A Recruiter Gives Your Resume 7 Seconds... Here's What Happens

Surveys show that recruiters spend about seven seconds on their first scan at a resume. That is not a long time, but it could be the most important seven seconds of your career because they could decide it's not worth a closer look or they could like what they see and want to know more. 

And there are a few key things that happen in those seven seconds (or less) in order to make that call. 

In my decades of recruting and job search coaching, I've  reviewed tens of thousands of resumes, and developed a finely tuned superpower for scanning quickly to find key information I need so I can decide if it's worth looking further.

How much can I learn about you in just a few seconds? A lot, honestly.

Enough to quickly and confidently sort the resumes that definitely won’t work from those that are worth a deeper look.

I do it by focusing on certain things in the first scan over the pages.

Here's what I'm looking for:

Have you done what I'm looking for?

If I’m recruiting for a senior marketing manager for a tech startup, I'm going to be looking for resumes from people who are currenty senior marketing managers for a tech startup, because they'll get up to speed and be productive faster, and bring a deeper understanding of the space and situation.

If the right job titles or keywords I'm looking for are not obvious, or the headline talks about operations or sales or accounting, and I don't see the marketing language and experience, then that is not the marketing manager I'm looking for, and I'm moving on. 

Tip: Use a headline that highlights what you do and reflects the job you’re applying to. Tailor it for every single job you go after so it's clear what you do, and If your previous jobs don’t match the target job, find a way to make it look like they do. (And if you can't do that, don't waste everyone's time applying for that job.)

Are there typos, misspellings or grammatical errors?

Top candidates make sure their all-important marketing document (which is what your resume is, a marketing document about you) is perfect.

I believe that how you do anything is how you do everything, so if you have sloppy mistakes and errors in your super-important resume, then you're showing me that you are okay with sloppy work, and that's a problem because I'm looking for excellence in every way.

Sure, humans make mistakes, but more than one or two very minor typos and I figure that if you don't care enough to make sure your resume is perfect, then I don't care  either.

Tip: Proof twice. Do a spelling and grammar check. Then get someone else to proof it, too. Then proof it from the bottom to the top. Make it perfect.

Does it look modern?

If you want to make a positive impression with innovative companies, you can't look old-fashioned or stuffy. Companies want candidates who keep up with the times, so old-school resumes with an objective, laundry lists of out-of-date software, those weird arrow bullets, overly formal language or underlined Times New Roman headers look like you're living in 1990. 

An old-fashioned resume makes you look old-fashioned, and that's not good.. 

Tip: Read up about the latest options for resumes and if you’re in a competitive field, get professional help. Your resume represents your personal branding and it's one investment that can pay off quickly in many ways. Few things transform your job search like a great resume, and transforming your job search means transforming your career.

Does the story it tells make sense?

A resume should tell the story of your career in simple, easy-to-understand language. if it's not dry and impossible to absorb and understand, it isn't going to impress anyone. 

So many people just cram their resume with acronyms, statistics and metrics, dry corporate-speak, trite buzzwords and general trying-to-sound-important filler fluff. Many resumes are so burdened with resume-speak and blah-blah that it's hard to even understand the basic information. 

Tip: Tell the story of your career in the clearest and simplest language possible. Human beings like and understand natural language, so don't be afraid to use it. 

Does your personality come through? 

Reviewing and selecting candidates through resumes is complicated because a resume is a 2D representation of a real-live 3D human being, or at least it should be.

With the sheer volume of applications in today's market, even with the massive assistance of ATS systems for screening, you have to raise the bar with a strong and understandable resume where there is a sense of you as a person so you are noticed and remembered.

Tip: Ballroom dancer? Environmental activist? Award-winning musician on the side? Founder of  a values-driven organization? Don't be afraid to share a bit of the real you. It makes you more memorable and can be a way to let them know what's important to you. 

Does the chronology work? 

I look to see how long someone was in their jobs, usually quickly scanning from the bottom up, looking to see if they got promoted, and if there are any as-yet-unexplained gaps. T

hese may not be dealbreakers, but the candidate with solid tenure and career progression might be more appealing for certain jobs.

So take a look at your own resume... how would it do in seven seconds with my criteria?

Is it clear what you do? Is it free from errors? Does it look modern? And does it tell a strong story? Does it make someone want to talk to you to learn more about you and what you can do for them?

One test I suggest is printing your resume and handing it to someone you know who might not know much about your career... tell them you'd like them to look at it for some feedback, and count silently to seven seconds (or maybe 10 or 15 seconds since they're not professional resume readers) and then take it back and ask them to tell you what they remember.  

If they don't know the words that describe what you do and what you are interested in, your resume is not doing its work. 

Be honest, and if you think resume falls short, do some upgrading and polishing to bring it up to snuff so it stands out in that sea of not-worth-the-time-to-read competition.

And the good news is that it's really not that hard to create a resume that represents who you are in a way that stands out from the crowd and still feels 100% you.