Do you ever ask yourself:

1. What should I put on my resume?

2. Or, what information do recruiters want to see on my resume?



Well, some resume information does compel recruiters to interview you, and some chases them away. To learn more, keep reading or check out the infographic below.

Relevant Experience

First (per research), recruiters look for candidates with experience that matches their job posting. Finding those people makes the hiring managers they support love them.

So make sure that the different sections of your resume (summary, work experience, education, volunteer work, etc.) all describe the skills and experience listed in the job posting.

You can even start with your contact information by adding an on-point credential after your name.

Here’s a pro tip: Weave experience that’s relevant to the job into the text of your resume, not the skills section. Research shows that recruiters skip over the skills section. In addition, the most popular resume parsing engine used by ATS companies skips the skills section.

Use Truthful Resume Information

Beyond that, tell the truth about your experience. Your readers can sense spin and most companies will verify your claims by talking to some of the people on your reference list.

Minimize Adjectives & Adverbs

If you want your resume to be credible, don’t use squishy adjectives and adverbs to describe yourself. When writing a resume, stick to facts (see an example of how to do that here).

I have good news if you’re asking, “What is an adjective?” or “What is an adverb?” There’s a free app now that lets you upload your resume and instantly identify the adjectives and verbs.

Formatting

Beyond grabbing recruiters’ attention with your relevant experience, give them a good reader experience.

Your resume should have a clear visual hierarchy, including bold font section headings, company names and locations, job titles, and employment dates.

Use bullet points that start with action verbs to describe your accomplishments.

You can click through to links to a useful resume template that applies these principles to different types of jobs here.

Accurate Addressee

Finally, recruiters like you more if you address your cover letter and resume to them rather than to someone else.

Addressee errors happen on job applications all the time, so be careful when you’re cutting and pasting cover letter text.

More

See the infographic below for more information on how to make recruiters like you:

Image: Fotolia/deeaf

Updated November 2019

© 2013 – 2019, Donna Svei. All rights reserved.