Assistant Director for
Professional Development
A recent study that was published by the
professional recruiting company, The Ladders, which gauged specific behaviors of
30 recruiters over 10 weeks as they performed online tasks, including resume and
candidate profiles, using eye tracking - the assessment of eye movement that
records and analyzes where and how long a person focuses when digesting
information or completing activities - found the following:
- Recruiters spent only 6 seconds on their initial "fit/no fit" decision.
- Recruiters spent almost 80% of this resume review time looking at the name, previous position start and end dates, current title/company, current position start and end dates, previous title/company and education.
- The additional time was spent on scanning for keywords to match the open position - pattern matching activity.
I need to point out that this study with a sample
size of only 30 recruiters is not statistically significant (as I learned from
my days of handling advertising law matters.) However, the information is still
noteworthy. If someone is going to spend only a limited amount of time looking
at a resume or cover letter, and provide only a cursory scan, the documents
should be:
✔
Well laid out and easy to read.
✔ As short and succinct as possible, using as few words as possible.
✔ Contain easily identifiable key points.
✔ List the most relevant information first and foremost.
✔ Use the same words found in the job description; i.e., anti-competition versus antitrust.
✔ As short and succinct as possible, using as few words as possible.
✔ Contain easily identifiable key points.
✔ List the most relevant information first and foremost.
✔ Use the same words found in the job description; i.e., anti-competition versus antitrust.
If you need any feedback on your cover letter or
resume, don't hesitate to contact LCS. You can read a description of The Ladders report here.
