A recent study from The Ladders revealed what exactly recruiters are looking at during the six seconds they take to examine a resume. As you may have guessed, the highest percentage of their focus is aimed at skills and experience, so be sure to highlight those sections and ensure that they are both clear and easy to understand.

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

The Ladders

In short, be sure to create a clear visual hierarchy of skills and experience while avoiding the use of visual aids as “such visual elements reduced recruiters’ analytical capability and hampered decision-making” and kept them from “locating the most relevant information, like skills and experience.”

I’m on Twitter: @ZackHuhn @SINevents

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