Let’s be real: Recruiters glance at your resume for just 7 seconds. That’s the brutal truth of recruiting. In that blink, they don’t read—they skim.
Skimming is reading a document rapidly to get a general overview of the material.
Do you want to know what recruiters look at in your resume? With just 7 seconds, recruiters do not read your resume; they only skim it.
What grabs attention? Here’s what recruiters focus on for all of the 7 seconds:
- Your name
- The first few lines of your introduction (just below your name, and contact)
- Your current title, company and the starting date
- The previous titles, company names, and their start and end dates
- Education credentials
Groundbreaking research using eye-tracking
The Shocking Truth: Research from LADDERS reveals that recruiters decide “fit or not fit” in under 7 seconds using eye-tracking tech. That means you have mere moments to make an impact.
They brought in 30 professional recruiters over a 10-week period to record them as they viewed different types of resumes, online profiles, and other forms of candidate information.
The scary fact is that eye-tracking technology shows that recruiters spend only about seven seconds making their initial “fit or not fit” decision.
Aaarrrggghhh—I hear your scream!
We are distracted by visuals like pictures, graphs
Cut the clutter because visual distractions like photos and graphs waste precious time.
According to LADDERS, these elements hamper decision-making and can even skew judgments based on irrelevant factors like age or gender.
Layout matters, and a clean, concise format draws more attention. A well-crafted resume consistently outperforms LinkedIn profiles, which are often cluttered with ads and distracting visuals.
Get rid of your photo on the resume. It steals focus. Don’t let it divert attention from your experience and skills.
It says: “These distractions wasted time and detracted from more pertinent and useful candidate information such as experience and skills. Such visual elements reduced recruiters’ analytical capability and hampered decision-making. In some cases, irrelevant data such as candidates’ age, gender or race may have biased reviewers’ judgments”.
Is a 2-page resume better than a 1-page?
The two-page rule remains when you have more than five years of experience.
The eye-tracking analysis demonstrated that an engaged recruiter will spend as much time on a second page as on the first.
However, the time on the second page depends strongly on how compelling the first page is.
Subsequent pages tend not to perform as strongly, regardless of how engaged the recruiter is on the first and second pages.
The resumes that scored low had a cluttered look and feel, characterized by long sentences, multiple columns, and very little white space.
The worst resumes had a poor layout that did not draw the eye down the page (there was little use of section/job headers to catch the eye).
Botox your resume with these great tips
Always keep in mind that the resume only has one function: to get you an interview.
HR departments and consultants from executive recruitment companies would love to know the reasons for leaving their jobs. But there is a but.
- You should be ready to answer these questions – but not in your resume, only when asked during the interview. Simply leave out any information in your resume about why you left a job.
Every business has its own jargon, its own short words, that people in the business know well.
You should avoid using abbreviations, as the line manager (someone familiar with this terminology) might not be the first person taking a look at all the resumes and applications but rather someone in the HR department.
Do not enclose copies of your diplomas and certificates. Instead, bring the copies along for the interview in case the recruiter wants to check your educational credentials.
- Go for the standard and acceptable Microsoft Word document, and you are on safe ground. For your resume, drop the Excel or PowerPoint documents.
- Do not use a file name such as my.resume.doc or the employer’s company name. When you save the resume document on your computer, use your own first and last name as the file name: first.second.resume.docx.
It is not necessary to include the names and addresses of any referees. Reference checking takes place only when the employer has decided to offer you employment.
Is it time to get a Resume and LinkedIn Makeover?
Ready for a Makeover? If your resume or LinkedIn needs a serious overhaul, reach out to a pro like Tom Sorensen, a certified writer by PARWCC. Contact here.
For the full LADDERS study, just Google “Eye-Tracking Study by LADDERS.”
