As a restaurant recruiter, I typically review 70+ resumes per day from candidates looking for restaurant jobs in a variety of leadership roles. Since I work for the restaurant client and am charged with finding the best candidate for their position, I must quickly review resumes to determine if I should contact this person now, later, or never. I will typically take 5-10 seconds to scan a restaurant resume. Here is how that 5-10 seconds goes:

I first fix on the most recent job and the candidate’s location. I look for the name of the restaurant they work for, job title, dates and whether you are currently employed or not. (Don’t “forget” to update your resume with an employment end date if you are not currently employed. You don’t score points that way. You raise a question about your integrity.) Then I go to the previous positions held and look for a reasonable career progression as well as evidence that your background may be an initial fit for my client’s opening.

Some of the red flags that will rule your resume out are:

• Functional Resumes (I rarely place anyone who has sent me one)
• Too many jobs, poor tenure
• Very poor logic in career path (nine months as a restaurant manager, six months as a real estate agent, etc.)
• No dates on jobs (candidates try to hide a lack of tenure in their work history)
• Unknown restaurant concepts
• Misspelled words (use spell check)
• Too long, more than 2-3 pages (unless you’re in a senior executive role)

While I’m scanning the potential candidate’s resume, I ask myself if this person’s background matches the restaurant job description and is this person remotely close to being someone I can place with one of my clients?

Clients pay a substantial fee for me to do a search and find them the perfect candidate. My candidates must be the best of the best and typically they must be currently employed with a quality restaurant brand they want to recruit from. Most of the time this means people from national or larger regional concepts who are currently employed and have a stellar track record of success. Certainly there are some exceptions to this and there are genuine superstars who work for smaller restaurant brands.

Some of the positives that will encourage a recruiter reading your resume are:

• Limit length to one or two pages, unless you’re in a senior role
• Reverse chronological format, most recent role first
• Use Times New Roman or Arial font, size 12, maybe 11
• No pictures, no graphics, no color. Black & White only
• List your results and outcomes/achievements as well as your responsibilities
• Save your resume as a.doc Word document and name it Ex. AliceAdamsResume2010.doc
• Exclude your height, weight, marriage status, children, hobbies
• Include Professional Affiliations & Certifications. (SHRM, CHART, RIMS, etc.)

While some of this information may sound harsh, it’s reality. It’s intended to make you aware of things that can help you improve your chances to get a recruiter to read and respond to your resume.

Brian Bruce is an Executive Restaurant Recruiter with Premier Solutions in Oklahoma City and Blogger with 23 years operations experience. His vast knowledge of the industry comes from many years managing in national concepts, small start ups and restaurant ownership. He understands the day-to-day challenges from both sides of the equation, as a client trying to find quality operations candidates and as a management candidate trying to find a quality employer. He can be reached at 877-948-4001 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              877-948-4001      end_of_the_skype_highlighting, by email at HeadHunterBrian@gmail.com, or on his blog at http://www.HeadHunterBrian.com/.