Most people involved in hiring have read hundreds, maybe even thousands, of resumes.  But is there any method to the madness?  If you want to give every candidate a fair shot while getting through the pile quickly, there should be.  To start, you should have your job analysis and job description in front of you when looking at a resume that pertains to the open position in question.  At the very least, you’ll need to use these materials to ascertain whether the applicant has the requisite education, experience, and hard skills to warrant further consideration.  When assessing education, remember that credentials may be exaggerated or even fabricated. 

Now, you’ll want to look for a pattern of achievement and results.  After all, you want to know if a candidate has a history of making tangible contributions to his employer.  Along with results, you’ll want to determine if the candidate’s career trajectory makes sense.  Does she move up the ladder in a predictable manner, commensurate with her achievements?  Learning starting and leaving dates, titles, and salaries is obviously useful as well.  A pattern of short-term employment or repeated lateral moves may signal trouble. Candidates will probably try to spin – or leave off altogether – unflattering information.  Your job is to read between the lines.

Last but not least, you should look carefully at the format and presentation of the document.  While the one-page rule has generally now fallen out of favor, resumes of any length should still be neat, well-written, and free of any typos or spelling errors.  Managers searching for a candidate in an artistic position might pay more attention to graphics and layout, while IT professionals should be on the lookout for concise explanations regarding how specific technical skills mapped to business objectives.

If you’ve decided not to pursue a candidate based on her resume, make sure it’s for the right reasons.  Be careful of unconscious biases you might be carrying – for example, the person is not the typical age for the position, doesn’t live in a good neighborhood, or got her undergraduate degree from your school’s archrival.  These things are simply not important compared to the candidate’s inherent ability to do the job.