Ask Vicki: What's the best way to get my resume noticed?

Vicki Salemi

Each week, Monster’s career expert Vicki Salemi—a former recruiter who utilizes 15-plus years of experience in recruiting and human resources to empower job seekers—answers user questions on Quora. We’ll be republishing the answers here. If you have a question for Vicki, send it to socialmedia@monster.com.

Q. What's the best way to get my resume noticed?

A. Hiring managers only take a few seconds to check out your resume. When I was a recruiter, I literally only needed three seconds to assess a resume. So the best way to get hiring managers to look at your resume involves leveraging keywords.

Keywords help you speak the hiring manager’s language. For example, if you’re pursuing a job in human resources, but the job description refers to the role as “human capital management,” tweak your resume so that includes the keywords “human capital management.”

Other things I was looking for on a candidate’s resume included direct experience and skills that reflected the job description; and clearly indicated education degrees. When I recruited Ph.D. candidates in economics, if anyone didn’t have that specific credential, they were immediately dismissed.

Here are some other ways to get your resume noticed. In your summary at the top of your resume, highlight any unique skills you have, such as your ability to speak a second language. If you work for a competitor or used to work for a competitor, be sure to highlight that.

Before you apply to jobs, take a few moments to review the job descriptions thoroughly. When you list your skills and experiences, make sure they appear in the same order as they do in the job description—the order tends to indicate their level of importance from the top to the bottom. The few minutes you spend fixing your resume will be well worth your time.

Read Vicki Salemi's answer to "What's the best way to get my resume noticed?" on Quora.