What employers look for in your Resume?

What employers look for in your Resume?

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) conducted a survey on Cover Letters (CV ) and Resumes. The survey was based on the responses of randomly selected members of the Employment ManagementAssociation (EMA); 582 human resource professionals responded.

Here's what can help you make a mark with your resume:

Two-third of the employers prefer chorological resumes where the applicant has arranged his work history and educational qualification in reverse order. Four in 10 like them to be mentioned in bullets.

Thirty-eight per cent employers look for the candidates' most relevant work history, another 38 per cent like going through eight to ten years back. Only nine per cent ask for an elaborate work history of 11 to 15 years.

Almost every employer wants a custom made resume and a cover later that fits the job or the industry. Nearly seven out of ten take personalised cover letters positively.

A well-written cover letter will detail on how the candidate is acceptable at the position and can suffice the job requirements as well as will tell why he has chosen to be a part of the organisation. When asked to rate in general terms, the overall quality of the cover letters they receive today, nearly half of the survey respondents rate the quality as good, while the same percentage of respondents rate the quality as fair.

Seventy-six per cent say that typos or grammatical errors found in cover letters would cause them to remove the applicant from the pool of possible candidates. Sixty-one per cent say the same thing about cover letters addressed to the wrong company.

While attending an interview, almost every employer wants the candidate to explain the reason for being laid off or fired from the previous organization.

Sixty-eight per cent of the hirers prefer to get resumes through websites over email, postal mail, notice board or applicant tracking system

Eighty-three per cent of HR professionals report that the average length of time they or a member of their staff spend reading a cover letter sent by a job applicant is one minute or less and much of them spent less than five minutes per resume to decide whether an applicant can proceed further.

In the world of cut-throat competition, a resume certainly is the top impression maker. The best resumes create lasting impression and coupled with the correct attitude at the interview, crack your dream job!