Your resume is a marketing and branding document first and foremost. Never let anyone tell you different. As such, it’s effectiveness and truthfulness is more important than its author. Many job seekers ponder whether or not it is frowned upon to have a professional to prepare their resume. Some feel the organization and phrasing of the document somehow misrepresent them because they did not construct it. The fact is, this could not be farther from the truth. One should think of it as knowing what one wants to say, but having a resume writer simply figure out the best way to say it. And this is exactly what the recruiter needs from your resume.
As we know, the point of the exercise is to secure the interview. When a recruiter receives your resume, your first thought is “Can this resume convince an employer that this is a competitive prospect for the position?” Recruiters are compensated by the company that hires you. As such, the quality of your resume directly affects their income, and they are not going to waste valuable time attempting to market a poorly organized and poorly written resume. When recruiters don’t call you back, it is usually because they feel they have a better chance of getting other job seekers to the interview table. Time is money for a recruiter, and an ineffective resume wastes that valuable time.
According to a study done by BeHiring, recruiters spend 5 to 7 seconds reviewing a resume before deciding whether or not it is worth their time. In such a scenario, it is important to ensure the most critical information is accessible immediately. While you may feel that your homespun resume may be more “real” and “authentic”, if it doesn’t communicate the high priority items immediately, that authenticity is worthless. So when that recruiter is combing through resumes on Monster to find that perfect candidate, just remember that 427,000 resumes are posted on Monster.com each week. This is your competition. Your resume doesn’t have much time to deliver its payload, so you will want help from someone who understands how to get that payload to its target.
Recruiters represent about 5% of the profiles that appear on LinkedIn, so they are an important cog in the hiring machine. But just remember, that cog is overworked and its time is valuable. Respect it and your relationship with recruiters has a better chance of paying off for you.
