"What Recruiters Look for When Screening Resumes"

I’ve screened thousands of resumes over 15 years. Here’s what actually happens when your application lands in a recruiter’s inbox.

The 6-Second Scan

You’ve heard this before – recruiters spend about 6 seconds on initial review. It’s true.

In those 6 seconds, we’re looking for:

• Job title alignment
• Company names we recognise
• Location (can you actually do this job?)
• Career progression logic
• Obvious red flags

If nothing catches our eye, you’re in the “no” pile before we’ve read a word.

What Catches Attention (Good)

Things that make me stop and read properly:

• Clear professional summary at the top
• Job titles that match what I’m looking for
• Recognisable company names
• Quantified achievements (“grew revenue 40%”)
• Keywords from the job ad
• Clean, scannable formatting

What Catches Attention (Bad)

Things that raise concerns:

• Unexplained gaps (we always notice)
• Job hopping without progression
• Typos in the first few lines
• Weird formatting that’s hard to read
• Objective statements (“seeking a challenging role…”)
• Pages of dense text with no breaks

We Check LinkedIn

If your resume passes initial screening, we look you up. We’re checking:

• Does it match your resume?
• What’s your online presence like?
• Who do we know in common?
• Any red flags in activity?

Make sure your LinkedIn matches your resume. Inconsistencies look like lies.

We Can Tell When You’ve Lied

Exaggerated titles, inflated responsibilities, fake dates – we’ve seen it all. And we check.

Reference checks, LinkedIn, background screening. Eventually the truth comes out. Don’t risk it.

ATS Filtering

Before a human sees your resume, software might filter it. These systems scan for keywords from the job ad.

This is why generic resumes fail. You need to tailor your resume to include relevant keywords from each job ad.

What We Wish Candidates Knew

• We want to find good candidates. We’re not trying to reject you.
• We receive hundreds of applications for one role.
• We spend more time on candidates who make it easy for us.
• Following up once is fine. Following up daily is not.
• We do read cover letters (when we ask for them).

Make Our Job Easy

The resumes that succeed are the ones that make our job easy:

• Clear relevance to the role
• Easy to scan
• Achievements highlighted
• No red flags to investigate
• Professional presentation

Want to know if your resume passes the recruiter test? Book a session and I’ll review it with you.