In today’s market, most employers looking for potential candidates use online job boards, create online sourcing efforts, and post job advertisements all online. Gone is the traditional search of the newspaper on Sunday mornings, sitting at the dining room table with a cup of coffee and checking the search ads.

Due to today’s technology and companies’ recruiting efforts, it’s imperative that you create a resume and job application that get noticed.

When a company posts their job opportunities online, they typically receive hundreds of resumes and applications within minutes.

Recruiters will then begin combing through all of those resumes for specific keywords, skills, credentials, and educational achievements.

As a potential candidate, you need to grab their attention in an instant.

The following are tips for doing just that.

Create a subject line that grabs their attention
When a recruiter starts going through your emails, the first thing they notice is the subject line of your email.

Put something in that subject line that matches the job opportunity and your experience.

If you’re applying for a Sales Manager position, these subject lines would grab the recruiter’s attention:

AT&T National Sales Manager – 15 years of experience
Sales Engineer – Acquired $1 million in sales last year
Sales Management – $250,000 in new business generated
Branch Manager – B2B and Major Account Sales

Be sure to read the job description and details of what it entails and creatively add it to the subject line of your email.

The meat of your email
This is another opportunity to catch the recruiter’s eye. Put some thought and originality into your first sentence and then into your first paragraph.

You want to convey the most persuasive information in an efficient manner. You don’t want to waste your time with that either. Be quick to state the most important facts right away.

If you’ve been recommended by someone the recruiter may know, be sure to mention it quickly. There are times when that simple statement can get you through the hiring process much faster. Or at the very least, get your abstract seen and move on to the next stage.

Recruiters don’t have a lot of time to read every word of your email, so stating your most powerful points arranged in a bullet point format makes it much more efficient.

Keep the body of your email short
You are so eager to tell the recruiter all about yourself and your past accomplishments and how you would be a great part of their team. You want to go on and on and on like the Energizer Bunny.

do not do it

The best rule of thumb is to have 3-4 paragraphs. If you can convey everything in just 3 paragraphs, stick with it.

Hiring staff and recruiters don’t have a lot of time to read every email they receive. Make it as easy as possible for them and keep it short and to the point.

When you get the interview, you’ll be able to go into much more detail about your credentials and experience.

Create an attractive resume
You want something that is visually appealing; however, you don’t want to go overboard.

Using a computer to write your resume is of course the best option. It also allows you to get a little more creative with graphics, fonts, and styling.

Also, you don’t want to do anything that makes your resume ugly and hard to read. So don’t go crazy here, just keep in mind everyone who will be reading your resume, and more importantly, you want to convey your talents and experience on the job, not how nice you can write a resume.

Attach your resume to your email
You want to look like a computer expert and enclose your cover letter and resume in a professional manner.

Therefore, the best rule of thumb is to attach it as a PDF file, rather than a DOC file. Of course, you want to make sure you’ve followed their instructions for attachments, cover letters, and references.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a PDF converter. There are many free sites where you can convert your Word document to a PDF document. If you Google “Free PDF Converter”, you will find many resources.

If you’re going to email your resume, cover letter, and potential references, just put it all in a PDF attachment. Do not make separate attachments.

Again, make it as simple as possible for the recruiter.