Have you ever wondered why employers care if you have volunteer experience on your resume? Volunteer experience shows that you are not afraid to selflessly lend your time to help others in need or those less fortunate. When you volunteer it shows that you are also very well rounded and you are not all about work. I have told so many clients that it doesn’t matter how high your GPA is, how much experience you have, if you don’t volunteer experience, the other applicant who may have less experience, but have volunteer experience will most likely get hired over you. It is also good to include volunteering experience on your resume because some times your previous paid work experience might not be relevant to the position you are applying for, but your volunteering experience does.

Volunteering experience can also help you if you are a new graduate or a junior candidate entering the market. While you are applying you can volunteer your time to show that you have still remained active in the community.

Studies have shown that recruiters take on average six seconds to look at a resume. Yes, six seconds! This might sound like a bit of a downer for you eager job seekers who have spent endless hours upon end trying to perfect your resume only to have your efforts be reduced to a mere matter of seconds. How insulting! Well, not really… when you think about it.

Here are two major reasons why the six second rule comes into play:

Recruiters are very busy people and they receive hundreds, yes hundreds of resumes a week. They don’t have time to read every single resume they receive in detail. If they did, they would never get anything done. They wouldn’t fill any positions!

Recruiters know what they are looking for. If your resume doesn’t effectively display your skills and qualifications, qualifications that align with what recruiters are looking for, they aren’t interested. They move on to the next.

Here are some tips to get your resume past the six second glance:

If you are a job seeker, job fairs and career fairs can be your biggest dream come true! You get the opportunity to visit and interact with multiple employers all in one spot. What’s even better is that you get the opportunity to pick and choose those companies you are actually interested and plot your next move. Just before you head out though, here are few things to keep in mind:

Research the Companies

Before you visit each company you should try to do some research as to which companies will actually be at the job fair. Research each company and create a short script for each of what to say beforehand. This will take some time, but this is a sure way to get that person’s attention. This will get you noticed! Additionally, you want to have a list of 3-5 questions about the company you plan to ask.

One of the most dreaded interview questions many applicants struggle with is when employers ask:

“What are your salary expectations?”

The interview was going great until this question came up. Now suddenly you freeze because you don’t know what to say.

Pump the breaks for minute… and take note. This is where studying and properly preparing for your interview comes in handy. Here’s why. When you go for an interview, ideally you should have already researched the position you are applying for and the salary range for someone with your particular years of experience. This way, when you are asked this question you can simply answer in one of two ways:

your ask.