SkyWater Blog

Here’s What We’re Really Looking for On Your Resume...

Recruiters and hiring managers go through hundreds of resumes every week. Sometimes, we might sift through more than a hundred resumes for a single position. Even for the strongest candidates, it’s not always easy to break through the clutter. But there are certain tactics you can use to make your qualifications stand out. I recently asked Ben Lehmann, Director of Sales and HR recruiting at SkyWater Search Partners, what leaps off the page for him when he’s reviewing resumes. Here are his top 7 tips.

Trying to be all things to all employers just doesn't work any more, if it ever did. The candidate whose resume says "Project Manager" AND "Engineer" must decide which she is. Otherwise, she comes across to potential employers as confused, unfocused and possibly desperate.

Is your resume up-to-date? You may think it is if you’ve been diligently adding every new role and accomplishment as you’ve been racking them up over the year.

According to recent research, around 60% of hiring managers have caught applicants lying on their resumes. During the recession, numbers rose as competition became for jobs became so fierce yet it still continues today. The impact of hiring a candidate who has deliberately misled the hiring manager on their resume can be destructive.

As a candidate, you’ve probably gotten plenty of advice on how to get your resume past the ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems, those AI-powered screeners most employers and recruiters use these days).

That’s all very useful. But how will your resume fare in the next round? How do you survive the human scan?