As you all know, it just takes few seconds for a resume to go to the next level of interview or to get rejected. Nearly 75% of the applications are rejected during this initial screening, which means they were not able to convince the reviewer (may be they did not match the job requirements or their resume was not able to highlight the experience or the resume was not able to catch the attention of the reviewer).

A resume is your marketing document, it should always show ‘what you did and what the result was’. Then only you will be able to stand out of the crowd. Here are few tips that can help your resume pass the first few seconds of screening.

• The most read part in a resume is the Summary. It should always focus on your top selling points, career highlights and key strengths. In short it should convey to the reader ‘why you are the perfect candidate’.
• Many organizations are using software to review the applications. But do you know these systems do not recognize the content that is in a table, text box, graphics etc. So avoid using these on the resume.
• Apart from this, keep your resume format simple with all the sections like Summary, Work Experience, Education etc. highlighted. You can catch the readers attention immediately.
• Try and match your resume wrt to the position applying for, by adding keywords, technical skills and other experience that are there in the job posting.

Don’t exaggerate your resume, be honest, always. Keep yourself in the shoes of the employers, hold your resume and ask why should I hire you? And see this trick will work, you will be able to sell yourself for that particular opening.

Cheers!!