Your resume is your first opportunity to make a good first impression, and you don’t have much time to make that impression. According to reports, it takes less than 20 seconds for a hiring manager to make a decision about you based on your resume. Hiring managers need to scan your resume and find the information they need in record time so they can move on to the next resume. What that means for you is that nearly every word you include on your resume can either help get you noticed or knock you out of contention.