According to a resume eye tracking study published by The Ladders in 2012, recruiters spend about SIX seconds before they make an initial “fit/no fit” decision.
Read more about the study but the bottom line is you don’t have a lot of time to make that first great impression critical to getting a second deeper look or ideally an interview.
By following these basics you can increase your resume’s chances of getting past that skim read and into the “keep” pile:
Lead with a Headline
Just like you scan headlines when reading the news, and would never bother with an article that didn’t provide a headline, a skim reader may skip you over without a career title that tells them the types of roles for which you are well suited. Here’s an example:
Food Services Leader Specializing in General Management and Performance Strategy Consulting
Show a Connection with a Branding Paragraph
This paragraph serves as your elevator speech. It is similar to the lead paragraph in a newspaper article in that it tells the reader what the story (in this case YOUR story) is about.
By weaving in language that answers how your skills are relevant to a particular job posting together with stats where applicable, a skim reader will easily make the connection you are worth a second, deeper read. Here’s a sample:
Applies food services performance strategy and operations expertise to grow franchise revenues 30%, turn around under performing stores and open new locations. Drives cost-effective operations that reduce expenses 20% and 99% sanitation and safety regulatory compliance.
Lead with a Wow
Be sure to lead with an achievement – particularly your proudest – when outlining your job history. Skim readers often don’t read past the first bullet. Bury the wow and you risk the reader never seeing it.
Short and Sweet
Skim readers glaze over long blocks of text. Keep your bullets to no more than two lines as it facilitates skim reading.
When read on a small handheld device longer bullets can run as long as four or five lines – too long for that skim reader. Here’s one that is the perfect length and hooks the reader:
Doubled revenues in three stores and enabled franchise expansion from seven to 11 locations with a plan for performance turnaround.
Space, Space, Space
99% of your readers will review your resume on some sort of a screen. Online reading is a lot tougher on the eye than print reading –the eye just can’t take in as much text.
Make it easy on the online reader by ensuring you have at least .6 points of space in between each bullet.
You’re Hired!
In my experience, following these steps, together with savvy networking to get your resume in front of decision makers, has been the secret to success even when writing under 60-day interview guarantee guidelines.