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Job Hunting? Experts Suggest Keeping Your Resume 'Drop Dead Simple,' Highlighting Numbers & Making An Effort To Reach Out

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Anyone who's been looking for a job knows the search itself is practically a full-time occupation.

CBS2's Alice Gainer has the information about industries that are hiring and what you need to do to get an offer.

"Post a job, collect resumes, phone screen, interview, hire," said Evan Sohn, chairman and CEO of Recruiter.com.

If only it were that simple. Sohn says for those who are looking, the search can be arduous, and hiring is difficult and costly for an employer, too.

"It's $4,129, and it's based on time and scheduling and cost, and it's 40-42 days and 250 resumes," Sohn said.

So first -- about those resumes. Sohn is a fan of video.

"I can look at a 20-second video far faster than I can ... read a resume," he said.

He adds text is still important, but this is the future.

"Tell me about yourself in two minutes," Sohn said.

Tim Shieh used video with a personal message as part of his search and interview process.

"You know, like putting a face to the resume, you know that that really helps me," he said.

And by the way, he got the job.

"Lighting, camera angle, microphone placement, sound level, you really got to think through those," said Marc Cenedella, founder and CEO of a new, free online resume service called Leet Resumes.

Good advice, Cenedella says a classic text resume is still the gold standard.

"Keep your resume drop dead simple for the computers, and also for the human readers," he said.

Regarding format, he cautions, "Any type of complexity, multiple columns, strange fonts, tables, cause that computerized reader to stumble."

Cenedella adds make sure to highlight one thing.

"The best way to frame accomplishments is always, always, always with numbers. If you can say, 'I improved this by 23%' or 'I acquired four more clients,'" he said.

As for the job "search," experts say it usually takes more than just hitting "apply here."

Outreach is critical.

"Email someone at the company. Find someone through LinkedIn," Sohn said.

As for who is hiring, experts say there's growth in health care, transportation, construction and the biggest category...

"Anything and everything digital ... All those companies are hiring. They're hiring not dozens of people, they're hiring thousands of people ... from sales to marketing to engineers to operations to accountants, very, very strong demand," Cenedella said.

For more information, visit leetresumes.com/examples and recruiter.com.

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