Recruiters spend an average of just six seconds scanning a CV before deciding if the candidate is worth calling in for an interview.

Recruiters are often inundated with job applications to popular listings, so it’s no surprise that they don’t spend a lot of time carefully reviewing each resume.

In the short time that they spend on your CV, recruiters look at your name, current title and company, current position start and end dates, previous title and company, previous position start and end dates, and education.

The two CVs below include a heat map of recruiters’ eye movements. The one on the right was examined more thoroughly than the one on the left because of its clear and concise format:

You only get six seconds to make the right impression, so you have to make them count.

Use a clean-looking layout that recruiters can easily scan and locate the information that matters most to them. Avoid dense blocks of text for the same reason, and save your bullet points to call attention to your most noteworthy and relevant accomplishments. List your experience in chronological order, starting with your current job.

Reblogged from: World Economic Forum Blog