Believe it or not, recruiters – which includes HR and hiring managers – spend almost all of their resume review time on the following resume points: your name, your current title and company, your current position start and end dates, your previous title and company, your previous position start and end dates, and your education.

According to groundbreaking research by TheLadders, a scientific technique called “eye tracking” was used to track where and how long a person focuses when digesting information of a resume. They brought in thirty professional recruiters over a 10-week period to record them as they viewed different types of resumes, online profiles, and other forms of candidate information.

The scary fact is that the eye tracking technology shows that recruiters only spent about six seconds on their initial “fit or not fit” decision. Aaarrrggghhh – I hear you scream! (more…)

 8 hot tips for your resume that can get you an interview

Let me make one thing very, very clear: There is only one purpose of a resume:

To get you an interview with a prospective employer

No, no and no – it’s purpose is not to get you the job, that’s what the interview is for! The resume is meant to be your extended business card, your personal sales and marketing pitch, which will get the recruiter to grab the phone and call you in for a meeting.

1. Use a standard Microsoft Word document and please do not use Excel or PowerPoint. On the top or at the very bottom, use the header or footer function in Word, write your name and address, and remember to include your mobile telephone number and email address. Use a business like email address, which means that happygolucky@gmail.com does not give the right impression. There is no need to write the words Resume or CV, as that should already be easily recognisable. Last but not least, save your Microsoft Word document using your name; do not call it “my_resume.doc”.

(more…)

What better way to end a tough year than with some quotes from candidate resumes. On popular demand, these lines were picked from real resumes and cover letters: Marital status:…

Who told you that size does not count? I would like to know why so many candidates still seem to believe that size doesn’t matter. If I told you that…

I am sorry to be the messenger… I know this may come as a shock to you. Here goes: Your resume will be read in about 20 seconds. That is…