If recruiters are passing you up, you could be making a bad first impression. Find out the rookie mistakes candidates are making and the actionable items to course correct this bad behavior. 

Be it an agency, internal, in-house or RPO -- like the majority of us, recruiters are all extremely busy. Typically responsible for managing a large number of requisitions, or jobs to fill, recruiters have a lot juggle. Part of that recruiting process involved reviewing countless resumes. In fact, 80 percent of recruiters focus on six key elements of your resume; including your name, the current company you work for, your previous employment, the start and end dates of your previous position, the start and end dates of your current position and your educational background. Your resume needs to command the right kind of attention.

How to Make Your Resume Stand Out from the Crowd 

Tailor Your Resume

Don’t just spam recruiters because you think you ‘could do’ the job or ‘have done something similar in the past’. Instead, tailor your resume for each application that you make, clearly demonstrating that you have the skills and experience required to do the job. It may take you a little bit more time when applying but this will pay dividends in the long run securing you the initial telephone call with the recruiter and eventually the ideal role for you.

Scream and Shout 

In your resume, that is. Recruiters receive numerous applications for roles and review hundreds of resumes per day. You need to be ‘the one’ in a number of applications that really stands out and at a glance demonstrating the skills required in order to fill the role or at least gets them on the phone to you to find out more.


Know Your ABC's 

Your resume should be the hook to get recruiters interested and to prompt a conversation with you. From there it is up to you to sell yourself and build trust with the recruiter in order for them to represent you to their Hiring Managers and clients alike. In other words, always be closing.

It is very rare that the Hiring Manager (decision maker) receives a resume directly and can courteously respond to each candidate. This is where recruiters add significant value to any hiring process.

As a recruiter, we only represent our best three to five candidates for each requisition, or job order. By keeping the number of applicants low, the Hiring Manager is able to appraise and give feedback. In an ideal world we would like to give feedback to everyone that applies to any of our requisitions, unfortunately this is not possible.  

What I am really getting at is to consider what roles you apply for, make sure that your skills and experience are demonstrated on your resume, and that you match the job you are applying for. If that is the case then you will be spoken to by a recruiter!

Recruiters are all that stands between you and your dream job. A really good recruiter will be on your side and sell you into an organization representing you in the best possible light!

This blog was submitted by a guest writer. To submit a blog to the Seamleass Workforce, click here.