Reviewing resumes is an art form. It takes talent to review hundreds of resumes and do it efficiently. Your time is precious and you can’t afford to spend so much time looking over resumes. Do you think you have room for improvement? Well, here’s how to master the art of reviewing resumes…

Before you even start, create a job description that you can use as a baseline for the qualifications you are looking for in a candidate. By spending time writing a detailed job description, you will save time in the initial screening process. Create a checklist of skills, experience, and education required to do the job. Using this check list, you can easily separate the resumes into groups of yes, no, and maybe.

Look for immediate red flags in the resume such as:

Grammar mistakes
Everybody makes mistakes. However, simple grammatical mistakes can show that a candidate didn’t invest enough time in preparing their resume before applying for your open position. It doesn’t have to be a deal breaker, but it is a red flag.

Gaps in employment
Gaps in employment aren’t a good sign but they aren’t always as bad as they look. They should, however, be looked in to and explained by the candidate.

Hard facts versus fluff
Some candidates will include “fluff” in their resumes. Statements such as “increased revenue by 25%” or “managed a budget of $20M” are facts. Statements about working great in a team or leadership skills without numbers to back it up is fluff.

Excessive job hopping
Job hopping itself isn’t so bad. Excessive job hopping should be a red flag as it can show a lack of commitment. As always, there could be a perfectly good explanation of why a candidate is job hopping, but it is something to keep your eye on.

A stellar resume will be able to tell you a story about the candidate’s career up until now. The ability to show that story in a clear, concise way can tell you a lot about the candidate. Some resumes turn into a laundry list of achievements and various duties in previous jobs. A resume that tells the story shows that the candidate knows how to present herself.

A resume that has a tailored message specifically for your job opening shows the candidate’s true preparation in applying for your position. Serious candidates customize their resumes when applying for different positions. If the candidate has included keywords, specific qualifications and certifications, or other notable parts that you included in the job ad, they mean business.

You need to be rigorous in qualifying the candidates based on requisites and expectations you have already set. That does not mean that you need to be rigid when reviewing candidates. For example, say you have established that you want a candidate from a certain industry. You review the resume of a candidate that has great experience and has all the skills you want, but they do not have the specific industry experience that you are looking for. Do you discard that candidate because of it? If you are too rigid, you could lose out on candidates that have great potential and could really make a difference at your team.

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