Maybe it’s Not Written for an Online Read.

If you stick to resume formatting that worked in your previous medical or pharmaceutical sales job search, you run the risk today of being overlooked or that critical key points about your sales success will get missed altogether!

The culprit? Technology. For better or for worse, technology has transformed our lives in every way – and resume reading is no exception.

What’s Changed?

Online Reading: Today you can expect close to 100% of readers will review your medical sales resume for the first time on a screen.

Chances are print reading won’t occur until later in the interview process.

Small Screen Reading: Another trend growing by leaps and bounds is the percentage of people comfortable reviewing documents on alternative devices like cell phones, tablets, etc.

Given the culture of mobility in pharma and medical device sales, you can expect as many as 50% of your first-time readers and gatekeeper decision makers to view your resume on a small screen.

What Does It Mean?

Online reading is a lot harder on the eye than print reading, and small screen reading is tougher than large screen reading.  Why?

Chunked Text: In print our eyes can take in huge blocks of text without a problem. Not so easy on a screen. In fact, our eyes have a hard time digesting text that is chunked together.

Eye Movement: When it comes to reading in print, our eyes tend to move from left to right super smoothly. When the eye meets the screen, though, we tend to start left and bounce all over the place!

How Does This Impact My Medical Sales Resume?

If your paragraphs are four plus lines longs, if you indent throughout, or if your bullets are mashed together – IMPORTANT INFORMATION YOU NEED TO GET ACROSS CANNOT AND WILL NOT BE READ!

It’s just too hard on the eye. And when a manager is in a rush with only seconds to spare on your resume – anything that’s hard is not likely to get read. EVER.

The Quick Fix:

There’s no need for dismay. With these four quick fixes, your healthcare sales resume can overcome skim, online reading obstacles and make a great first impression!

1. Spacing: Make sure to have at least .6 Points between each bullet to ensure easy online, skimmability.

2. Front-Loaded Achievements: Since you can count on the online eye starting left, make sure the most powerful part of your bullet gets included here.

3. Left Justification: Indentions and outline formats work best for print. Justify your text to the left for easy small screen reading.

4. 1 to 2-Lined Bullets: Keep your bullets to two lines max. While longer will still be easy on a large screen, these bullets will double in size on a small screen and force the reader to see chunks of text.

Online reading is here to stay. An understanding of how pharma and medical device hiring managers read documents today is critical to formatting geared to look just as great online as it does in print—and to help your resume’s chance of being read.

– By Virginia Franco, NCRW, CPRW

Virginia Franco Resumes | www.virginiafrancoresumes.com | VAFrancoResumes@gmail.com