You’ve got 6 seconds to grab someone’s attention with your résumé; just 6 seconds. 6000 miliseconds to convince the person that is glancing at a summary of your life that you’re worth banking their own reputation on. So do you impress your prospective employer with your silky design skills? Not if you want to be hired, because your prospective employer may not even see your submission: job applications, are almost always shortlisted by either the H.R. department, or a recruitment consultancy. H.R. professionals, are not known for their appreciation of creativity, and often they have to cut thousands of applications down to just a dozen candidates. If you want your résumé to land on the desk of someone who can actually hire you, you need to tick all the boxes on the H.R. pro’s checklist. To help you do that, Hloom provides 279 résumé samples in Word format. They’re expertly crafted to ensure that the salient points from your skills, experience, and qualifications are picked up in the vital 6 second window, giving your application the best chance of avoiding the trash. The truth is, a résumé won’t win you the job you covet, but it can give you a foot in the door in the form of an interview. Once you’re at interview, the résumé is often used to structure the conversation, so a well structured résumé is also your chance to influence what subjects are covered in your face-to-face meeting. Of course, you want to stand out to a degree, so Hloom recommend that their templates are only used as a guide, but with so many templates you’re sure to find something that can easily be modified to fit your personal taste. It’s not surprising that only those actively seeking a new job maintain a résumé, but it’s something everyone should have; you never know when the opportunity of your working life will appear, and when it does, you need the perfect résumé to help you grab it. So, browse through Hloom’s free résumé templates, find the one that suits you, customise it to reflect your style, and keep a copy handy at all times. Good luck! [- This is a sponsored post on behalf of Hloom -] Featured image, résumé image via Shutterstock.