How To Review A Resume (With Helpful Tips And Benefits)

Updated 7 February 2023

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Recruiters and hiring managers carefully review resumes, as it can help them in finding the best candidates for the job. Hiring managers are generally responsible for reviewing several applications in a day and distinguishing the most qualified candidates at a quicker pace. Learning effective strategies for reviewing resumes can make the hiring process easier for you. In this article, we discuss how to review a resume, see the benefits of resume evaluation, explore some tips on faster resume review and look at some characteristics of a good resume.

How to review a resume

Knowing how to review a resume can help you read through candidates' resumes accurately and swiftly. Many hiring managers and related professionals follow a set of processes to adequately finish the reviewing process. Here are some useful steps that can help you understand how to review a resume effectively:

1. Examine the presentation of the resume

Many hiring managers look at the presentation of a resume, as it may represent a candidate's organisational skills. A well-presented resume may include clean and clearly demonstrated blocks of details which may look visually appealing. Hiring professionals may also examine the readability and professionalism of a resume.

2. Look for spelling and grammar mistakes

Hiring managers generally do a quick read throughout the resume and perform spell checks. It can help them analyse the tone and motive of the resume along with identifying grammatical errors. By looking for spellings or grammar mistakes, hiring professionals can analyse the written communication and attention to detail skills of candidates.

3. Check educational qualifications

Checking the educational details of the candidates can help recruiters understand if the candidate is eligible for the job. For example, if the job role requires a B.Tech graduate candidate, recruiters can quickly check the education details of candidates to ensure they meet the eligibility criteria. This step can also help recruiters save time, as it can allow them to quickly determine whether to shortlist a candidate for the next round of the interview.

4. Review job history

This step typically requires hiring managers to review previous job experience in a candidate's resume. This includes reviewing a few elements, such as the time duration of the previous job, duties and responsibilities and contribution of the candidate to the company. They may determine if the candidate has performed any duties that may be relevant to the job for which they are applying. Hiring managers may also look for the gaps between the last and the current jobs.

5. Review any personal statements

Recruiters can look if there is any short and well structured personal statement in the resume. Candidates often add a set of personal statements, including their skills, achievements, motivation and future goals. This may help recruiters determine the personality of a candidate.

6. Check the layout of the resume

Look for the format and layout of the resume. Many recruiters consider the reverse-chronological format the easiest to read, understand and skim important information from the resume. A good layout usually includes the use of correct fonts, proper margins and appropriate use of bullet points.

Benefits of resume evaluation

Reviewing candidates' resumes is an important step during the hiring process, as it can help recruiters select suitable candidates for a job. A resume includes a set of skills and recruiters are usually responsible for choosing which resume has the best skill set that perfectly matches the job requirements. Reviewing resumes can provide a lot of help and make the hiring process easier for the recruiters. Here are some of the important benefits of reviewing resumes:

helps in sorting applicants based on the job they applied for
helps in checking if the standard of resumes matches with company standards
allows sorting resumes depending on current market trends
saves time and makes the interview process quick
helps in managing a large number of candidates at once

Essential things to look for while reviewing resumes

As a hiring manager, you may examine several resumes in a single day and filtering only the relevant information can help you save time. You can look for the following essential things in a resume:

Career progression

While reviewing resumes, look for the career progression of the candidates. Many candidates list their career progression in chronological order. As a hiring manager, you may see a candidate's current company first and the previous jobs in reverse order. Check the list of previous jobs with dates and duration and look for the achievements and responsibilities of candidates in that job role.

Important keywords

It is the hiring manager's job to look for important and relevant keywords in a candidate's resume while reviewing it. Important keywords include the words that are present in the job postings and the words related to the industry. Important keywords can help you understand what the candidate is looking for and how much interest they have in the company. You can look through the relevant keywords throughout the skills and experience section of a resume.

Education and previous work experience

Look for a candidate's educational qualifications and verify if they are eligible to proceed further. Check the highest level of degree of the candidate along with the year of graduation and the passing marks. If a candidate has previous work experience, look for the years of experience a candidate has and how their previous job responsibilities can contribute to the company's growth.

Online presence

Look for a candidate's online presence by checking if there are any relevant social media links in their resume. Having a look at their social media handles and analysing how they maintain their online presence, websites or blogs and online forums can help you learn more about them. This can be an additional help to gain clarity regarding the abilities of a candidate.

Tips for speeding up the resume review process

Focusing on essential things while reviewing resumes can help you make the review process a lot quicker and more efficient. Here are some tips and suggestions that can help you speed up the resume review process:

sort resumes into separate groups based on different job titles
check how the previous work experience of candidates can be useful for the job role and the organisation
look for important special skills and the extra skills that can help in the company's growth in some way
research the job postings thoroughly, select the most relevant words from them and identify those keywords in the resume

Characteristics of a good resume

Here are some of the important characteristics of an effective and good resume that can help you find the best candidates for a job:

Clear goals: Goals regarding the job may indicate a candidate's dedication towards it. See if there are any short and meaningful sentences regarding the career goals of candidates.
Achievements: A good resume generally includes awards and honours that candidates received in their previous jobs. It can show how dedicated they were to their previous jobs and how well they can take care of their responsibilities.
Relevant information: A well-written and strategically organised resume has more chances of getting noticed than resumes containing irrelevant information. Find the resumes with correct spellings and grammar along with the perfect layout.
Potential of candidates: A good resume may highlight what a candidate can offer to the company. Resumes that include these sections indicate the candidate knows well about the company and particularly about the job position.
Accurate information: Honesty can be very important for making the resume look relevant. A good resume may indicate accurate information without any exaggeration and misleading information.
Educational background, skills and experience: A good resume can accurately highlight everything necessary about the candidate, including their educational qualifications, skills and experiences. As a hiring manager, you can evaluate a resume based on these essential factors.
Contact details: An important aspect of a good resume is that it has accurate contact details of the candidate, in case a resume gets selected for further proceedings. Check for the contact details of candidates including their first and last names, phone number, email address and mailing address