Ensure your CV impresses in the first six seconds

You spend a long time keeping your resume up to date, and then more time tailoring it for a specific job application. But did you know that whether your resume gets past an initial selection depends on it delivering key information to the reader within six seconds? 


This new evidence of the importance of a resume's first impressions comes from a recent American report that used eye tracking technology to examine how recruiters make decisions. The recruiters in this research are professionals, and hiring managers probably spend less time, and give up more easily, if the CV they are reading does not deliver evidence of a match to the job requirements in an even shorter time than six seconds.


What is the reader looking for in your resume in the critical first six seconds? The main information the recruiter wants to read is:
  1. Name
  2. Current position title, organisation and dates of appointment
  3. Previous positions, organisations and dates of appointment
  4. Education or qualifications
If the reader proceeds to explore your resume further, they are mainly skimming for keywords that suggest fit with the position you are being considered for.


During the vital six seconds, readers are distracted by:
  1. photos
  2. clutter
  3. lack of clear layout or hierarchy


The lessons here are:
  1. reduce the cognitive load on your reader, 
  2. deliver the key facts in a clear and easily assimilable way, and
  3. speak the language of your target audience - use the same keywords in your resume, plus
  4. take out unnecessary information that could waylay your reader


The report I cite here is promoting a professional resume re-writing service but that is not only unnecessary but can prove counter productive anyway. I will explain why not to use a resume re-writing service in my next post.