What recruiters look for in your resume - heat map

[AreaCode707]

I thought AT would like this. Go ahead and bitch about HR all you want below.

http://www.businessinsider.com/here...hey-spend-on-your-resume-2012-4#ixzz1rfdGytpL

I would note that this probably varies a bit based on the job type. A high level job is going to have less focus on education and more on experience, a recruiter looking for entry level will spend more time on education.

I will be snarky and point out for the objective/summary haters that there is a fair amount of focus shown there.

 

[silverpig]

The main point is to make it short, simple, and easy to read.

 

[EagleKeeper]

That is great when you have had less than 3-4 positions.

After that, multiple pages is a given.

If you try to tailor to one-two pages; you leave gaps in the timeline

 

[Matthiasa]

If your including more than 3-4 you are most likely including jobs that are not relevant experience wise or you're including positions that were so long ago they aren't relevant as well.
Sure there is the odd chance you ended up being promoted quickly but that is rarely the case.

 

[shortylickens]

That is great when you have had less than 3-4 positions.

After that, multiple pages is a given.

If you try to tailor to one-two pages; you leave gaps in the timeline

It doesnt matter. Yur nuts if you think an interviewer reads every word on every page of every applicant. They are quick scanning for key things and thats all you need to get their attention and garner an interview.
A resume is NOT supposed to be your freakin memoirs. Its supposed to grab attention and pique some interest. Nothing more.

 

[Firetower]

I agree with this. I recently had to go through about 40 resumes (my first time) I skimmed them once for the minimum skills if they didn't list the basics I put them in the not qualified pile. 30 sec a resume.

 

[SillyOReilly]

It doesnt matter. Yur nuts if you think an interviewer reads every word on every page of every applicant. They are quick scanning for key things and thats all you need to get their attention and garner an interview.
A resume is NOT supposed to be your freakin memoirs. Its supposed to grab attention and pique some interest. Nothing more.

This

 

[her209]

Make a word map resume like this. Muhahaha.

 

[EagleKeeper]

It doesnt matter. Yur nuts if you think an interviewer reads every word on every page of every applicant. They are quick scanning for key things and thats all you need to get their attention and garner an interview.
A resume is NOT supposed to be your freakin memoirs. Its supposed to grab attention and pique some interest. Nothing more.

From a recruiter, yes.

But then the recruiter gets it to the hiring manager. They will look for key words and gaps. They want to know what you did with the key words - not that they are there.

It is the automated filters that are a problem;

I get calls for Oracle work all the time because that exists on my background.
Yet if I do not indicate the back end systems that I interfaced with as part of the overall project; the job experience is hollow. Just stating DBMS will kick you out of any potential work based on filters.

Using acronyms for government work does not get you non-government work easily. Replace government with specific industry.

 

[Balt]

Make a word map resume like this. Muhahaha.

I don't see synergy popping out at me. No way you're getting hired.


Regarding the original post: The heat mapping thing is a pretty cool idea. What people say they look for and what they actually look at are sometimes different things.

 

[AreaCode707]

That is great when you have had less than 3-4 positions.

After that, multiple pages is a given.

If you try to tailor to one-two pages; you leave gaps in the timeline

Agreed. My perspective is one page resume if you are entry level, two page resume if you are mid career, and three page resume is allowable if you are exec and/or have over 10 years experience.

 

[Farang]

The titles are more important than this suggests, but I imagine they take less time to read so they don't show up.

The 6 seconds thing is really true, all that I'm qualifying you for initially is if you're worth calling.

If I read every word of every resume I'd be fired yesterday.

<--recruiter

 

[DrPizza]

First pass, I skim quickly and sort into two piles: potential/reject.

But then, I go through the potential pile a lot more thoroughly. It takes a lot less time to carefully examine the resumes than it does to interview even one candidate. If I (we) can get it down to 4 or 5 interviews at the most, wonderful.

 

[JTsyo]

I thought AT would like this. Go ahead and bitch about HR all you want below.

http://www.businessinsider.com/here...hey-spend-on-your-resume-2012-4#ixzz1rfdGytpL

I would note that this probably varies a bit based on the job type. A high level job is going to have less focus on education and more on experience, a recruiter looking for entry level will spend more time on education.

I will be snarky and point out for the objective/summary haters that there is a fair amount of focus shown there.

