Take a guess: how long (on average) does a hiring manager review a resume? 6 or 7 seconds. That’s right… only a few seconds to catch the hiring manager’s attention. Scary, I know! That’s why it’s super important to customize your resume to fit each job description.
To help ensure your resume gets the attention it deserves, here are a few tips:
Match the Job Description
Have you ever heard that the better your resume matches the job description requirements, the higher you’ll rank in the ATS (Applicant tracking systems)? Well, quite frequently this is pretty accurate. It is very common that hiring managers use a list of candidates generated from keyword searches – and they always start at the top. So, if you haven’t customized your resume to the keywords that hiring managers are searching for, your resume has a good chance of being missed. Keyword choices are becoming even more important as the use of AI tools in recruiting increases.
Quality over Quantity
Applicant tracking systems may automatically reject your resume if it doesn’t contain specific keywords. According to Katie Larson, Lead Marketing Recruiter at Celarity, “In the long-run, it makes more sense to apply to fewer jobs per day and spend more time customizing your resume to each job. You want your resume to match the description as closely as possible. Or, at least have a few versions of your resume that closely matches the types of roles you are applying for.”
For example, if you’re a Marketing Coordinator applying for an Event Coordinator position: you will need to tweak your title to “Marketing Event Coordinator”. Then, bullet point all of the experience you’ve had working with events. Feel free to expand but stay away from any other experience that isn’t relevant to the position you’re applying for.
Grab their Attention
According to Katie Larson, “Place your technical & hard skills at the top of your resume. Chances are that hiring managers & recruiters have at least 3-5 hard skills in mind for the right candidate, and so put at the top to grab their attention!” For example, if you’re a Digital Marketing Manager, you would use these skills at the top of your resume:
- Google Analytics / SEO & PPC
- LinkedIn Ads /Google Ads + Hubspot Certified
- Google Tag Manager + HTML/CSS/JS
List the Results
This is your time to shine, so underneath your title ensure that you are describing your experience that is supported with results. This section is important for you to let the hiring manager or recruiters know how successful you were in your previous role. Let’s say if you’re a Marketing Specialist, you would use these strong examples:
- Managed social media accounts and increased engagement on LinkedIn by 300%
- Created an email marketing strategy which increased repeat buying from 20% to 35%
- Inbound marketing leads increased by 72% due to targeted social ads
