We’ve all asked ourselves the question…how do I make my resume stand out and catch the attention of recruiters? And what exactly are recruiters looking at to determine if I’m worthy for an interview? As a talent acquisition professional, I can confirm that we’re constantly keeping an eye out for a few key elements on your CV to determine if you could be the right fit for our role. In this post, I’ve included a list of the 10 things recruiters (including myself) pay attention to to determine if your resume could be selected for the next round of interviews. They include:
- Your 1 to 2 Most Recent Job Titles
- Your Previous Company/Industry Experiece
- Your Previous Responsibilities
- Your Experience with Certain Tools and Technology
- Your Number of Years of Experience
- Your Job Hopping and Career Breaks
- Your Measurable Impact
- Your Location’
- Your Resume Structure and Readability
- Your Promotions
- + An Added Bonus at the end that is oftentimes overlooked!
1) Your 1 to 2 Most Recent Job Titles
When reviewing a resume, the first things we look at are your 1 to 2 most recent job titles and how closely they match the job you’re applying for. Your most relevant job title should be bold and at the top of your job experience section so that our eyes are drawn to it quickly. If your most recent titles are very similar to the title on the job description, or better yet match the job title completely, recruiters will be more inclined to reach out to you for an intro call!
2) Your Previous Company/Industry Experience
Your company and industry experience is of major interest to recruiters. It gives hiring teams a solid understanding of what kind of work environment(s) you’re most familiar with. Does most of your experience come from working with early stage startup companies? This might signal to recruiters that you’re scrappy and comfortable wearing “many hats”. Have you primarily worked at large fortune 500 companies? Recruiters might think you’re most comfortable working in a specialized department with a more narrow focus or responsibility. Does most of your experience come from working in the healthcare space? To recruiters this might lead recruiters to believe you’re not the best fit working for their cutting edge real estate platform until you’ve gained more SaaS experience. As a candidate, ensure you have the relevant industry experience to the position you’re applying for to increase your chances of landing an interview.
3) Your Previous Responsibilities
Recruiters are always analyzing your most recent job responsibilities to see if they match the duties posted on the job description. The more boxes you tick off on the responsibility checklist, the more confident recruiters will feel that you’ll be able to succeed in the role. For example if they are hiring for a managerial position and you have experience managing a team of any capacity, they will feel more inclined to reach out to you for an interview. If you are applying for a sales representative position and you have experience working in a customer facing role in the past, you could potentially be the right fit. Keep an eye out for the responsibilities listed on a JD to determine if your previous experience matches the experience needed for the job.
4) Your Experience With Certain Tools and Technology
With frequent advances and updates in technology, hiring teams are constantly looking out for candidates that have the most up to date and essential technological skills needed for the roles they’re applying for. If you’re in the software engineering space, this can mean staying up to date on the most essential programming languages, but in other fields it could mean experience with specific management systems, social media platforms, AI software, or any other tools that might be needed to succeed in a specific role. To understand what specific technological skills a recruiter might be looking for, look under the requirements and responsibilities section of a job description to find any mentions of softwares, technologies, or hard skills needed to perform the job. If you have the experience and can mention the same or similar tools on your resume, the easier it will be to capture a recruiter’s attention.
5) Your Number of Years of Experience
As a recruiter, I’ll be one of the first to admit that I will add up the total years of relevant experience a candidate has when reviewing their resume. This is to make sure they are within the general ballpark seniority and experience wise for the role. Not only this, but some hiring managers are sticklers when it comes to making sure a candidate has at least the minimal required years of experience. Hiring managers want to make sure that candidates have achieved a certain experience level or will be in a projected compensation range that matches the budget we’re able to offer for a role. If a candidate has only a couple years of experience, but we are hiring for a director level position that requires at least 7 years, it probably will not be a good fit. On the other hand, if you have 10+ years of experience and are applying for a junior level role, recruiters might believe your salary expectations will be higher than we’re willing to offer. Before applying to a role, make sure that your experience level/years of experience matches up pretty closely to the required years listed on a JD to improve your chances of getting a call.
