6 Ways to Ensure Your Resume Gets Read

October 21, 2022

Even before an interview, your resume will give a prospective employer an impression as to whether or not you are worth hiring.

Creating A Great Resume — Source: Getty Images

So, if you are looking to get an interview call, you’ll want to make sure your resume is crisp and clean. Here are six ways to ensure your resume doesn’t get thrown out.

Given below are some general tips that can help you tune up your resume:

Table of Contents

1. Make Your Resume Skimmable

Studies have shown that recruiters spend 6-7 seconds per resume. If he or she can’t find these details without going through each word, you will lose the recruiter’s interest much faster.

2. Keep Your Resume to Two Pages in Length Max

Anything longer and the recruiter might not even glance at your resume. If your career history is less than 10 years long, try to keep your resume to one page.

3. Optimize Your Resume for Machines

Most companies run resumes through an applicant tracking system (ATS) that weeds out resumes it deems unfit for the role. These machines are usually unsophisticated and look for keywords on resumes instead of understanding the real work that an applicant performed in a job. Run your resume through an ATS checker like JobScan before applying.

4. Be Honest

Listing your roles and responsibilities with honesty is a must. Do not paint yourself as more qualified than you are. The last thing you want is to be hired by someone who expects a certain performance from you that you cannot deliver.

5. Use Active Language, Rather Than Passive

Try something such as “I accomplished XYZ,” rather than, “I was assigned XYZ.” Also, keep your words as simple as possible. This makes reading the resume much faster and easier on the recruiter.

6. Proofread and Edit

Even a single mistake can ruin your first impression. Make sure you use spell-check and run your resume through a grammar checker like Grammarly.

7. Know the Company and the Position to Which You Are Applying

Not only should you know the basic requirements of the job. You should also know what broader interpersonal skills you have that will fit with the culture.

8. Focus on Skills, Rather Than Experience

This is especially useful when prior work experience does not match up with the prospective job. For example, discussing that you were a banker when you are applying for a position as a construction manager doesn’t make sense from a job experience perspective. But if you focus on key skills that each job shares – problem-solving, crisis management, etc. – then you are more likely to catch and keep the reader’s attention.

9. Focus On Longevity

Few companies want to hire someone who is here today, but gone tomorrow. If you find that your work history doesn’t offer examples of longevity, stress that each move was in order to promote personal growth, not because you cannot stay put.

10. Format It Correctly

Some job applicants have found that using a unique resume format or style makes them stand out, but if you’re not willing to take that risk use a resume template. There are thousands of them available with a simple Google search.