Maybe one-day money will grow on trees, but until then we are all pretty much stuck looking for job opportunities. In a competitive job market, landing a job is never easy especially when recruiters run through stacks of resumes at blazing speeds. Due to employer time restraints, hiring managers are forced to make snap decisions at first glance on whether a CV will be put in the “yes” or “no” pile. Even if your resume makes the first cut, it will still have to pass a second, third, and quite possibly the fourth round of cuts before you get called in for an interview.

Having a sound resume approved by an in-house recruiter is tough but when a Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) provider is involved a CV has to be flawless because the methods they use to pick out candidates are statistically proven to be very accurate. 

What Employers Are Looking for In Your Resume

Multiple studies show that hiring managers do not spend more than 10 seconds on average when looking over a resume at first glance. So, if your CV is riddled with typos and grammatical errors there is a zero chance it will make the cut.

Although this sounds like a given, you would be surprised how many people still make these mistakes. A CareerBuilder study found that 58% of resumes contained spelling and grammatical mistakes. So just by submitting an error-free resume, you will already have a leg up on half the competition right off the bat.

These days where we have AI technology to thoroughly check over our written work, like Grammarly and Ginger, there is no excuse to have any grammatical mistakes. Still, technology is not perfect, so it never hurts to have a second set of human eyes look it over.

With the timer set at ten seconds, a resume must also be easy to read. If the recruiter cannot make it halfway through it because the font is mismatched and the important sections are not highlighted, then you might as well put your CV in the “no” pile yourself.

What Employers Are Looking for Beyond Your Resume 

Ever wonder why in every interview you get asked what is your weakest flaw? That is because hiring managers know all too well that a jobseeker is only putting on their CV details that emphasize the high points in their careers.

Recruiters are trained to look for hidden red flags that often get overlooked, such as unexplained gaps in work history and frequent job changes. Make sure to catch these obscure warning signs before the eagle-eyed hiring manager does.

How to Survive the Rounds of Cuts

Lots of people looking for jobs feel the need to cram in as much information on their resumes as they can. With job applications flooding the office every day, HR departments simply do not have time to read through lengthy resumes. Nifty tricks such as decreasing the font size and reducing page margins can only take you so far. We cannot emphasize enough how important it is to keep a CV concise and to the point. All those other amazing details you were forced to cut out are better suited to be mentioned in the interview.

LinkedIn recruiting tactics 

With over 133 million users in the U.S. alone, it is no secret that LinkedIn is widely considered to be the benchmark for professional networking social media platforms in the world. According to a Jobvite Recruiter Nation Survey, 87% of hiring managers spanning over 200 countries use LinkedIn for their recruitment efforts. It is almost standard practice to look up a candidate on LinkedIn after an application has been submitted. Do not be a part of the staggering number of job seekers who are not taking advantage of the free professional tools LinkedIn has to offer. 

When an RPO provider is running the show, recruitment efforts extend much farther than just people looking for jobs. These expert recruitment providers are looking to convince the ever-elusive passive candidate that the grass is greener on the other side. 

Even if you are not looking for a job now but are still open to better opportunities, then an effective way to get noticed by an RPO is by setting up a LinkedIn profile. Take note that you must take great care in keeping your profile active because LinkedIn is a professional social media site that thrives on interaction. Shoot for updating your status at least once a day, no matter how insignificant it may seem, and also take a few moments throughout the week to build connections with other like-minded professionals

In a competitive job market surviving the cuts and making it on to the shortlist is not an easy task. To land yourself on the “yes” pile, your resume must not only fill standard employer requirements but also meet expectations as well.