If you are coming from ‘I’ve applied to countless jobs but didn’t receive any response’ background, you have come to the right place. As a company which is into recruitment, we deal with thousands of resumes coming to our system every minute. Here are some of the resume secrets which will definitely help you land your resume with a recruiter.

Fun fact: Bots are real. Once you send your resume, ATS (Applicant Tracking System) scans through a resume, filter it using keywords and benchmarks set by a client. It also eliminates up to 75% applications, so don’t expect that a real recruiter would be looking at your resume, at least in most of the cases.

Let’s keep it short and subtle.
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SECRET 1: Customize your resume for every job you apply

Make sure your resume is editable quickly. You can use any app — Microsoft Word (for PC) or Pages (for Mac) should be good enough. Follow the steps listed below:

• Go to the job description
• Scan the job description like an eagle
• There are two types of resume keywords; Primary & Secondary. Primary keywords are the words listed in the job title, description lines & repeated words through the job description. The Secondary keywords are ones which mention any competitor names, experience level, industry qualifications & tools/service/software.
• Make sure you including matching keywords in your resume. This will make your resume rank higher by ATS and will give your resume a higher chance to land on a recruiter’s desk.

SECRET 2: Take the impact-oriented way

Yes, you might have volunteered in a college fest or might have been a part of the core team at a hackathon. However, that doesn’t add a real value unless you mention the impact you made. For each bullet point, justify its impact. Also if possible, ditch the career objective from your resume as it is superfluous on a resume.

A quick example, instead of writing ‘Lead the national hackathon’, you can write — ‘Collaborated with teammates, directed 10 sub-teams and helped manage a crowd of 500+ participants’
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SECRET 3: Make your resume CLEAN and check for ATS Compliance

All the designs on Dribbble or Google Images look so cool and fancy to look at, but they hardly help you land a job. Here are some quick things to clean up your resume:

• Don’t use buzzwords like ‘Hardworking’, ‘Out of the box thinking’, ‘Problem-solving skills’
• Use fonts from one font family. If you are using Roboto, you can switch between Roboto Regular or Regular bold as per the things you want to highlight, but it’s strictly not recommended to use more than 2 font families in your resume
• Scan for any grammatical errors you might find
• Don’t use tables, columns, excessive colours or images
• Don’t include too much of text in your resume. Highlight specific things you want the recruiter to pay attention to, that will make the resume easy to scan through and also gives the recruiter a positive thought about your resume.
• Convert your resume in a PDF format before sending. This ensures non-editable access and also further optimizes the file size.
• Finally, check your resume for ATS Compliance here.

SECRET 4: Use platforms and job boards

Most applicants use either LinkedIn or specific job boards. However, we recommend you use a platform which suits your role. Use LinkedIn, Angellist, Indeed, Glassdoor etc and enlist your latest skills.

PRO TIP: Include which role you are interested in on your social media bio. You can also scan social media for relevant jobs using hashtags. A lot of cool startups use ‘#hiring now’ posts on social media. Don’t forget to mention if you can work remotely as well since a lot of companies have transitioned to remote working style.

SECRET 5: Leverage cover letters & follow up

Leverage the power of cover letters. Don’t use templates as it is, as bots can reject your cover letter it finds too many similarities among multiple resumes. Be true to yourself, write what you are and not what you want others to perceive you as. A fresh, creative and dead-honest cover letters always stand out.

Follow up after 48–72 hours if you don’t hear back from the recruiter. This will help your resume get special attention if for some reason you haven’t heard back.

A good resume is a combination of patience, hierarchy and smart work. Since we live in a digital age, it has become easy to copy-paste from the best sources available on the internet. However, we forget that even the tools used for recruiting have got smarter. Your resume has a good chance to be selected if your skills stand out and fit all the secrets listed above.

Good luck!

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