No doubt about it – people spend less time than ever reading resumes. Somewhere between six and 20 seconds depending on who you ask.
Thanks to online submissions, hiring makers receive more resumes than ever before and thus have less time to devote to each. Make sure your resume contains these, and you’ll get your value across in no time:
#1 Career Title: Just like a newspaper headline a career title tells the reader the kinds of role for which you are suited.
#2 Branding Paragraph: Skip the generic summary that could describe anyone. Include a paragraph unique to you and customized to show you are THE PERFECT FIT for the role.
#3 Front-loaded Bullets: Skip the adjectives, qualifiers and lead ins. Make sure your bullet leads with the achievement so it’s the first thing the reader sees. Here’s an example:
“Saved $1M annually following implementation of an ERP that replaced a legacy system”
v.
“Replaced a legacy system with an ERP that saved $1M annually.”
#4 Short & Sweet: Keep bullets to one or two lines. Longer than that and you risk losing the skim reader who has a hard time digesting a large block of text online.
#5 Easy to Digest Results:. Saved money? Show it. Increased client satisfaction? Show by how much. Shortened the length of a task? Indicate the time saved. Skim readers love numbers they can quickly absorb.
A Brochure Not a Blueprint
While tempting to include everything potentially of value, it is more important to keep sight of the big picture. To increase your shot at getting a call, your resume needs to capture the attention, inform and make you memorable.
Make it to long, too wordy, too detailed or too convoluted, and you risk the chance it will never get read.