs in the right places. The JobVite Recruiter Index for 2016 found that employers use the following channels to find employees:

• Their corporate employee referral program – 39.9%
• Their career website – 21.2%
• Job boards – 14.6%
• Recruitment agencies – 4.6%

Whereas candidates search for jobs on:

• Job boards – 42.9%
• Corporate career websites – 32.1%
• Corporate employee referral programs – 6.9%

So there’s a discrepancy, with most employers looking for internal referrals and most candidates searching online job boards. This tells us job seekers need to focus more on networking. After all 34% of employers believe that employee referrals deliver the best quality of candidate and will spend longer reviewing their resumes.

FIVE THINGS TO REMEMBER:

• Include key words in your resume
• Invest some time getting it right. Don’t make it a chore.
• It must be easy to scan read and understand. Don’t say too much.
• Make sure your resumé and digital profile complement each other
• Work your networks.

MORE TOOLS AND GUIDES:

• Read our Guide How to write a great resume

Check the quality of your resume using an evaluation and scoring tool like Rezscore.com. It might not be 100% accurate for the country you are in, but it’s a great starting point and will give you guidance on where you could make improvements.