CV & LinkedIn ™: only 6 seconds to convince!

How much time does a recruiter spend on your CV?

The majority of applicants for a new position believe that a recruiter spends several minutes analyzing their CV.

The reality is quite different, the abundance of candidates and the lack of time mean that a recruiter spends around 6 seconds on your CV to make the crucial first decision : yes I keep it or, no, I do not keep it.

It then becomes essential to facilitate the recruiter’s reading by structuring its content. . Most surprisingly, the Canadian company Workopolis reveals that 60% of employers spend no more than 11 seconds analyzing the CV before making the decision to keep it on the short-list.

What the analysis of recruiters’ gazes reveals

The Labbers analyzed the behavior of recruiters’ eyes (“eye tracking” in English) when faced with digital and paper CVs.

The analysis reveals that recruiters tend to look at the same information on the CV online or in print, as if they were following a visual frame.

In addition, they indicate that professional CV frames , which are by definition more structured, easily guide the recruiter , which quickly reinforces its decision-making . Furthermore, the Synthetic CVs and, with less content, were considered clearer by recruiters .

What does a recruiter look like on a paper CV or online?

Still according to the study by The Ladders, based on the study of monitoring recruiters’ views, 80% of analysis time is focused on these six elements:

1. The name of the candidate
2. The position and the current company
3. The previous position and the name of the employer
4. The entry and end dates of the current job
5. The start and end dates of the previous contract
6. The diplomas

Beyond these 6 key points, HR then scanned the CV but only in order to find the key words contained in the job description in order to know if the candidate was suitable for the open position.

All of this was generally accomplished in under 6 seconds, much to the surprise of even recruiters who thought they would spend more time. Staggering!

Note that this study was carried out in the United States where the CVs do not include a photo. In France, the photo is one of the points on which the recruiter spends part of the time. This is confirmed by tracking, since during the analysis of LinkedIn ™ profiles, recruiters focused on the profile picture for 19% of their time.

CV: how to survive the 6 seconds and arouse the interest of the recruiter?

If we had to remember two things from this study to survive the famous 6 seconds of analysis it would be:

• Opt for an organized CV presentation with visually hierarchical content;
• Focus on images and LinkedIn icons and emojis ™ where you want recruiters’ attention.

Of course, every recruiter is different, but this study reveals precise information on the tendency of recruiters in the selection of CVs and jobs. LinkedIn profiles .
Although in this article I am focused on the CV, the analysis was also done on the online CV confirming the stated results. Thereby, these recommendations should also be applied to your LinkedIn profile.

Finally, writing an effective, structured and visual CV is time consuming. If you want to save time I recommend this CV, proven and designed after analyzing recruiter feedback. For the price of a mojito, you will give a real BOOST to your application, but reassure you to be inspired by it is completely free.