Recruiters don’t sit back with a cup of hazelnut coffee and enjoy your resume. They’re going to look at it quickly with eyes for very specific things. Here’s how you can make your resume scan really well so that you can expand your opportunities and move the conversation further.

1. Recent Role.

Recruiters want to know why you want to move on. They’re going to want to see how long you’ve been in your current spot (the longer the better) and they’re going to want to see a progression of ever-increasing responsibility. They know the story they want to tell to the employers they are working with and they’re going to bend your story to make the fit. But they can only bend so far.

2. Company Cachet.

You sound a little better when you come from Google as opposed to say Chilli Beans R Us. Not that Chilli Beans R Us isn’t a fine company and maybe it makes sense. The point is you get more credit when you’ve worked with well recognized successful companies. It’s a big draw.

3. Gaps.

You’re going to have to explain gaps in your resume. Their presence probably won’t take you out of consideration, but you’ll have to explain what happened and what you did during that time period.

4. Web presence.

Your recruiter will want to know what a Google search is going to reveal about you professionally and hopefully your resume points to all that good stuff.

5. Attention to Detail.

Things like bad grammar and spelling are gonna cost you if the recruiter knows she needs a detail-oriented candidate (that’s often a criterion).

6. Overall Experience.

This is obviously a huge factor. Your recruiter is going to want to count the rings in your professional tree. Employers get pretty specific about what they want here and what they’re willing to pay depends on it.

7. Keyword Rich.

Yes, some recruiters or recruiting tools aren’t human and work off an algorithm. You want to use terms that algorithm can find. For example if you’ve worked with Ruby on Rails, Mule, or some other software, make sure it appears on your resume.

You really need to take control of your resume and make it yours. Avoid all templates and systematic ways of thinking that don’t forward your advantages. The irony is that people will spend less time looking at your resume and therefore you have to spend a lot more time making it sing.

About NextGen

NextGen is the brainchild of longtime telecom professionals with nearly 50 years of experience and millions of dollars in Telecom Recruiting Services. We focus on establishing long term relationships with our clients and candidates so we can recruit the best and the brightest in the telecom industry. This ‘quality over quantity’ approach is at the heart of everything we do and has resulted in successful job placements at Fortune 1000 firms worldwide.