As graduation season approaches, many young people are polishing their resumes and diving into the job market. As an entrepreneur with experience scouting top talent, "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary had two key pieces of resume advice for his now 25-year-old daughter Savannah when she first started job-hunting: Keep it succinct, and show the prospective employer what you can do for them.
"When my daughter graduated from college and she hit the job market, I gave her this advice: Put together a resume that's one page long, no more than three paragraphs, max," O'Leary tells CNBC Make It. "And in that text, explain one thing — how you're going to help your employer make more money."
"It's not about you, it's about what you can do to help that business succeed," he says.
O'Leary says that when he's looking at resumes, he never reads beyond the first page, and he's not alone — recruiters spend about 7.4 seconds on average scanning a resume.
"One big red flag for me when I'm looking at a resume and it makes me take it right into the 'out' pile is more than half of it talking about your success in high school or the name of your dog or what your score was on your baseball team," O'Leary says. "I couldn't give a s---."
Career experts agree that going into exhaustive detail about your career history can be counterproductive, and instead recommend focusing on your more current and relevant experience.
"If you haven't explained to me in the first [page] how you're going to help my business succeed, I'll never hire you," says O'Leary. "I want to know how you're going to help me make money in my business, remember that."
O'Leary — who cut his kids off financially after college so they could learn to succeed on their own — adds that his strategy worked for Savannah, who is now living and working in New York City. "She was very succinct about that and she got employed right away."
Don't miss: Kevin O'Leary on college admissions scandal: 'I'll tell you who you really screwed: Your kid'
Like this story? Subscribe to CNBC Make It on YouTube!
Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank."
