Recruiters and hiring managers look through hundreds of applications for a single role daily. While the introduction of the applicant tracking system (ATS) has undoubtedly made things easier for recruiters, they still need to go through a handful of resumes to shortlist candidates. When crafting a resume, you must know what recruiters expect to see in a resume. If you’re starting your career, you should seek the help of professional resume writing services which can tailor your resume and make you stand out from the crowd. Here are a few things that recruiters expect to see in a resume.

Experience and Skills

If you’re applying for a position that needs significant experience, the recruiter will look at the experience and skills section of your resume carefully. Ensure that your current experience and prior roles are well articulated and come across as consistent and relevant to the position you’re applying for. Make sure to include all the relevant skills you have and the ones required of you in your previous roles. Any skills acquired during your work history should complement your experience and demonstrate your suitability for the advertised position.

Keywords for The Advertised Role

One thing to remember is recruiters don’t read every resume word for word. To shortlist candidates from the massive pile of resumes on their desks, they look for the relevant keywords from the job posting or delegate these tasks to the ATS to filter the resumes aligned with the posting. This means you can’t go with a one-resume-fits-all strategy. Instead, you need to craft a customized resume for every job application and ensure it has the relevant keywords that highlight how well-suited you are for the role.

Concrete Success

Recruiters now want to see concrete examples of success on your resume. You can include persuasive language and highlight achievements, but you need solid statistics and numbers to back that up. For example, you can say you’re a successful sales manager, but it’s more impressive to say that you successfully achieved $xx million sales targets. As you describe your experiences and roles in previous organizations, consider specific examples to include on your resume. It can help your resume stand out from the crowd.

Current Role Context

Merely listing your job title at an organization wouldn’t specify the role you did and how well you would fit in your prospective organization. For example, an accountant working for an SME will have different experiences than an accountant working for a Fortune 500 company. Therefore, you should always offer some context about the size and scope of your current and previous role so that recruiters can know whether you’re a good fit for the role you’re applying for. Recruiters may not do extensive research for a company you worked at previously if it is not well-known. Therefore, you need to make things simpler for the recruiter to understand.

Work Experience Gaps  

Work gaps are not uncommon, and they don’t carry the same weightage on a job application as they used to do previously. However, recruiters will still want to know what you were doing in your gaps. So don’t try to sugarcoat your resume. Be transparent with all your start and end dates but focus on your skills and achievements. Recruiters will run a background check before extending an offer, so make sure you’re not lying or fabricating stories on your resume.

Contact Information

This is pretty obvious. Not putting your contact information in your resume is a silly error, and it can make recruiters think you’re not serious about applying to their company. Make sure that the recruiter can see the information and provide them with different modes of communication so they can get in touch with you fairly quickly. Your phone number and email address should always be on your resume, as well as your current state and city of residence. Adding a link to your LinkedIn profile can also be quite valuable.

Spelling Errors

Spelling mistakes are a no-go when creating a resume. It’s a huge turn-off for recruiters, and they might bin your application if they find such errors, even if your skills and qualifications align with the role. You may want to hire a professional resume consulting service to review your resume and identify any errors that may be a hurdle in getting an interview call. Make sure to proofread your application before sending it through to the recruiter.

Formatting

Once you’ve got all your details written in a way that appeals to the recruiter, it is time to format the resume. This is another critical aspect that recruiters keep a close eye on. Your resume needs to look, feel and read well if you want to grab the recruiter's attention and compel them to call you for an interview. Therefore, you should pay close attention to the following details:

• Your resume should be easy to read, and the layout should be clear and consistent. Don’t play with fonts unnecessarily. Make sure to use one font throughout the resume. You can use bullet points to highlight your skills and achievements rather than writing long sentences.
• Your resume should be in reverse chronological order and as concise as possible. Explain all the gaps in your work history as well.
• Label your resume in an easily identifiable way. When sending electronic copies, ensure the document is in a standard format such as pdf or docx.

Once you’ve created a solid and captivating resume, review it regularly and update it at least annually, even if you’re not applying for jobs. This will save a lot of time in the future when you do decide to switch careers.

Create a Compelling Resume with Resu Consulting

Writing an attractive resume is not easy. Therefore, you should consider getting online resume writing services to help you with all your resume needs. If you’re looking for one, you can’t go wrong with Resu Consulting. We are highly experienced professional resume writers with a background in human resources, recruiting, and design. Our experience has helped several job seekers land jobs in their dream organizations. So, what are you waiting for? Schedule your free consultation with our experts today!