On 10-Second Cover Letters and 5-Second Resumes

THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE SOLELY THOSE OF THE AUTHOR

I don't mind when people disagree with me (politely). Debate can bear valuable fruit. That said, as the above screen shot from my LinkedIn feed shows, when I have written in the past that a cover letter that takes more than 10 seconds to read won't be read, or that a resume has to be focused on, and begin with, a section highlighting accomplishments because it will, at first be skimmed, not read, I'm correct.

First, do the math. If it takes one minute to read a cover letter, that means, using the above example, 635 minutes or over 10 and a half hours of reading. Does anyone actually believe that recipients of job applications are going to spend 10 hours reading cover letters?

Second, recipients of job applications, if they know what they are doing, will need no more than five seconds to skim a resume to see if the applicant is qualified for the position. The only way to stop the five-second skimming is to grab their attention. The best way to do so is to begin with a "Selected Accomplishments" section in which, using half a dozen bullet points, the applicant clearly and succinctly lets the reader know what value they have brought to other employers. That is the only way they, the recipient, can be certain (if there is such a thing as "certainty" in hiring) of the value the applicant can bring to them.

And, finally, the point of the person posting about the 625 applications was that a job seeker has to be quick to apply for a job and not to get their hopes up if they are responding to a job post that's been on the "board" for even a few days, not to mention weeks. It might only take the "poster" an hour to get more than enough qualified candidates.

Next week I'll continue this resume theme with the first of a two-part series about the dark side of the resume writing industry.

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