What recruiters first look for on resumes and job applications
Recruiters share advice on how jobseekers can make a good first impression with their resume.
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“What are the first three things you look at on a resume or job application?”
Careers’ panel of expert recruiters answers a reader’s question each week. Have a question? Email careers_qs@news.com.au
Andrew Sullivan
Managing director,
Sullivan Consulting
Relevance is a key thing I look for in any resume or application. Does the candidate present skills and experience relevant to the role they’ve applied for? This could be in a similar role in the same industry or it might be transferable skills from another industry.
Qualifications are another important consideration. Does the candidate have relevant tertiary qualifications? While I generally advise candidates to include all their formal qualifications, it’s essential to highlight those that are most relevant to the role.
Career progression is another thing I look for in applications, as is volunteer work and community involvement.
Alexandra Rosser
Head of Organisational
Psychology Consulting,
Stillwell Management
Consultants
Firstly, I look at whether the application has been addressed to the nominated recipient and that all required details are present and correct.
Secondly, I look for clear effort on the part of the candidate to explain their understanding of the role and the business of the employer.
Thirdly, I assess how cogently and compellingly the candidate has addressed the specific selection criteria. Checking for grammatical errors, poor formatting and anything that suggests a “cut and paste” job are always in the forefront of my mind.
Lisa Morris
Director,
Hays
The first thing I look at is why this CV is sitting in front of me. What’s your career journey so far, why are you applying for this role now and why should our client take an interest? Often, your professional summary is the first thing any recruiter will read, so make sure yours is tailored to the job so it concisely answers these questions and makes it clear how well you fit the organisation’s needs.
Next, I want to know if you have suitable expertise and experience. So, if you haven’t done so already, place a short list beneath your professional summary as a snapshot of your main skills that are most pertinent to the job.
Then I look for evidence of your skills in the career history section of your CV. It’s important to connect your responsibilities and achievements with facts, statistics and links to your work. As best practice, if any past roles aren’t relevant to this opportunity, simply list the name of the company, your job title, and the dates you were employed. This shows you were employed during this time, while freeing up space for your more suitable experience, which you should quantify to prove your unique strengths to the reader.
Justin Hinora
Executive consultant,
Hender Consulting
Firstly, I look at the cover letter. Is it a generic cover letter or is it tailored for this role? Not to be confused with responding to selection criteria, is it rather outlining motivation for this particular job as opposed to seeking any job and highlighting any obvious alignment to recent or previous experience. It is breathtaking how many people sell themselves short in this regard.
Secondly, I look at qualifications to ensure the candidate meets any minimum qualifications, such as CPA or CA and/or how they may have been maintaining professional development in recent times.
Thirdly, I look at the scope, scale and complexity of most recent roles, to compare against the brief, including any necessary industry alignment or transferability.
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News Corp has partnered with HR technology company Shortlyster to develop the Australian National Talent Registry, an initiative to help get Australians back to work, as COVID-19 has left hundreds of thousands of people either jobless or with reduced working hours.
The registry aims to connect jobseekers, whose employment does not have to have been directly affected by the coronavirus pandemic to participate, with employers on cultural-fit and psychological level, not just qualifications and experience.
It is free for jobseekers to sign up:CLICK HERE
Originally published as What recruiters first look for on resumes and job applications