Looking for a job? Keep this in mind: 7 seconds. Seven seconds. What does that mean? What happens in 7 seconds? It’s not much time. What can you accomplish in 7 seconds?
If you are looking for a job, 7 seconds is an important number. Why? This is the amount of time you get from a recruiter that is reviewing dozens and dozens of resumes. This is how long you have to grab their attention.
After spending decades recruiting and reading thousands of resumes, I can tell you, this is a true statement. Consider the job of a recruiter. They have several positions to fill at any given moment. They have hiring managers breathing down their necks because hiring managers need people. Roles need to be filled. They receive resumes for each and every job posting. While some job postings draw more resumes than others, it is a large volume of reading material. Recruiters do this every.single.day.
A skilled recruiter, over time, learns to skim resumes, searching for relevant experience and keywords. If your resume contains the experience needed for the job, you are lucky and you have made it past the 7 second barrier. The recruiter will continue reading. If not, they move on to the next one.
What does this mean to you? It means make every second count. Build a resume describing your experience using keywords. 
These are the things that busy recruiters will overlook:
- Resumes that are too long.
- Resumes that are chaotic or busy.
- Resumes that are full of grammatical errors or misspellings.
- Resumes that are not relevant to the job posting.
- Resumes that require recruiters to “hunt” for necessary information.
Help make the recruiters job easier to find you. Make sure your resume is:
- The appropriate length based on your years of experience.
- Well formatted with clear font.
- Use spell-check. It is there for a reason. Also, have someone else read it over. Sometimes you are too close to it and may overlook a simple misspelling.
- Apply for jobs that match your skill set.
- Keep necessary information at the top of your resume: Name, Email, telephone etc. Don’t make recruiters look for it. They just don’t have the time.
If you are looking for a job, keep in mind, the 7 second premise is real. If you want to get seen by a recruiter, help them out and make it easy for them to find you!
I can help! Message me at:
Kristin@HRCreativeConsulting.com
#CreativeEdgeResumePros #Resumes #Resume #ResumeTips #ResumeWriting #InterviewPrep
For more resume tips, check out my blog at: https://hrcreativeconsulting.com/blog