Revealing the Exclusive Resume Writing Strategies of a Leading Headhunter

As a result of my excellent prospect referrals, I was given the rare opportunity to join the select group of external recruiters who were given this access. Despite my stellar reputation and extensive background, Seeing a greater than usual number of candidates rejected during the resume screening phase. Although the client was pleased, I was not, so I set out to better myself. My own personal strategy for producing resumes was the key. The CV had to be entirely truthful and accurate to meet my standards. It's not something I ever do on purpose, but neither should you either. What a certain way to fail!

I have been an executive recruiter for almost 40 years, and I also train and accredit other recruiters in the Adler interviewing style. Because of this, I may approach a wide variety of internal corporate recruiting departments. Some of those connections helped me get started in developing my resume writing process, coupled with my extensive work history. To learn more about the expectations of top employers about resumes, I decided to run a poll.

Concurrently, I began to implement ideas of targeted marketing from direct, consumer-based marketing. Glass Door Resume meant I needed to look at the work of top advertising writers to see if there was anything I could steal for use in crafting a CV that would have a better chance of being accepted. Your CV is essentially a sales brochure for yourself.

My Proposed System for Creating a Resume

As I put all of this information together, I realised I needed a new approach to teaching my prospects how to craft their own resumes to maximise their chances of being invited for an interview.

I want to stress that I did not want to create my applicants' resumes for them, but rather to help them improve their existing resumes by teaching them how I did it. My job was to give my final stamp of approval (or disapproval) and make suggestions when the CV was revised. As a rule, I would not continue with a candidate if they were hesitant to revise their CV.

The "secret sauce" to success was learning to think like the HR professionals and hiring managers who were evaluating my applicants. When they first scan the resume, what are they thinking?

As a result of the preceding step's work, I have a 15-point resume plan that has served me well over the years. As it would be impossible to provide every little detail in this introduction, I will instead present a brief synopsis of the three most important things I accomplished.

Second, a two-page resume structure that is straightforward, well-organized, and has lots of white space is my go-to. Every once in a while I'll employ a three-page layout, but only if they meet a number of conditions. I also did some marketing research and found that using three pages had no negative effect on my acceptance rate provided I was careful. Interestingly, I discovered that the rejection percentage skyrocketed after the third page. Keep your resume to no more than three pages at most, and preferably no more than two.

As for the third, I altered the heading that now displays on all of my resumes when searching for potential prospects. After the standard header information, I provide a Synopsis section that highlights my relevant experience and skills in my Power Accomplishment style. Of course, there's more to it than that, but it's probably the most significant adjustment I made. It's like giving an elevator pitch in writing.

Writing a better CV is a skill that can be learned, and most people can get by just fine without hiring a professional. Several of the resumes I edited were originally prepared by these service providers. Even if they have strong writing skills, nothing beats the insight of a seasoned professional recruiter who can gain direct feedback from the client throughout the resume screening process. While I always advise people to learn how to create their own resumes, if they absolutely must hire a professional resume writer, they should at least put in the effort to learn what makes a resume outstanding so they can give the writer all they need to succeed.