Just as resume writing is undertaken by job seekers everywhere, resume reviewing is a ubiquitous task for hiring managers. The purpose of a resume is to get a candidate past that first screen and into an interview. It can be difficult to judge a potential candidate by a single sheet of paper, but a resume can help you efficiently compare many applicants to the posted job qualifications you’re looking for and find the most promising candidates. Google’s resume screening team reviews nearly three million resumes a year from almost every country, in search of the best talent.

Resumes are certainly an imperfect means of screening talent. There's a lot of room for unconscious bias to color the information. Research tells us that subtle indicators — names, clubs, addresses, school, previous employment, race, parental status, socio-economic status, etc — may unconsciously affect expectations and assessment of a candidate. Time pressure may also lead to unconscious bias and affect decision making. Therefore, a structured and consistent approach to reviewing resumes can be beneficial.