One thing that we recruiters spend a lot of our time doing is reading resumes. After all, that’s often the first contact we have with a candidate. Just as there are many ways to write a resume, there are just as many ways to read them. Read on to see my time-tested techniques for quickly reading resumes so you can identify high probability of placement candidates.

Step 1: Make sure you understand the requirements for the position you’re working to fill. At a minimum, read and understand the requisition and talk to the hiring manager. Make a short list of screening criteria. It’s entirely possible that the hiring manager won’t know what he’s looking for. That’s OK. In fact that’s normal! Quality recruiters often have a more solid understanding of what candidates will ultimately be hired and will work out well than the hiring manager does. We’re professionals and we spend 100% of our working lives doing this. Many hiring managers see hiring as a necessary evil and consider other parts of their job as their real job. That’s normal too!

Step 2: Read the candidate’s name. Do you know this person? Have you seen the resume before? Have you heard something about them? Do you know someone who may know them who you can contact for more information? Is there any history in your Applicant Tracking System that you can read? From-time-to-time, a hiring manager will ask me if they’ve interviewed a candidate before. There’s no point going down the same path again if you can check some notes. You may save a lot of phone and in-person interview time.

Step 3: Review education. Do they meet the minimum education requirements? Do they have any useful additional education?

Step 4: Look at the most recent employer. Do you know the company? Do you know anyone who works there? How long has the candidate worked there? What do they do there? My rule is that experience more than 5 years old is ancient history. If they’ve worked at the most recent employer for 5 or more years stop reading the resume. Otherwise repeat this step for the second most recent employer and continue until you cover the past 5 years.

Step 5: Consider the general layout, presentation, and accuracy of the resume. What you’re looking for will vary based on the position you’re working to fill. Clearly a graphic artist’s resume should be graphically pleasing and still communicate to you as a recruiter. An executive administrator should have zero spelling and punctuation errors. An embedded software engineer should list embedded operating systems and programming languages they’ve used plus give a clear description of projects they’ve worked on and their part in those projects.

Step 6: Notice any biases you’ve made while reviewing the resume. They could be negative or positive biases. For example, you may have concluded that the candidate lives too far away or lives really close, is too old or too young, or went to a school you do or don’t like. None of these biases are valid reasons for accepting or rejecting a resume. Focus on resume content that speaks to the candidate’s ability to do or not do the job.

Step 7: Consider all those things you know about candidates that succeed at the target company. For example, some companies are relaxed and casual while others are formal. Is there evidence on the resume that speaks to this? Often the language the candidate uses will give you considerable insight into their personality, style, and preferences. And of course the type of companies they’ve worked for previously will give you a strong indication.

Step 8: Glance at the cover letter, if there is one, and see if there is any particularly pertinent information contained there. For example, an out of area candidate may indicate that they will be in the area on a job hunting trip, that they know someone who you know, or that they addressed the letter to someone who hasn’t worked at the company for 3 years. Is the cover letter written appropriately for the job you’re working to fill? Personally, I don’t place a lot of importance on the cover letter.

Step 9: Only follow enough of these steps until you have a valid reason to reject the resume. Doing more than that is a complete waste of your time. If you’ve made it this far you should know if the candidate has potential or not. Depending on the process where you work, you may opt to send the resume to the hiring manager for review or you may contact the candidate so that you can talk with them. Sometimes I email the candidate with a few clarifying questions.