How to Write for the Hiring Manager

Writing for the hiring manager is key when it comes to making your resume stand out from all the rest. We tell you how, because we are the hiring managers.

The hiring manager is in his office. It’s 7 PM. It’s been a long day. He’s tired. He’s read 25 resumes in the last 10 minutes. He has 25 more resumes to scan before he goes home. If he spots a good one he might give the candidate a call before leaving the office.

Wouldn’t you like to get that call?

Typically hiring managers scan through hundreds of resumes to find one or two candidates worth interviewing. Then they might have to interview 10 or 20 people before finding someone they want to hire. This means that for a typical position the hiring manager may have to look at 500 resumes or more.

Your resume must fit what the hiring manager is looking for

He is tired of being sent resumes where the job title does not even match the position he is trying to fill. He is tired of slogging through poorly formatted and poorly written resumes to figure out if the candidate is capable of doing the job. He is looking for the resume where the candidate is a perfect fit.

Keep this in mind as you write your resume

If your resume does not grab his attention in the first half-page, it ends up in the garbage bin. If your resume gets his attention, he may read the rest of it and then decide to contact you.

The key is the first half-page, which we call “above the fold.”

The section above the fold is the most important part of your resume so spend 80% of your time and effort there.

But before we take an in-depth look at the different parts of your resume, let’s take a look at the best format for your resume.