How HR recruiter shortlist the resume & how do they reject it?

I am a Recruiter myself and I will give you my understanding of shortlisting the resumes as well as rejecting them.

First I will go with rejection, below are the points:

a) Grammatical mistakes (these can play a huge part even if you’re perfect candidate). Not all of us are great writers even I can make mistakes, but the most common mistake is - spelling mistakes, make sure your resume is error-free.

b) Nowadays many resumes get rejected due to the reason that you have to travel an hour, so by looking at your address or place, HR would probably reject you, avoid adding the address.

c) Lying - such as, when you saw the job posting you tried to change your resume and added some skill set or pointers in which you do not have any experience or just know the basics. And while pre-screening when Recruiter/HR asks you something, in particular, you went blank or didn’t able to answer it properly.

d) Your resume is way lengthy, trust me HR gets loads of resumes and if you’re going to make it look like short-novel I suggest hire some professionals to make your resume.

e) Applying too late, trust me this plays a huge factor in getting the job. If you’re currently in the market and looking for a job apply quickly at-least within hours. Sometimes we only have a 24-hour window to full-fill the position.

f) Some genuine reasons for getting your resumes rejected:

1. Relocation

2. Sometimes companies try to promote internally

3. One has to understand hiring process is subjective and can change as per the requirement, you might have submitted your resume for something in particular and the requirement of the job got changed.

4. The project gets the red sign and won’t be making any hiring

5. Lack of funding

6. You’re not as suitable as you think

7. Job hopper

Reasons to shortlist the resumes:

a) Excellent Cover letter with neat and precise Resume, nicely formatted with bullet points and a positive objective.

b) Adding your achievements

c) Certifications - for example - a Project Manager with PMP certification will get shortlisted first then who do not.

d) Done Coaching and Mentoring to your juniors or subordinates

e) Good experience

f) You’ve come through referral

g) Have desired skill-set

h) Creative resume and good online presence

These are some of the few reasons to shortlist as well reject the resume.