How a Recruiter Looks at Your Resume

Like many experienced recruiters, I have developed a superpower in scanning and evaluating resumes quickly.

It's a matter of productivity. We might receive hundreds of submissions for one position, and time just doesn't allow a leisurely consideration of every single one.

Usually, you've got 15 to 30 seconds while we decide if your resume goes in the not-going-to-happen file or if it's worth a deeper look.

Don't computers do this screening nowadays?

Yes, most companies and many recruiters use an Applicant Tracking System, or ATS, to manage and search their database of job candidates.

But even if it starts by a computer selecting you (because you used the right key words), it's usually a recruiter who evaluates your resume and decides if you're a candidate or not..

Understanding how a recruiter views your resume and what we're looking for might help you understand why you aren't getting called back on resumes you've sent out.

It will also help you know what to include, emphasize and highlight through your layout and content so it will stand out when scanned.

Notice I haven't used the word "read" so far.

Even though they may have blocks of text, resumes are not read like a book or even a report.

Instead, they are scanned like a menu, picking out the information to get an initial impression of who you are and if it's what we want, so make sure all the important information is easily seen.

So how does a recruiter scan your resume?

I can't represent all recruiters, but I can give you a glimpse into my process. These are the things I'm quickly scanning for:

• What do you say that you do?

I like to see a headline or positioning title to your resume, but if there's just a summary with your main skills listed, I look at what you list most prominently. If your title and skills aren't a close match with the job I'm recruiting for, that's probably the end of the line.

• Where do you live?

Qualified local candidates have the advantage over someone who would need to move.

• What are your last few job titles?

I am very creative in finding candidates, but not when it comes to the background required for the jobs I'm working to fill.

My job is to find similar experience, or square pegs for square holes, so if your most recent job titles are triangles, that won't work.

• What companies have you worked for and what did they do?

Again, I'm looking for someone who's worked in a similar company or industry. I appreciate people who make it easy for me by including some description of the companies they've worked for, or a link to the company's website. If the companies you've worked for are very different from my client company, it's not a fit.

• How long have you stayed in your jobs?

Job tenure can say a lot about you and how you have engineered your career to unfold. There can be exceptions, but generally someone who changes jobs every two years won't be a good choice to oversee a five-year project, and someone who's been in one job for the last ten years is likely to be lost in a chaotic startup.

• What did you study in school, where and when?

Choices in school can be revealing. For instance, if I see that you earned an MBA while in an executive job, I know you're driven and able to carry a heavy workload, and a scientific undergrad degree adds credibility in certain companies. Continuing education throughout a career shows a commitment to learning and growth.

• Your current job responsibilities.

If I've made it to this section, I am trying to understand where you fit into your company, what your responsibilities were, and what you actually got done there. Numbers and statistics are good, if there is a story attached.

Resumes that pass this 30-second once-over are read and examined in much more depth to understand more about you and the situations you've worked in before, but this is how this is what's being looked at in those all-important first seconds.

More about your resume and recruiters:

• The Magical Secret of Resume Keywords
• What to Do When the Recruiter Calls
• 7 Things You Should Know about Work with Recruiters
• Recruiters Share 10 Common Resume Mistakes