The only resume advice you’ll ever need
Well the title may be a little “big” but here are some tricks to help you get that resume up to snuff and hopefully help you get an opportunity to interview for that dream role!
Disclaimer; please realize that everyone you meet and every company you apply for will likely be looking for something a little different. But that’s ok because there are some things that everyone is looking for across the board and these tips should help cover them.
Do not pay someone to write your resume for you. You and only you know your story well enough to tell it. Only you can address your strengths and accomplishments. If you can’t write your resume, you likely can’t get yourself through an interview. As well, professional resume writers tend to search optimize your resume with a ton of words they think companies are looking for but when an actual human goes to read it resume it makes no sense.
Don’t wait till you need a resume to update your resume. Start a new job, add a section to your resume for it, jot down accomplishments and projects as you go. Even if you don’t need it for 10 years at least you don’t have to try and remember all the great stuff you’ve done seven years earlier!
Make it clear and easy to read.
Line up your margins
Make sure your dates make sense
Make sure your title and company are easily visible, if you want to be creative and use logos (I hate this, but I am only 1 person!) make sure to still type the name of the company
Don’t assume I know what your company does, take up 1-2 lines under the company name and give me some context
How far back should I go?
This is a hard one…my belief is start with your first full time permanent role, I believe this allows you to showcase your growth, development, ideally your ability to learn new things and show your loyalty. But anything from more than 7-10 years ago can have title, company and dates only, no need for a blurb unless there’s something epic in there (ie: lead company through 4 rounds of funding…)
I am not oblivious, I know that ageism is a real issue in the world so there are people who will not put more than 10 years on there, but that’s not really helping them, hiring leads know you didn’t come into a role as a Senior Manager so they know you’re hiding and then you’re leaving room for assumptions (they think you’re 75, you’re really 44) that make them not call you or they have you come in only to then judge you in person and waste your time. I say better to be upfront and deal with a company that doesn’t care, but this is a personal decision.
New Grads…even if you have co-op’d/interned/summered for 4 semesters/seasons (and please tell me you have!) you get 1 page. In resume world you have to earn your real estate. If you’ve had a more corporate job you can remove the coffee shop/camp counsellor roles, if you haven’t had those opportunities yet include them, a solid work ethic is worth a lot when entering the workforce.
A resume is a place for my job description, right?
No. A resume is an opportunity to sell yourself on paper. You also have a very short amount of time to gain the readers interest so try not to waste it.
Things that do NOT need to be on your resume: any mundane day to day task that is required of everyone. For example, if you are a brand manager you don’t need to tell me you responded to emails, answered phone calls, arrived on time every day, I am going to assume that if you didn’t do those things you would not have kept your job.
Focus on the important pieces that showcase your talents and skills
Accomplishments – what did you accomplish in this role?
What other teams/people did you work with regularly and why?
What leadership responsibilities did you have? And how were you successful in them.
Show metrics if you have them. Example, ran XXX campaign and increased our sales 25% in 12 weeks compared to the previous year.
Keep this in mind, if your sentence doesn’t take up an entire line, it’s likely an incomplete thought.
ex: Organized & lead weekly meetings (this is not a full thought and gives me no insight into who you are)
What is should read: Organized and lead weekly team meetings that included all of marketing, product management and sales. Created an agenda to cover key metrics including, new acquisitions, new releases, updates on previous unclosed matters as well as awards and recognitions for high performers.
Don’t ever write, “same role as below” if you made a lateral move, figure out a different way to write the same information and add in any new special accomplishments.
Tell me about yourself! Yes, I do care about your interest, hobbies or non-work-related successes. It lets me know you a little as a real person and allows me to start the conversation somewhere. Don’t lie here…it’s always the first thing I talk about with people and if you say you are an avid traveller but you’ve been on one vacation in 15 years, I am only going to wonder what else you’ve exaggerated about on your resume.
Write a profile. A profile is the beginning of your resume, it’s taken the place of that awful Objective section from the 70’s. A profile is a way to “pitch yourself”, maybe 3-5 lines about you, what you bring to the table (soft & hard skills) for this role and the team. It should be some what unique per application since you’re building it off the job description.
And finally…
Show effort, if you’re resume looks hastily done, filled with mistakes and can’t be followed it makes hiring teams wonder what kind of effort you’ll put into the work with their name on it.