Writing a resume is a very personal thing.
In its simplest form, a resume is an advertisement of who you are, your skills, and what you can offer to an employer in the employment marketplace.
It is virtually impossible to accomplish that task well; however, you can come close.
I am a career advisor, and it is part of my job to help people create their resumes and to combine all they have done incorporating substance and nuance. I always begin by learning about them, what their goals are, and the urgency of their job search, and helping them understand their resume is a living document that will grow and evolve as they do. I find the most successful resumes are the result of writing a resume from the perspective of a friend.
Start with what you have. Almost everyone has created a resume in high school or has made one at some point; start there. Learn the difference between an ATS (automatic tracking system) resume and a marketing resume. The former can be used for both online applications and is easily scannable; the second is only for handing out in person and is typically done in a traditional format with job -> what you do, job -> what you did, etc. I recommend using an ATS resume for a variety of reasons, including it can be used both online and in-person and that it avoids much of the duplication inherent with a marketing/traditional resume.
You get the job by being the best person to solve the employer’s problem. This simple maxim is often missed by so many people looking for work. Your cover letter, resume, approach to interview preparation, interviewing, and following up should all revolve around what makes you different than everyone else, and what makes you better than everyone else, and often it is easy to accomplish both by just focusing on demonstrating you appreciate why they have gone to market to hire someone.
Invest time to create a good resume and get help. Your resume is important; it represents you to employers. Spend time on it; I recommend getting advice from a professional career advisor while trusting yourself to say what you like and don’t like. There are good career advisors who listen and recommend; and there are career advisors who only create “cookie cutter” resumes, and you may not find their help useful. I tell my job seekers, I work for them, I listen, I suggest, and collaborate. Be careful of “conventional wisdom.”
Don’t be limited to one page. Too many “experts” limit job seekers to one page; if one page isn’t enough then by all means use two. One is more than sufficient at the beginning of your career, but as you gain experience and skills, you may need more space for relevant points.
Don’t use a traditional approach. Many people use a resume that goes from one job to another, listing skills that are often duplicated. Don’t assume an employer will read your entire resume; if they don’t see the skills they are looking for in the first few lines to “grab and hold” their attention; they may simply move on to the next applicant. I believe your skills, expertise, and accomplishments can be line-listed at the beginning of your resume, employers want to know what you can do and they are less interested in “where” you learned these skills. List your skills on the top of page one, and briefly list your jobs at the bottom or on page two.
Don’t make it easy to experience bias. Change your email if you have your birth year as part of your identification. Avoid anything religious as well, or redundant words or phrases, such as having a line saying “Phone – (519) 376 124,” the number is sufficient. Also, review your social media footprint for anything that might hinder your employment opportunities. I would also recommend not using your photo on your resume.
Don’t talk in the third person. Your social media can be an important advantage in your job search, and any links should be live on your resume. When describing your social media or anything else on your resume, use “I” and “We” and don’t refer to yourself in the third person.
Social media helps. LinkedIn, especially, Instagram, YouTube, IMDb, websites and portfolios, and others to a lesser extent. Have live links on your resume.
The right words transform your resume. Your resume should “stand out,” Choose your words for maximum impact; the right words can make the difference between getting an interview or not getting one.
Rank your “Skills, Demonstrated Abilities, and Expertise.” I recommend to job seekers when creating their resume to list their skills in the order of importance and relevance, telling people, “If you could only tell an employer one thing about you; what would it be,” and then repeating with your next best skill. When applying for a specific position, use the job advertisement to rank and order your skills on your resume, along with a concise cover letter.
Use Grammarly or other AI to check your spelling and grammar. It can be tempting to use AI to write your resume and/or cover letter but I strongly recommend against doing that as if you have an interview, it will be quickly apparent that you did not write your application yourself. I also recommend having someone else proofread your work before applying.
You have done more than you think. Almost everyone I have ever helped with their resume has held something back because they didn’t think an experience or a skill was relevant. Skills and experiences almost always have transferrable value and do not underestimate how they can help set you apart.
Begin with the most current and go back. When using a resume category with dates, always begin with the most recent and work backward. Additionally, using just the year is better than listing months and years. For older vintage workers, only list jobs in the last 15-20 years; you can list the skills but leave out the job when listing your work experience.
Caregivers and parents, your experience matters. Often people have gaps on their resumes because of caring for children or senior parents; this is “work,” make sure you count it on your resume.
Cover letters matter. When applying for a job, likely most of the applicants could do “the job,” the people who get selected for an interview and ultimately hired are those who stand out for the right reasons. Few people in my experience use cover letters and they can help you to be different.
Be bold, experiment. If your resume isn’t getting you the right attention, revisit it and look for innovative ways to make it stand out without compromising your values and skills. Your resume should grow and evolve, as you gain experience some things may drop off and that is okay, your resume is a living document.
Nuts and bolts.
- Never reduce your font size simply to cram too many pages into what you think is an appropriate resume length.
- Use the “header feature” to have the same name, contact, and communication links on all the pages of your cover letter and resume.
- Upload your resume onto whatever job search website you are using and be prepared to create a combination document for your cover letter and resume if you can only upload one file.
- List your highest level of education completed and any programs or courses you are working on, including micro-credentials.
Don’t limit your job search. There are no “surefire” single solutions to finding your next job. Use online specialist websites, company and organizational websites, in-person cold calls, networking, friends and family, and community contacts. Your next job is out there, it’s just the pathway may not be a straight line.
List your references on your resume. I am likely the only career advisor on the planet who recommends this; however, as a former employer who worked in small and medium-sized communities people who listed references helped reduce the risk of hiring the wrong person tremendously because in those communities, employers like me, might know your references.
Ask “What’s missing?” As a final step in your resume preparation, review what you have prepared and ask, “What did I miss?” It is impossible to squeeze a lifetime into one or two pages of your resume. If you have missed something important, it is easy to fix.
I wrote this post for one person, a friend, but like everything else I share, it is my sincere hope that other people will find what I write to be of value to them as well. Resumes and cover letters are not the ideal way to demonstrate to employers all of the skills, abilities, and behaviors people bring to market; however, until we have something better, we can make sure that we do the best we can with this tool.
Good luck,
Paul