Not sure how accurate that eye tracking software is. Two of the red spots are on white space on the left resume. Top left and mid right.

 

[silverpig]

Agreed. My perspective is one page resume if you are entry level, two page resume if you are mid career, and three page resume is allowable if you are exec and/or have over 10 years experience.

One page only. Ever.

It's an exercise in communication skills. Can you distill your career down to the most relevant points on one page for this job?

The point of the resume isn't to get a job, it's to get an interview. A good interview will spend some time on your resume, but will also spend some time on things not on your resume.

An academic CV is different, and those can be multiple pages.

 

[SP33Demon]

Agreed. My perspective is one page resume if you are entry level, two page resume if you are mid career, and three page resume is allowable if you are exec and/or have over 10 years experience.

Disagree, you can always get it down to 1 page for entry/mid level - cut out the verbose excess. Senior level/exec is the only excuse for going over a page for a resume.

 

[dougp]

Disagree, you can always get it down to 1 page for entry/mid level - cut out the verbose excess. Senior level/exec is the only excuse for going over a page for a resume.

Very rarely do they even need a resume.

Whenever you use an agency to find work (contract or FTE), they'll make you fill out their resume, or they'll copy and paste it. A few have forced me to condense it down to one page, and a few others have let me keep it at two pages. With tech jobs, it's pretty hard to keep your job description short, but I tend to modify my work experience based off of what I'm applying for.

 

[Bazake]

My resume has a second page where I've listed the various technologies and software that I have experience with. If you're talking about things like Monster or Career Builder, it's keyword searches that get your resume in front of them in the first place.

Also, does anyone even use a paper resume anymore? For my current gig, I didn't even bring one in for the interview; I just had the electronic copy pulled up on my ipad.

 

[AreaCode707]

Disagree, you can always get it down to 1 page for entry/mid level - cut out the verbose excess. Senior level/exec is the only excuse for going over a page for a resume.

One page only. Ever.

It's an exercise in communication skills. Can you distill your career down to the most relevant points on one page for this job?

The point of the resume isn't to get a job, it's to get an interview. A good interview will spend some time on your resume, but will also spend some time on things not on your resume.

An academic CV is different, and those can be multiple pages.

I've been in recruiting for 12 years. I'll stick with the observed standard and preference I've gotten from thousands of hours of recruiters, but you run with that one page approach, go for it!

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

I've noticed no rules apply for technical recruiters.
They will call/email you regardless of how your resume looks, as long as their search engine matches one keyword it found on your resume.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Disagree, you can always get it down to 1 page for entry/mid level - cut out the verbose excess. Senior level/exec is the only excuse for going over a page for a resume.

Doesn't matter if u squeeze everything onto one page. It will expand to 2 once the recruiter tacks on their company header, which is what the hiring company sees anyway.

 

[SP33Demon]

I've been in recruiting for 12 years. I'll stick with the observed standard and preference I've gotten from thousands of hours of recruiters, but you run with that one page approach, go for it!

Are you including multiple pages for their ref's? I can deal with that, but usually just put Available upon request.

In 8 font, if one page isn't enough then you're doing something wrong. I'm mid level and only list job experience that's relevant to the job I'm applying to; for example, I don't put that I was a cashier at xyz grocery market in college. Most pre-formatted online resume systems only ask for your last 3 jobs anyway.

 

[SP33Demon]

Doesn't matter if u squeeze everything onto one page. It will expand to 2 once the recruiter tacks on their company header, which is what the hiring company sees anyway.

Which is why the least relevant info goes on the bottom.

 

[GotIssues]

I've been in recruiting for 12 years. I'll stick with the observed standard and preference I've gotten from thousands of hours of recruiters, but you run with that one page approach, go for it!

Time in field != being good at it.

You can distill it to one page. You start cutting out the details from the further out jobs. They don't need to know every minor thing you did in a job you had 10 years ago, only the things relevant to the job you are applying for.

 

[DrPizza]

Time in field != being good at it.

You can distill it to one page. You start cutting out the details from the further out jobs. They don't need to know every minor thing you did in a job you had 10 years ago, only the things relevant to the job you are applying for.

And when they look at their pile of potential candidates and realize, "wow, I don't want to interview 50 different people," they're going to spend a little bit more time picking the best looking candidates on paper.