Job Seekers: How to Ensure Your Resume Passes the Screening Process
Dear Job Seekers,
Does this sound familiar? Spend a few hours searching on a job board, briefly skim the job descriptions and send the same resume to as many positions as possible, hoping for (but probably not receiving) responses, and doing this over and over again.
Is this frustrating? Many job seekers of the years have told us it is.
As a leading talent management consulting firm who specializes in Sales, Marketing and Operations recruiting ? a crucial step candidates typically miss is spending time upfront BEFORE applying to a job.
You must SPEND TIME FIRST to really understand the qualifications of the job and then tailor your resume for EACH specific position you apply for.
YEP, that means you will have a different resume for each position you apply for.
Having a California executive search process that we teach companies, we know HR and hiring managers are initially looking ONLY for keywords and phrases that align with their job description; therefore, targeting a resume to include those phrases can make or break successfully passing the resume screening process.
Job seekers often ask us:
How exactly can I tailor a resume so they make it to the hiring managers?
Grammer Chic’s expert, Amanda Clark, writes how to accomplish tailoring a resume and provides the following tips:
- Read through the entire job description and highlight words or skills that the employer is looking for and making sure those terms are included.
- Swap out core competencies for skills from the job opening.
- Match the title as closely as possible to the position without lying.
- Edit the content of your resume so the most essential accomplishments are listed first in order of importance.
- Add metrics/quantifiable. For example: Exactly how much revenue did you generate for Q1, Q2, etc.? Exactly how many people did you manage?
To read Clark’s full article, click here.
These are just some resources to help candidates pass the resume screening process. For more of the best practices of recruiting, interviewing and hiring, as well as tips for both candidates and employers, find out more here.
