By Dave Herwitz, Director of Admissions, ABC Training Center
6 seconds. Not a lot of time. It will probably take you 6 seconds to read the title of this blog post and the first sentence or two. Yet according to research done by the Ladders employment website, job recruiters spend an average of 6 seconds looking over your resume to determine if you are a “fit” or not (http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-04-09/news/31311078_1_recruiters-study-position). Not a lot of time, is it? Think about all of the years of school and training. Think of all the hours spent studying and preparing for tests. For those of you already working, think of all the long hours put in to your career. And all you get are 6 seconds to make an impression. 6 seconds to make the recruiter, who has just scanned over several dozen resumes, take notice of yours. Not fair, but it’s the reality of the job hunting game.
Too many people put very little thought into their resume. And yet it is one of the biggest sales tools in your arsenal. It’s what gets you in the door, so it MUST be effective. It MUST make the recruiter say: “I need to talk to this guy a little more.” One of the biggest pieces of advice I like to give is the “second pair of eyes” test. Create your resume and have a trusted friend, relative or colleague look it over and ask them: “would YOU call me in for an interview?” Brutal honesty is the key here. Tell them to be as forthcoming as possible. And don’t take offense to anything that might be said. Think of any criticism as a way to improve your chances of getting that call back. Another piece of advice that I like to give is to approach your resume writing the way a writer approaches an article or novel. Create several versions or drafts of it and be picky. If you’re satisfied with it after the first draft, then it’s no good. Make sure it’s visually appealing and conceptually compelling. Obsess over it. Tweak it – a lot. And do yourself a favor – make sure it is free of spelling and grammar errors. Those are absolutely unacceptable and would cause me to dismiss a candidate regardless of experience and training.
So do yourself a favor and create a winning, eye-catching, powerful resume. Because you only have 6 seconds. One, two, three…
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