Business Insider: Although we may never know why we didn't get chosen for a job interview, a recent study is shedding some light on recruiters' decision-making behavior. According to TheLadders research, recruiters spend an average of "six seconds before they make the initial 'fit or no fit' decision" on candidates.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
How Recruiters See Your Resume
Business Insider: Although we may never know why we didn't get chosen for a job interview, a recent study is shedding some light on recruiters' decision-making behavior. According to TheLadders research, recruiters spend an average of "six seconds before they make the initial 'fit or no fit' decision" on candidates.
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None of the advice in this article about clear and concise formatting is really news, but it's good to know exactly what information people focus on when they don't have much time to spend looking at a resumé. The fact that education is an important focal point in a quick resumé scan is very reassuring. That shows that it pays off to go to a school that people recognize as a quality institution. This also shows that it's important to do your best in school both in terms of learning as much as you can and in being/becoming a good person that is easy and fun to work with while at school. An employer with six seconds will probably look at where you went to school, and if they know someone who went to your school, they might take the next few minutes to call that person. You never know who may have the opportunity to give you a job later in life, so it is good not to burn any bridges. The relationships you build in school are important tools for the future.
I clicked through several related articles from the bottom of the page, and there's certainly some comprehensive and sound advice in there. With regards to people looking at your résumé in this industry, school is important for us as students, with many of us applying for internships intended for students, but I imagine as we get older the names of individuals will become more important since, unlike in larger industries, everybody in theatre knows everybody else. Regarding the concise looking résumé on the right, it was easy to tell from the thumbnail what the sections were, which makes me think that it will be handy when next editing my résumé to see if I can still get the gist of it by looking at a thumbnail...
Most importantly than just what information to put on your resume, this article shows WHERE to put information on your resume. With concise formatting (the example on the right), it looks like pertinent information should go at the top and bottom. Which makes sense, since the middle section would require a greater look-through to find information than the top or bottom. The one on the left does not seem to have a clear bottom section, it is more of a bottom paragraph,l which would also require a bit of scanning and searching for information which, in a six second review, there is not time for.
While I think that many of us have gained a good knowledge of how to put together a resume, getting an idea of the perspective of the person reading a resume is a very useful to know. While conciseness and being clear is important on any kind of document, having it shown quantitatively in this fashion is quite helpful, and seeing the most important parts of the resume for recruiters just based on the first places they look (Last job, education, etc.), you get an idea of places where you can make yourself stick out in order to get a recruiters attention. It's just a few good things to know when putting together a resume.
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