What Do Employers Look For in a Resume?

What do employers look for in a resume? Good question. Recruiters spend about six seconds checking out your resume, so that little piece of paper needs to stop them in their tracks. We asked career experts what they consider the absolute must-haves for entry-level resumes—and what your resume is likely lacking if you're still not getting a callback.

You wouldn't show up to a job interview half-dressed or with a beach backdrop on Zoom—we hope not at least!—so why send out a resume that's missing the fundamentals? Before you hit "send" on your next batch of job applications, make sure you've got these resume essentials nailed down.

1. A Career Summary

Hiring managers are busy. A resume career summary makes their lives easier. Summarize in two to three sentences why you're the ideal candidate—and use language from the job posting to show that you've tailored your resume (even if you only change a few words). Since some employers don't require a cover letter, your resume—and the summary in particular—must be able to stand on its own.

2. Metrics

A surefire answer to the question "What do employers look for in a resume?" Data, proof, success stories. However you put it, hiring managers love seeing quantifiable achievements. Use hard numbers to highlight your accomplishments; for example, if you were the treasurer of your fraternity or sorority, state that you managed $20,000 in funds for a 50-person organization. Do the same for internship experience (e.g., "facilitated the introduction of 12 new products that generated $100,000 in sales").

3. Volunteer Experience

Volunteer experience says something positive about you as a person and shows you're interested in something other than a paycheck. Consider staying away from religious or political volunteer work, since it may not align with the hiring manager's views. You can mention the work you did—"worked at a health care clinic in Haiti"—without mentioning it was affiliated with a particular religious organization.

4. A Splash of Color

Use color to make your resume unique, but exercise restraint. A black-and-white with one or two accent colors is tasteful. You might even take a cue from your prospective employer's brand and use the company's colors in your resume.

5. A Modern Font

Want to grab a hiring manager's attention? Forget about using a boring font. Recommended fonts include Calibri, Cambria, Bookman, Palatino, Takoma, or Verdana—all of which are standard typefaces (meaning they'll translate well between operating systems).

6. Hyperlinks

Your email address, LinkedIn profile, and personal website or online portfolio should be one click away. Also, consider including links to your social media accounts if they're relevant.

7. New Grads: College Coursework

If you're fresh out of school, it's OK to include college courses on your resume, but they need to be relevant—meaning the subject directly relates to the job opening. But rather than simply listing the course title (Economics 101), talk about the skills or knowledge that you gained from a particular assignment (e.g., "wrote a 20-page paper on how mobile technology is changing the stock market").

8. New Grads: GPA

If you graduated with a strong GPA (think 3.7 or above), you might want to include it in your resume—at least when you're applying for your first job. But you want to base your decision on the job description; in other words, if the job posting says that you need a minimum GPA, include it.

If there's no requirement, you could state in your resume that you graduated with honors, especially if you graduated summa cum laude or Phi Beta Kappa.

9. White Space

When you're a recent college graduate—or have limited work experience—your resume should be no longer than one page. During Monster's Grads to Candidates virtual career panel, Meredith Saeger, chief of staff for Jebbit, said, "If your resume is more than one page, chances are you're wrong, especially at this point in your career." And while it might be tempting to squeeze in every little detail about your internship experience, a resume that's jam-packed with text is visually intimidating. Therefore, leave some white space on the page. "Definitely don't fluff your resume," says Saeger. "We don't want to have to read through anything more than we do."

10. Life Experiences

To clarify: We're not talking about your hobbies or interests—we're talking about personal experiences that make you more valuable (or interesting) to prospective employers. If you studied abroad in a country where you didn't speak the native language but learned how to adapt, that shows you're a problem solver—a plus in every hiring manager's book.

Do This Before Showing Off Your Resume

Now that you can answer, "What do employers look for in a resume?" it's time to make sure yours can pass a recruiter's test. Could you use some assistance? Monster has you covered. We'll review your resume for free. It's simple. Send us your resume, and we'll look for any weak spots or missing parts so that you can feel confident in your application. Get started today.