11 min
How to Get Your Resume Noticed in 5 Seconds Guaranteed Tips for Work and Life with Andrew LaCivita
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- Careers
Have you wondered why your resume doesn’t get noticed? Are you curious regarding how a recruiter “examines” your resume? Interested in the job resume killers? Join career expert, motivator, and award-winning author Andrew LaCivita as he discusses how to get your resume noticed in 5 seconds guaranteed! How can you review 500,000 resumes? Honestly?
I’ve reviewed more than a half million resumes during my career. I bet you’re wondering how this is possible.
Combine decades of interviewing and hiring at a high velocity, coupled with a whopping no-thank-you to a great recession (where I reviewed an average of 1,500-2000 resumes per week for four years), and strong relationships with prominent outplacement companies who send me resumes by the thousands when they handle a large reduction in workforce for one of their clients, and, hey presto, there it is.
How long? 6 Seconds!?
Recruiters worth their salt can glance through your entire resume within six seconds, which means you’ve got five seconds to interrupt their mind-numbing, eye-glazing, white-noise-like key-stroking through an electronic pile that will make you start talking slowly no matter how much caffeine you’ve had.
Don’t believe me? I’m sharing my personal experience (more on this in a minute), but a number of job sites such as The Ladders (check out their eye-tracking story on how recruiters review resumes) indicate their survey says employers review your resume in six seconds. Ouch.
Why? Everyone’s busy and they have too many resumes to review.
How do you review the resume?
Click. Open. Big Thunderbolt Mac Screen!
Eye-Glance 1: Name please! My eyes go right for the top center. I want to see your name. Just your name. I don’t need 18 other credentials and letters (unless you’re a medical doctor, lawyer, or whatever). An address is nice too. I want to know your geography.
Eye-Glance 2: Then I look at the entire top half of the first of page of your resume—all at once. I’m looking for something specific (more later). I do not start reading the top half of the page. I’m filing away whether I want to come back to it later. If it has what I want, I’ll come back. If it doesn’t have what I want, I never go back to it.
Eye-Glance 3: Then I scramble down the left column of the first page. I’m looking for the companies you worked for. I’m much more interested in which companies you worked for than the positions you held. I want people who’ve played for Super Bowl-winning teams.
Eye-Glance 4: Then I look at the entire second page all at once. Yes. The entire page. If you have a third page, I’m upset because you didn’t respect my time.
Side note: If I can sum up my entire 28-year career in 26 words, you can summarize a 50-year career in two pages. If you think you can’t, you are mistaken.’
This entire eye-glancing escapade takes me no longer than six seconds.
How do you decide to keep reviewing the resume?
Now, I need to decide whether to delete the resume or whether to review it. I stress the word review because anyone who has time to read your entire resume has too much time on his or her hands.
Want to know what I’m looking for?
What’s the 5-second magic pill!
Why did you open this post? It was one of two reasons.
You either know and love me and thought omigawd, Andy has another amazing post and I just have to watch (listen or read). Otherwise, you had no clue who I was, but saw the headline telling you some dude promises you resume glory in five seconds.
I’m guessing the latter. Regardless of your reason, you need to interrupt the recruiter’s mind-numbing review process by giving her something she’ll love—right away. It’ll be your analogous “headline.”
She wants to know you’ll bring value to her organization.
The easiest way to do this is by encapsulating who you are professionally—in aggregate—and also highlighting your (likely three most) valuable contributions.
I suggest doing
Have you wondered why your resume doesn’t get noticed? Are you curious regarding how a recruiter “examines” your resume? Interested in the job resume killers? Join career expert, motivator, and award-winning author Andrew LaCivita as he discusses how to get your resume noticed in 5 seconds guaranteed! How can you review 500,000 resumes? Honestly?
I’ve reviewed more than a half million resumes during my career. I bet you’re wondering how this is possible.
Combine decades of interviewing and hiring at a high velocity, coupled with a whopping no-thank-you to a great recession (where I reviewed an average of 1,500-2000 resumes per week for four years), and strong relationships with prominent outplacement companies who send me resumes by the thousands when they handle a large reduction in workforce for one of their clients, and, hey presto, there it is.
How long? 6 Seconds!?
Recruiters worth their salt can glance through your entire resume within six seconds, which means you’ve got five seconds to interrupt their mind-numbing, eye-glazing, white-noise-like key-stroking through an electronic pile that will make you start talking slowly no matter how much caffeine you’ve had.
Don’t believe me? I’m sharing my personal experience (more on this in a minute), but a number of job sites such as The Ladders (check out their eye-tracking story on how recruiters review resumes) indicate their survey says employers review your resume in six seconds. Ouch.
Why? Everyone’s busy and they have too many resumes to review.
How do you review the resume?
Click. Open. Big Thunderbolt Mac Screen!
Eye-Glance 1: Name please! My eyes go right for the top center. I want to see your name. Just your name. I don’t need 18 other credentials and letters (unless you’re a medical doctor, lawyer, or whatever). An address is nice too. I want to know your geography.
Eye-Glance 2: Then I look at the entire top half of the first of page of your resume—all at once. I’m looking for something specific (more later). I do not start reading the top half of the page. I’m filing away whether I want to come back to it later. If it has what I want, I’ll come back. If it doesn’t have what I want, I never go back to it.
Eye-Glance 3: Then I scramble down the left column of the first page. I’m looking for the companies you worked for. I’m much more interested in which companies you worked for than the positions you held. I want people who’ve played for Super Bowl-winning teams.
Eye-Glance 4: Then I look at the entire second page all at once. Yes. The entire page. If you have a third page, I’m upset because you didn’t respect my time.
Side note: If I can sum up my entire 28-year career in 26 words, you can summarize a 50-year career in two pages. If you think you can’t, you are mistaken.’
This entire eye-glancing escapade takes me no longer than six seconds.
How do you decide to keep reviewing the resume?
Now, I need to decide whether to delete the resume or whether to review it. I stress the word review because anyone who has time to read your entire resume has too much time on his or her hands.
Want to know what I’m looking for?
What’s the 5-second magic pill!
Why did you open this post? It was one of two reasons.
You either know and love me and thought omigawd, Andy has another amazing post and I just have to watch (listen or read). Otherwise, you had no clue who I was, but saw the headline telling you some dude promises you resume glory in five seconds.
I’m guessing the latter. Regardless of your reason, you need to interrupt the recruiter’s mind-numbing review process by giving her something she’ll love—right away. It’ll be your analogous “headline.”
She wants to know you’ll bring value to her organization.
The easiest way to do this is by encapsulating who you are professionally—in aggregate—and also highlighting your (likely three most) valuable contributions.
I suggest doing
11 min