An employer/recruiter can receive hundreds of applications for any given position. This is why, unfortunately, your resume may only get a glance if it fails to capture their attention. It can’t be seen as unfair – it really is just the employer trying to get through the recruitment process as efficiently as possible.

The way you structure the sentences in your resume can have a huge impact on the impression you make. Rather than making empty claims in relation to responsibilities and skills (for example, ‘Great Customer Service Skills’), it’s important to provide succinct evidence and context. For example, you could say, ‘Whilst working as Assistant Manager at Foot Locker, I ensured my team upheld a high level of customer service which resulted in a 22% sales increase from the previous year.’

The only problem with this, is how uncaptivating the beginning of the sentence is – the first word you see is ‘whilst.’

Imagine you’re scanning hundreds resumes, look down the left hand side – are you gaining any information from the sentences below?

If you restructure your sentences to have strong tasks or result orientated verbs at the beginning and even bold key sections, you’re much more likely to draw in the recruiter. See how much more impressive the below resume looks, despite delivering essentially the same information?

Take a bit of time to restructure your sentences, it could make a huge difference to the amount of call backs you get. Good luck!