According to the job-matching service, TheLadders, most hiring managers spend an
average of 6 seconds looking at a resume before making a decision. That’s 6
seconds to ascertain whether or not a candidate is worth spending the time to
interview.
Six seconds isn’t a long time.
In reality, most hiring managers have an idea of who they
want in their head long before they begin looking at those resumes. They know
what they are looking for as they review those pieces of paper in front of
them. But the problem is, that certainty can sometimes be a bad thing – and
can occasionally discount a good candidate who may not have the exact
experience they are looking for, but who absolutely has the ability to thrive
if given the chance.
So instead of specific job titles or a list of duties you
know apply to this current opening, here are the real priorities you should
be focusing on when reviewing resumes:
-
Must Haves: Yes, you have the picture of your
perfect employee already in your head. You may even have a long list of
all the attributes that employee should embody already written out. But
it’s time shorten that list and expand your vision. You don’t want to so
limit yourself that you miss out on someone who could be the perfect
employee. Instead, whittle that list down to your “must-haves.” Does the
position actually require a degree? And is 5 to 10 years’ experience
really necessary, or would 2 do – as long as it is the right type of
experience? Think about the things you absolutely can’t budge on. The
shorter that list, the easier it will be to spot those items (or realize
they are lacking) as you peruse resumes.
-
Loyalty: The millennial generation, especially,
has a way of job-hopping, and that diversified experience and passion
can absolutely be a good thing. So you don’t want to automatically
discount someone for having held a few different jobs at a few different
organizations – but if their resume has them changing up positions every
few months, and they aren’t short-term contract positions that would
otherwise account for that many moves; it’s worth paying attention to.
Just as it can be a good sign to find a candidate who has a history of
moving up the ladder and who has held multiple positions within the same
organization in the past.
-
Prove Its: Anyone can list out what their former
job duties were. You could find that information by pulling up a job
description yourself. Instead, what you want to look for on a resume is
the information that proves this candidate was actually good at the job
they held. Look for mentions of accommodations and specific
circumstances in which they excelled. These prove its will tell you far
more than a generic list of duties ever could, and finding them on a
resume means you have a candidate who knows how to present the right
information at the right time – a valuable quality for any future
employee to have.
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