By Jackie Simmonds, NEJS Blog Editor
Today the sad and bitter truth is that your resume is reviewed in less than 20 seconds. In that short period of time someone looks at your entire career and decides if you are good enough to make it to an interview. I have heard many people rail against this during their job search. Unfortunately no matter how much we complain we cannot change the very quick once over our document, our very life, is getting.
If you are like me you have always wondered exactly what the resume screener is getting out of their 20 seconds. And the next thought is how can I beat the 20 seconds and make my resume get into the interview pile.
Brad Remillard of Impact Hiring Solutions has written an article, How Recruiters Read Resumes In 10 Seconds or Less, that explains how he reviews a resume. Brad has been a recruiter for 30 years and has reviewed over 500,000 resumes. In fact Brad thinks he reviews most in less than 20 seconds, he estimates the average is probably around 5 to 7 seconds. It just went from bad to worse, didn’t it? What can he possibly grasp about me in 5 seconds?
Brad starts by setting up a hierarchy of certain “must have” or you’re out. If he can’t check the box as a yes, then you are knocked out of the competition. This box checking eliminates 80% of the resumes. Here is his standard list:
1. Location. If the client is in Los Angeles, CA and you aren’t – goodbye. Few if any clients want to relocate anyone in this economy. If they do have to consider relocation the position has to require some very unique experience that few jobs do. Time: 1 second.
2. Industry. If the client is in banking and your background is primarily manufacturing – goodbye. These two often are so different that the client isn’t open to considering such different industries. Time: 2-3 seconds.
3. Function. If the search is for a sales person and your background isn’t sales – goodbye. Generally companies are paying recruiters to find them a perfect fit. Time: 2 seconds.
4. Level. If the search is for a VP level and your title is “manager” and you have never been a VP – goodbye. Clients pay to find the perfect fit, it is generally way too big of a jump from manager level to VP level, all other things being equal. It works the other way too. If the search is for a manager and you are a VP – goodbye. You may be qualified to do a manager level role, but it is clear you have grown past it. Time: Less than 5 seconds.
5. Recent Experience. If the search is for someone with international sales experience in the aerospace industry and the last time you held an international sales position in this industry was 20 years ago and since then you have been in retail – goodbye. It’s easy to find people with more relevant experience and that is what a client expects. Time: 5 seconds.
6. Education Like it or not, many will only work with people that have a college education and most of the time a master’s degree. This is mainly because a recruiter needs to find the very best for their clients. It is one qualifier of many, most clients require at least a BA.
7. Turnover. If you have had 6 jobs in the last 4 years, or have a track record of high turnover – goodbye. Time: 3 – 5 seconds.
8. Functional resume. Many recruiters just don’t read them, it is a red they are trying to hide something. A recruiter will rarely take the time to attempt to figure it out. Time: 1 second.
9. Obvious things such as, spelling errors, poor format, errors in grammar, too long, verbose and rambling. Time: 5 – 10 seconds.
This list gives you a pretty good checklist to run against your resume. Can you pass the 20 second test?
