Job search becomes much more effective if job seekers take time to understand what employers expect from them. Despite the fact that this kind of approach requires more efforts and time investment on behalf of those seeking employment, it can significantly improve one's chances on getting more interview invitations and, eventually, job offers. The truth of the matter is that finding a new (or first) job is not as easy as it was 20 years ago. As the competition on the jobs market grows stronger, more and more people find it hard to make it at least to the interview stage. With the variety of job search and marketing tools available today, people need to understand how resume writing works and how hiring decisions are made. This way job seekers will be able to focus on what's really important and what can potentially give them an advantage over other candidates.
What Job Seekers Need to Know Before Writing a Resume?
Tough Competition. Everybody knows it is not easy to get a job today. But very few people realize that one job opening in average attracts approximately 250 resumes. Essentially, this number signifies the number of your competitors whom you should somehow outplay in order to get the spot. And while to some job seekers it would seem to be an easy touch, often the opposite is true. Considering the fact that about 5 candidates out of 250 applicants will be selected for a job interview and only 1 will be actually hired, your chances are not that good. That should be a good motivation to make that resume perfect as well as make sure the interview goes smooth andaccording to your plan.
Time to Grab Attention. Talking about resume writing, you've got only 5-6 seconds to communicate the message that your candidacy is worth considering because that's what hiring authorities would usually spend on reviewing 1 resume. Try to check yourself how much you can read in 5 or 6 seconds. You also have to remember that you will not have another chance here; in other words, if your resume goes to the discard pile, it's over. So you better make sure you get as much of a professional resume writer out of you as you can when you draft that document. If it is not impressive enough, you will be ignored.
Mistakes. Having any kind of errors on your resume is a bad sign whether it is a typo or grammatical mistake. The fact that it can cost a chance to be interviewed should make all job seekers take resume proofreading seriously. Interestingly enough that about 80% of errors usually come from the miscommunication of skills and experience. So if you have decided not to use resume writing services and do it all on your own (which we believe is great!), please make sure your skills are communicated properly and that there are no errors on the document.
ATS Scan. With the emerging technologies our lives have changed so much. We now don't have to do things we used to do 20 years ago - artificial intelligence or even simple software tools can take care of so many things today. About 5-7 years ago companies started using Applicant Tracking Software that scans candidates' resumes and selects only those that contain relevant information. Those that don't pass the ATS test will never make it to the table of hiring managers. Nowadays, about 50% of companies use this technology to save time for their HR employees. This means that if you want a hiring manager to take a look at your resume, you have to make sure it passes ATS.
Job Cuts. It is much easier to get a new job if you are well-prepared. When you lose a job one day without expecting it to happen, it may take some time to recover and regroup. Considering this information, we believe it must be useful to know that about a half of all job cuts in the USA are usually announced in the fall. This means by this time you should have your resume updated at hand.
Conclusion
These 5 resume and hiring facts should help those job seekers who wish to submit meaningful applications to potential employers. Although it may seem like one will spend too much time on resume writing and research in this case, the opposite is true. Sending out generic resumes drafted in about 30 minutes appears to be a shortcut at first but this kind of approach will never get you a job and eventually will result in you spending even more time to get at least something. One way or another, your resume must be flawless in order to pass Applicant Tracking Software as well as the quick hiring manager's scan.
