1. June 2012 Newsletter
Kelly Services (610) 265-3916
Jessica Curtis & Sara Sanders
Make a Splash With
Your Resume This Summer!
What Your Resume Is Up Against
Last week, the job search site TheLadders.com, released research showing that
recruiters only spend an average of 6.25 seconds looking at a candidate’s résumé
before deciding whether he or she is a fit for a job.
The study also shows that recruiters spend 80% of that six seconds looking at just six
things:
1. Name
2. Current title/company Hot Jobs!
3. Previous title/company
4. Previous position, start and end dates
5. Current position, start and end dates
6. Education
TheLadders used eye-tracking software to study the behavior of 30 recruiters over a Outside Sales Executive
10-week period, to see how they read résumés.
Center City Philadelphia
The study subjects spent the remaining 20% of their résumé-scanning time looking for
keywords that matched the open position. But while they read keywords, according to
the study, recruiters based their decisions on those six pieces of data. Inbound Call Center
As with many studies by outfits in the career business, TheLadders’ findings conclude King of Prussia, PA
that job seekers should buy one of its wares, professional résumé rewriting.
TheLadders charges $395 for the service. The study also claims that when asked to
rank résumés, recruiters gave professionally rewritten ones a 60% higher score than
amateur résumés. The recruiters surveyed said the professionally written samples were
Warehouse Production
40% better organized and readable than those written by applicants themselves. Planner
The study also compared Ladders résumés with LinkedIn profiles, and found that King of Prussia, PA
Ladders résumés were 55% easier for recruiters to read, because they don’t have
distracting commercials and photographs. According to TheLadders’ data, if a résumé
has a picture, recruiters spend 19% of their six seconds fixated on the photo, rather
than looking at candidates’ qualifications or experience. TheLadders also pronounced
Data Collection Specialist
LinkedIn bios full of “clutter that reduced recruiters’ ability to process the profile.” West Chester, PA
My take on the new research: It’s a useful reminder about how important it is for
résumés to be clearly laid out and crisply written. But I think it’s usually a mistake to
hand your résumé over to someone else to write, especially for the steep fee of $395.
Outbound Lead
While working on another résumé- writing story, I interviewed New York career coach Generation Specialist
Jim Borland, who advised never to let someone else write your résumé, because once
you get to the interview stage, it will be clear that the résumé language is not yours.
Pottstown, PA
As for layout, there are plenty of great samples online, and it’s easy enough to copy a
clean design from one of those. I do think career coaches can be helpful, but as
coaches and editors, not résumé writers.

2. I also disagree about LinkedIn. From my reporting, it’s clear that recruiters are The most challenging part of writing a good
using the site more, not less, and that means they are finding a way to scan résumé and LinkedIn profile is making them tell
the information quickly and efficiently. I’d say comparing a LinkedIn profile with an interesting story about yourself that the reader
a résumé is a red herring. Recruiters and hiring managers will look at both. It wants to take in. If you are looking for a job, a
would be a mistake to focus on your résumé and ignore your LinkedIn profile. recruiter is not your only audience. Most people
find jobs not through recruiters but through
When it comes to keywords, I’ve written before about searching for job listings people they know. When that happens, the
online, and then working keywords into your previous job descriptions or résumé reader is already predisposed to want to
mission statement. I do think it’s helpful to have a short but specific summary absorb the information, and will likely spend more
at the top of a résumé, which emphasizes accomplishments, with numbers if than 6.25 seconds reading.
possible (“In the second half of 2011, I exceeded monthly sales targets by an
average of 40%.”) . - May 30, 2012-
http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/03/26/wh
at-your-resume-is-up-against/
Kelly Services Fun Facts
 Call Center temporary employees work 10
million hours per year
 Kelly hires 12,400 new Call Center employees
every year
 22,300 Call Center temporary employees
worked last year
 Office temporary employees work 31.7 million
hours per year
 Kelly hires 28,100 new Office employees every
year
Please continue to check Kelly  61,000 Office temporary employees worked
Career Network for updates on all last year
of our current open positions.
Connect with us on Linked in
Sara Sanders:
Jessica Curtis: