What employers want to see in your resume

Creating the perfect resume is the dream of any job seeker. But more than 70% of resumes are rejected every year. Sometimes, because those resumes don’t adhere to ATS-compliance rules and sometimes because they fail to impress hiring managers. If your resume keeps getting rejected despite you giving it your best attempt at writing, your resume could be lacking certain elements that employers want to see on a resume.

Every employer loves a concise resume

Did you know that most employers only give a resume less than 30 seconds to impress them? Sometimes, they only give a 6-second scan. Rookie resume writers make the critical resume mistake of writing long-winded paragraphs on their resumes. Large paragraphs exceeding 4 – 6 sentences are not easily scannable. If your resume uses long paragraphs to describe your experience, a potential employer might even skip those descriptions altogether. The remedy? Use bullet points to summarize important information. Keep your paragraphs down to a minimum and use concise language.

Employers want you to use an ATS-friendly resume for your job application

The right formatting and keywords will ensure that your resume is optimized for an ATS. Almost every employer uses Applicant Tracking Systems to sort through the multiple job applications they receive. These ATSs are trained to look for certain keywords and qualifications on applicant resumes deciding who passes on to the next step of the screening process. Always tailor your resume to the job description using keywords and phrases that the employer has used.

Your accomplishments matter a lot to an interested employer

No recruiter wants to know the job duties you’ve held at a previous job. If they want to know the job duties of a certain job title, they can easily Google it. Your resume should feature your professional accomplishments, results, and outcomes. A results-oriented resume has the best impact. We have discussed how you can use the STAR method to write your resume bullet points previously. Here’s a list of ideas you can use to spot achievements to go on your resume:

• Saved time
• Policy improvements
• Saved dollars
• Developed new product
• Improved employee retention
• Solved a key issue
• Enhanced productivity
• Created best practices

Employers want you to back your results up with data

A result alone carries little power to impress a tough recruiter. If you want to create a truly impactful resume, back your results up with numbers, metrics, percentages, and dollars saved. Here are some examples to help you along:

• Implemented new policies to save X company 25 hours a week
• Led a design team of 8 to create a new product line that generated $2M in revenue
• Created new training and development program for a staff of 400
• Developed programs to improve company work culture that reduced employee turnover by 30%
• Initiated a cost-saving strategy for a construction project to save $40M

The placement of your results on a resume matters to employers

An interested employer wants to know the most important achievements you made, first. Be mindful of this fact when you create the work experience section of your resume. Create a priority order for your achievements. It helps to review the job description to identify the importance the employer has given to different qualifications/skills when creating your priority order. Try to align yours with the employer’s priorities. Place the best achievements/results immediately under the job title of each entry. Also, create your resume in such a way that the top one-third of the resume is saturated with the most important information. This helps employers notice the most impressive facts about you first.