6) Your Job Hopping and Career Breaks
This point isn’t my favorite, especially since I myself have experienced many career gaps and short stints with multiple companies, but unfortunately hiring managers do take into consideration how long you’ve been at your past companies as well as any career gaps or breaks on your resume. These usually aren’t any pause for concern unless they are recurring or are very recent in your career journey. However, hiring an individual is a big investment from the employer’s perspective, so hiring teams want to feel confident that you will stay with their team for a decent amount of time, usually at least a couple of years, to ensure that it’ll be worthwhile to add you to the team. They’re also paying attention to how long it’s been since you were last employed as employers want to make sure you’re up to date on industry trends and best practices. In some instances, if you’ve been unemployed for more than a year, employers might believe you’ll have a hard time adjusting to working life or learning any new changes in the industry. To combat these, I believe it helps to add a short snippet of information in your experience section explaining any career stints or breaks. For example, including “Affected by Company-wide Layoff” next to a particular company will let employers know why you are looking for a new role. If you have the opportunity to pick up any freelancing, pursue certificates, or explore other learning opportunities while unemployed, this will also signal to recruiters that you’re serious about your learning and are making efforts to stay up to date.
7) Your Measurable Impact
Your previous responsibilities and experience are an important part of the piece, but the measurable impact you’ve created at your previous jobs are arguably even more important from a recruiter’s point of view. Each job has a purpose, and more often than not the main purpose is to increase revenue and output for a company. If you can explain using actual data exactly how much you’ve increased the bottom line, improved efficiency, or lowered costs for a company, recruiters will look at your numbers as ways you can create actual results for their business as well. To showcase your measurable impact, include dollar amounts, percentages, and other figures embedded in your experience section to give employers a good sense of the potential impact you can create as an employee.
8) Your Location
Believe it or not, recruiters pay attention to your location mentioned on your resume whether you’re applying for in-person or remote roles. For in person roles, it’s pretty obvious that candidates who live in the general vicinity of the office or company will take precedence over candidates who are located far away or in different states. However, even if a position is remote, hiring teams might reach out to candidates located in lower cost of area locations first instead of high cost of living areas. Candidates in HCL areas, like NYC, San Francisco, or Los Angeles, are sometimes seen as more pricey, so in a lot of cases it’s assumed that they will be at the top of the compensation range or even out of budget. On the other hand, candidates in LCL areas like most midwest or southern states might be more desirable because they couldt be at the lower end of the comp range.
9) Your Resume Structure and Readability
Have you ever struggled to read a piece of writing or a chunk of text because it was formatted in such a way that it seemed almost impossible to read? Recruiters and hiring teams experience this when reviewing resumes all the time. Making sure your resume is structured and formatted so that it’s easy to read is essential. When structuring your resume make sure it includes headings for each section, bullet points to summarize your experience for each company, white space to separate sections, and consistency in spacing and alignment. For the text, make sure you choose a font that is professional and easy to read like Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri in a size no smaller than a 10. Choosing a font size too small will make it harder to read from a recruiters perspective, and the goal is ultimately to make your resume as easy to read and understand as possible.
10) Your Promotions
If your resume shows that you’ve progressed in your previous roles or at your current company, recruiters will assume you’re a valuable employee capable of taking on more responsibility in the workplace. Promotions also usually come with longer employee tenure, signaling your commitment and strong cultural fit at an organization. Typically, if I’m reviewing resumes of candidates who are slightly under the desired years of experience, but their resume shows multiple promotions, I’ll be more inclined to give that particular candidate a chance and invite them for an interview. It’s almost always a positive sign to see candidates progressing and advancing in their career.
BONUS: Authenticity and Personalization
As a last added bonus, recruiters are looking for signs of authenticity and personalization when reviewing resumes. A top-notch resume that really stands out includes a compelling summary that highlights your goals and values, and it should tell a story that brings the recruiter through your career journey. Including a brief personal interests section at the end of your resume is also a great way to give recruiters an inside look at who you are as a person outside of work. Whether you like to volunteer in your community, cook, dance, etc, your hobbies show recruiters what makes you tick and gives us insight into who you are as an individual. As a recruiter, I’m always looking to get to know well-rounded individuals that have a strong sense of self, and your resume is the first inside look for recruiters to get to know who you are!
Final Thoughts…
So there you have it, 10+1 things recruiters (including myself) notice when reviewing resumes. I hope this post provided some insight into recruiters’ decision making processes as well as some tips on how to improve and optimize your resume. This article is a good start on how to write a compelling CV, but I have plenty of more insider secrets I’d love to share with you from a recruiting professional. If you’d love to get in touch to learn how I can personally help you on your job search journey, please feel free to contact me by clicking the button below!