Six seconds. Six short seconds. That’s all the time you have to convince a hiring professional that your resume is worth further consideration. You’ll have to make a great first impression fast. Here are a few strategies to make you resume land in the “yes” pile.
How Can You Get Your Resume in the “Yes” Pile?
Use Standard Formatting
Now is not the time to get creative. Hiring managers expect to see specific sections on your resume in a standard order. If they aren’t there, you might as well have sent your resume into a black hole.
- Contact information
- Summary
- Skills
- Experience
- Education
Note that if you’ve recently graduated and don’t have relevant experience, it’s OK to move the Education section up by one. Then, list any work experience you do have last (including volunteer work), even if it has nothing to do with the job for which you’re applying.
Include Plenty of Negative Space
Your resume shouldn’t look like a dense manuscript. White space on the page gives the information you choose an opportunity to pop. Keep paragraphs short. When possible, opt for bulleted or numbered lists instead.
Customize, Customize, Customize
Remember those six seconds? That’s not enough time for a hiring professional to search through your resume looking for important details. Make it as easy as possible by customizing your resume for each company. If your most relevant job wasn’t your most recent, that’s OK. Switch to a functional instead of a chronological format to move that experience up the page.
Also, revisit your list of positions, and make sure that your most impressive achievements are listed first under each job title. This will help you stand out from the crowd, and can help the hiring manager decide that you’re worthy of a second look.
Finally, remember that a lot of employers now use automated resume screeners. You won’t even get six seconds to impress if you don’t include enough keywords (woven into the text in a natural way) to get through the automated system.
Following these tips won’t guarantee that you get the job, or even that you’ll land an interview. But passing the initial review is the only way to move ahead in the process, so make those six seconds count!
Ready for a New Position?
If you’re ready to jumpstart your career, Pirate Staffing can help. Take a look at our open opportunities or simply submit your resume today!
