You can spend hours crafting your resume and conducting your job search, but today’s labor market can be competitive, and you need to go above and beyond if you want to stand out.
As if that wasn’t tough enough, recruiters will only dedicate a short amount of time to scanning your application. In fact, if you want to be shortlisted for an interview, you have as little as 30 seconds to impress them.
The good news is, there are some steps you can take to perfect your content and format your resume as effectively as possible. This will make it much easier for the recruiter to find those all-important details.
But how do you go about passing the 30-second resume test?
Tailor every application
Writing a strong resume can be time-consuming, so it’s understandable that tailoring every application you submit can feel like a lot more work. However, recruiters have become wise to this over the years, and they can spot a generic resume with just a quick scan down the page.
Generic resumes look lazy, unprofessional, and suggest that you don’t have a genuine interest in their job role. Therefore, it’s crucial that you tailor every resume to the specific position and company before you submit your application.
This will require a certain amount of research, as well as using the job description to highlight important keywords and shape your content.
Engage the recruiter immediately
Your resume needs to start with a professional summary that grabs the recruiter’s attention immediately. As a senior professional, this should be a short summary that includes your current position and years of experience. You must show your relevance to the role and highlight your key achievements.
This section must also be tailored to the specific position and company. As we’ve said, a generic application won’t cut it, and if you get this wrong in the first instance, your resume is sure to end up on the rejection pile.
An engaging and focused summary will hook the reader and convince them to keep going, getting past the 30-second mark and increasing your chance of being invited in for an interview.
Keep it relevant
As you gain more and more experience, the list of things you can add to your resume will only grow. The problem is, with just one to two pages to impress, including every job you’ve ever had is unlikely to get you over that 30-second hurdle.
Recruiters only want to see your most recent and relevant experience, qualifications, and skills. With this in mind, it’s a good idea to review all your past positions and only go into more detail about those that are relevant to the role. For example, it's unlikely that if you're being considered for a senior position, that the employer will want to read 10 bullet points about an internship you did over a decade ago, so cut it down or remove it completely.
This is important because the recruiter will not waste time wading through chunks of irrelevant text. If they start reading and the content quickly seems unrelated to the role they’re hiring for, you’ll simply end up on the rejection pile.
Recruiters dedicate 30 seconds to skim read a resume, make sure yours doesn't end up in the trash.
Be specific
The more specific details you can give about what makes you great for the job, the better.
So, when describing your experience, avoid giving generic explanations and give specific details instead. This includes quantifying your achievements to show how you made a real impact in past roles.
This will also apply to your key skills. For example, if you know how to code, be sure to list the specific programming languages you understand. Alternatively, if you are proficient in several types of accounting software, be sure to name the exact tools you’ve used.
Think carefully about structure and readability
Of course, the content of your resume is absolutely vital, but so are readability and structure. If your resume is poorly formatted, the recruiter might not give it any more than a quick glance. So, in order to make it easy for them, you must use headings and subheadings to structure your information and guide the reader’s eye.
Bullet points are also a great way to break up chunks of text because large blocks of text can be very off-putting. As can quirky or hard-to-read fonts, so it’s crucial that you choose a standard font that makes your resume easier to scan through.
Finally, it’s a good idea to think carefully about how you structure your content. As a more senior professional, it’s likely that your skills and experience will take precedence over your education. So it’s better to put these sections closer to the top of the page.
You’ll be able to get a better understanding of what the employer deems most important when you look through the job description.
By following these five tips, you can quickly engage the recruiter and ensure that your resume makes it as easy as possible for the reader to see that you’re a good fit for the role. This is how you hold their attention for at least 30 seconds and secure yourself an interview.
