Our resume experts answer six common questions about resumes

Are you writing a resume right now? Or have you written a resume at some point? Then, you may have had a ton of questions about the right way to do things, from deciding the length of your resume to adding references to it. Today, our resume experts are here to answer some common questions about resumes.

1. Who reads your resume?

If you are applying for a job in the US, there is a huge chance that your resume will be read by bots first. A majority of middle and large-scale employers use Applicant Tracking Systems to filter candidates. If you have submitted a keyword-optimized, ATS-friendly resume with your job application, a hiring manager or recruiter will be able to read it after the ATS parses it. But if you are handing out your resume physically at a job fair, a hiring manager or a representative of the company will be reading it directly.

2. What skills should you mention on a resume?

The answer to this question changes on the job you are applying for. For all jobs, it is essential to put down the skills that the employer is demanding. For some jobs, this will be a good mix of hard and soft skills. For others, hard skills might be prioritized. If you are writing a career change resume, you might have to rely on your transferable skills alone.

3. Is a cover letter necessary with your resume?

If you didn’t enjoy writing your resume, you may want to get out of writing a cover letter. However, nearly half of the employers we talked with prefer receiving a cover letter with job applications. Most of them even read the cover letter before they open the resume. Therefore, sending in a matching cover letter with your resume is sure to boost your chances of getting noticed.

4. Should you add references to the resume?

You shouldn’t. Most employers do call your professional references, but this step happens further down the hiring process. You are submitting your resume for the initial screening rounds. At this step, it is more practical to use the entire space of your resume to talk about your skills, experiences, and qualifications.

5. How long should your resume be?

There is no exact answer to this question, only a few guidelines based on your industry and experience level. If you have less than 5 years of experience, your qualifications can be summarized into a one-page resume. Most middle management careers do well with a two-page resume. If you are applying for a C-suite role, your resume can go up to three pages. We have seen job seekers in academia with resumes stretching longer than six pages.

6. What are some features of a winning resume?

While we can’t guarantee that every resume with these features will win a job interview offer, most of the successful resumes we have observed have these traits:

• Presented in an ATS-friendly resume format
• Keyword optimized and customized to the job description
• Concisely written in professional language
• Carefully formatted using a clean, modern template
• Targeted for the right audience