People are staying unemployed for longer periods of time, as the pace of hiring has slowed down. The median duration of unemployment increased last month, to 9.8 weeks from 8.9 weeks in May, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Recruiters are sifting through hundreds of applications, so it’s crucial to make your resume not only noticeable but memorable. Here’s a guide on how to get your resume noticed in seven steps, from my perspective as a former recruiter.
1. Limit Your Resume to One Page
Conciseness is where most resumes quickly fail. Recruiters typically spend ten seconds or less glancing at each resume. I know this because as a former recruiter, I would send resumes over to senior recruiters or hiring managers and get a response back in just a few minutes. A one-page document forces you to focus on the most relevant and impactful information.
By eliminating unnecessary details, you highlight your core qualifications and achievements. This makes it easier for recruiters to quickly assess your fit for the role, and increase your chances of moving onto the next round.
2. Add Your LinkedIn Profile at the Top
Including a link to your LinkedIn profile at the top of your resume provides recruiters with a quick way to learn more about you. Ensure your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date, includes a professional headshot, and aligns with your resume. A strong LinkedIn presence serves as an extension of your resume.
Additional recommendations, skills, and experiences that didn’t make it onto the page can be highlighted in your LinkedIn profile. These additional elements also help you become more easily searched for by recruiters whose jobs you may not have applied for, or for companies who are doing confidential searches without a formal job posting.
3. Ditch the Professional Summary at the Top of Your Resume
As a recruiter, I have never once read a professional summary that blew me away. Instead of a lengthy professional summary, which can be redundant and often overlooked, start with your experience and work history immediately. Follow this with your key skills and education in a concise, easy-to-read format. This approach allows recruiters to immediately see how your experience lines up with what they are looking for, and what you bring to the table without making them have to skim the page.
4. Focus on the Last Ten Years at Most
Job seekers with long career histories make the mistake of listing every job they’ve ever had. This approach will more likely harm than help your resume’s appeal to the readers.
Recruiters are most interested in your recent work experience, typically the last ten years. Highlighting your most recent and relevant roles helps keep your resume focused and relevant. It also lessens the odds of you getting discriminated against for your age. There’s no job description that will ask for 20 years of experience, and it’s unlikely your experience more than ten years ago will translate well because of how fast technology has moved since then.
It’s better to spend the bulk of your limited space to highlight your most recent experience. If you have significant achievements from earlier in your career, consider summarizing them in your LinkedIn instead, or shortening the descriptions of the jobs beyond the past ten years into a short summary.
5. Quantify Your Achievements with Shorter Bullets
When describing your responsibilities and achievements, use bullet points to keep information digestible. Attorneys are the worst culprits of this as they often write entire paragraphs in their resumes that nobody wants to read. It’s more critical now to quantify your achievements wherever possible, such as “Increased sales by 30%” or “Managed a team of 5.” This approach not only grabs attention but also provides concrete evidence of your impact, and will distinguish you from other candidates. Keeping these bullet points to no more than two lines ensures clarity and readability.
6. Employ More Impactful Action Words
The words you choose can significantly affect how your resume is perceived. Swap out common words like “use” for more impactful verbs such as “utilize,” “leverage,” “implement,” or “deploy.” Instead of “make,” try words like produce, generate, execute and create. Strong action verbs convey a sense of proactivity and effectiveness, making your accomplishments sound more dynamic and specific, while also reducing reader fatigue from seeing similar bullets from multiple resumes.
7. Have a Career Coach or Recruiter Proofread It
Lastly, have a career coach or recruiter review your resume. They provide valuable, objective insights from an industry perspective, ensuring your resume meets current standards, trends and expectations. They can also catch errors you might have missed, or offer suggestions on bullets that seem unclear or confusing to them.
A great way to test this is to ask them to read the resume for a minute, and then take the resume away from them and see what they remember from seeing it. Even better is to have a career coach or recruiter do a mock interview with you using the resume to see where you might have gaps to fill.
By following these seven steps, you can uplevel your resume that not only stands out to recruiters but also effectively communicates your qualifications. Keeping an updated resume helps shorten your job search time, and reduces your risk of staying unemployed for longer than you can afford.
Even if you’re not currently on the job market, test your current resume against these seven steps today to make sure you’re not scrambling when you eventually need it the most.
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