Writing a Resume to Capture a Recruiter’s Eye

To keep things in perspective of a recruiter, it’s important to understand that we hire simultaneously for multiple jobs and per job we receive hundreds of applicants. That means each day we are scanning hundreds of resumes to narrow down who we will reach out to and hop on a call. When you’re building your resume, you want to think about how you can clearly and concisely represent yourself to a recruiter without having them read through multiple paragraphs. I’ll break down what we are looking for in a quick glance to entice us to continue reading through your resume closer and ultimately proceeding forward with your application.

2. Titles, Keywords, and Tools

The first pieces of information I scan for when I open a resume are the titles of positions this person has held, keywords that will pertain to the position I’m hiring for and what skills/tools they have experience using.

Titles: this one is straightforward, but of course we check to see what previous positions you held and how relevant it is to the position you’re applying for. Pro tip: make your titles stand out by using a different font such as making it bold or a different color.

Example:

Keywords: This one is very important! Take a look at the job description and use some of those keywords in your resume. If the job description says,

• “The focus in this role will be email marketing campaigns and webinars for SMB customers.”

Keywords to consider using are: “email marketing campaigns, email campaigns, or marketing campaigns” as well as “webinars and/or SMB”. These keywords quickly grab the attention of both the recruiter and hiring manager, which encourages us to read your resume further.

Skills/Tools: One of my favorite sections to scan for on a resume and I’ll tell you why, it saves us a lot of time AND tells me exactly what your work experience has included. A few examples:

Example for a Social Media Manager:

• Tools: Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Sprinklr, Meta Dashboard, TikTok, LI, YT, Pinterest, Snapchat, Reddit, Buffer, Later, Hubspot, etc.

2. Writing strong statements explaining what you did in your previous positions.

This is another area that I see applicants struggle in and this is where we really get to know who you are, so it’s a very important section. If you were a social media manager and in your statement, you write, “Social Media strategy for multiple video games” that’s something I would’ve already assumed based on your title and the company you worked at. This is your chance to tell me what type of social strategies you came up with and how you applied those. Show us how that benefited your company and include quantitative data to support that. For inspiration, here are some strong words to consider:

• Pioneered
• Optimized
• Strengthened
• Revitalized
• Modernized
• Converted
• Overhauled
• Headed
• Administered
• Chaired
• Spearheaded
• Programmed
• Conducted
• Upgraded

Example:

3. Remember, order matters!

Your goal with your resume is to sell the recruiter on why we should hire you based on your work experience and accomplishments. So, what should the first pieces of information be to catch their eye? An example of what I see a lot is applicants starting right off with their education. While that’s important, it’s not the first thing we look for. Here’s my preferred order of information:

• Name/Contact Info
  • State you reside in
  • Phone number
  • Email address
  • LI profile link (optional)
• Summary- tell us about yourself and what you’re looking for in your next career move
• Core Competencies- optional but another place to easily show us your areas of focus
• Work Experience- it’s not necessary to include everything you’ve ever done. Stay focused on what the most current and relevant information is to the position you’re applying for
• Skills/Tools- you know all about that now from the above section
• Education- let us know where you went and what you majored in

4. To include or not include, that is the question!

Here’s a short list of items I would consider rethinking:

• Title your file name something simple such as “Rachel Reese Resume.pdf”
• High School accomplishments are something I would not include, especially if this isn’t your first job and if you went to college.
• A link to your work or design portfolio
• Quantitative data of accomplishments
  • Example:
    • Led and executed A/B copy and CRO testing, which resulted in +25% CTR and +20% lift in CVR YoY.
• Short term positions- let us know if it was a contract or another unique circumstance.
• References- available upon request