Inside a Tech Recruiter's Mind: What They Really Look For
Note: The insights in this article are based on observed patterns in tech recruiting workflows, industry best practices, and documented recruiter behavior rather than a specific research study.
The tech job market in 2025 is not short on candidates. It is short on attention.
Recruiters and hiring managers operate under severe time constraints, supported by ATS filters and internal heuristics designed to reduce volume quickly. The result is a screening process optimized for signal extraction, not holistic storytelling. Understanding this constraint explains nearly every resume decision that actually matters.
This post distills recurring patterns observed across tech recruiting workflows - without anecdotes, quotes, or folklore. Just what consistently survives review.