Career

This is What Recruiters Look in Your Resume in 6 Seconds

Do you want to know why you didn’t get the interview call, even though your resume looked impressive and exact match for the job you applied online?

Well, we might know the reason now.  TheLadders recently conducted the first formal, quantitative study of recruiters’ on-the-job behavior to find what recruiters look for in a resume.

In this study they employed scientific technique called “eye tracking” – a technologically advanced assessment of eye movement that records and analyzes where and how long a person focuses when digesting information or completing activities.

Using the eye tracking study, specific behaviors of actual recruiters were analyzed as they performed tasks of reviewing the resume and candidate profile reviews.

Thirty professional recruiters took part in the study during a 10-week period. So, what’s the result?

The study found that recruiters spend only 6 seconds reviewing an individual resume.

What recruiters look for in a resume

This is how theirs eyes moved while viewing online resume or online profile of a job applicant.

Darker color refers to longer eye fixation or eye movement stoppage point.

what recruiters see in resume

  • Recruiters rated resumes with an obvious information hierarchy as “easier to read.”
  • On a Likert scale of 1 to 7, self-written resumes (above left) averaged 3.9 vs 6.2  seconds for the professionally rewritten resume (above right), a 60% increase

Study Summary:

80% of the time was spent on following data

  • Name
  • Current Title/Company
  • Previous Position Start and End Dates
  • Current Position and Start and End Dates
  • Previous Title/Company
  • Education

Now, you know based on a scientific study why you need a professionally written resume. Additional 2.3 seconds can get the interview call you have been waiting for.

I recommend Resume Edge to have your resume written by expert resume writer.

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7 Comments

  1. Hi Raghu
    I really found your articles very useful, Each and every article has some information which can help to step ahead in your career. Thanks a Lot.

  2. Wow. Another great post..It still costs for making a professional resume but I think it is worth the money. Can a professional resume made by ourselves?

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