Your resume is a marketing tool to sell the reader on why you’re the best person for the job. Here’s how to write it like one.
The main purpose of a resume is to get you an interview for a job or some other opportunity (like getting into an academic program, a fellowship, getting a grant, etc.). It serves as a summary of your background, knowledge, skills, and experience…in your own words.
It’s the “in your own words” part that makes resume writing difficult. Most of us don’t like selling ourselves. My goal with giving you my best resume writing tips is to help you get out of your head when it comes to writing your resume. You can do this!
And if you “don’t got this” - I’m here as an expert resource to give you actionable feedback OR ghostwrite your resume for you. Schedule a call here.
Onto the resume tips!
One half of the resume equation is getting through Applicant Tracking Systems. (This is the “WHAT and HOW” part)
If you’ve applied for a job in the last twenty years, chances are you did so through an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). These systems help companies post, organize, and screen/rank job candidates for recruitment and hiring.
On the backend of ATS, each job has a list of keywords associated with them. And you, as the applicant, have to try your best to match those keywords. This means a few different things for writing and submitting your resume through ATS:
Give yourself two pages of writing real estate so you have room to talk about the types of problems you can solve (and associated keywords will emerge).
Include a Skills + Strengths or Expertise + Strengths section in your resume where you list keywords. Think about different keyword buckets, like: leadership, interpersonal, tech, technical. There is no “one size fits all” with how many of these keywords to include. I generally aim for 20-25.
Use AI to figure out the top 10 keywords associated with a job. (I use this ATS Keyword Extraction prompt). You have to sign up for a free account with SGPT to use it.
Since you’ll need to customize your resume profile and skills sections by the job, have a master resume that you pull from. I also recommend keeping track of accomplishments/results/compliments on this same document. That means you’ll want it to be someplace accessible (like a bookmarked link on your browser).
Don’t get too stylistic with your resume. ATSs do not like tables. When I write a resume for someone, I always save it as a .txt file to make sure everything looks good. Then resave as a PDF.
The other half is introducing yourself and making yourself visible. (This is the “WHO”part)
I really wish it was as easy as matching some keywords and voila! New job! We’ve all heard it’s about who you know that gets a foot in the door. Is this a good thing? Yes and no.
Yes because when someone vouches for you, it can build quick credibility. Getting referred can be a time saver and helpful when pivoting into a new industry / company.
No because it perpetuates bias. If you don’t have the connections, you’re limited. Because of affinity bias (the unconscious human tendency to gravitate toward other people who are like us), it can be hard to get people to respond to your messages without an introduction. (BTW - I’ve heard from a few clients that they’re being told “no” when asking for pre-interview “culture” calls because their company wants to be more equitable in the hiring process.)
Okay, so what do you do? I still think it’s worth trying to either find or build a personal connection to the role. Ways to do that:
1) Audit who you already know. I’ll mention again that LinkedIn has a feature where you can download your connections to sort them. If you have a connection that works directly for the company, reintroduce yourself. If there’s someone who could make an introduction for you, be specific about what you’d like them to say about you and what you want from their contact.
2) Cold message. I know…yuck. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. If you see they’re active on LinkedIn, that’s the way to do it. Here's language that could work for a message:
"Hi NAME - We have yet to be properly introduced, but I recently applied for the open NAME OF ROLE role you have on your team. Knowing many resumes are headed your way, I thought my LinkedIn profile could give you a better look into how I might be a great fit for COMPANY. If I can do anything to help here, or otherwise, please let me know."
3) I have more ideas for you here: 3 Ways to Connect With Strangers on LinkedIn When Applying For A Job (Or Thinking About Applying) and here: How To Get More Connections On LinkedIn (And What To Do With Them)
“The only way to have your resume really stand out is to make it the ONLY resume.”
This is a quote I wrote down from the resume workshop (and a good case for asking a trusted friend to directly pass along your resume)
The reader of your resume wants to know what you’ll fix for them and how you’ll do it.
Your resume is a marketing tool and you need to make sure all of your best stuff is on it!
Think of it this way:
Your career experience/background/profile = “what you’ll fix for them” part.
The “how you’ll do it” = your skills.
Your achievement bullet points = your example case studies that back it all up. They also give the reader a sense of the results you’ll achieve for them when they hire you.
What people get hired for:
Increasing $$$
Decreasing costs (while increasing productivity)
Creating goodwill (by making someone’s job easier / better / more satisfying)
The most common mistake I see people make on their resumes is including a list of redundant tasks with no result statements or CONTEXT.
Your bullet points need to tell a story. Every story has a beginning, middle, and end.
Beginning: What was [________] like when you were first hired? Asked differently, what were you walking into and why did you want to change it?
Middle: This is what you did to change it.
End: This is how changing [____] impacted the bottom line, culture, client experience, etc.
One more point about context: please give a one or two line description about the company. Include company and budget size, industry, who you served, etc. The reader isn’t going to look it up.
If this sounds hard to you - get someone you trust to interview you! They’ll naturally ask you follow-up questions if they can’t follow, which will help you write better bullet points.
Give yourself the title you actually had.
Reiterating a point I made earlier - your resume is a marketing tool, which means you get to write it however you want as long as you’re not lying. Many people get hung up on their formal title. If you performed beyond your formal title, I want you to take credit for it by either mentioning this in the description - or - giving yourself a new title - or - adding another title next to your official one.
Formal Title (Defacto Title:__________) | Company Name | Location / Remote | Date Range
If you work in an industry where official titles matter, then use it and give more context in the description.
Back up your results with numbers.
Money talks. Companies want to know how you’re going to increase value in the organization. Which means you need to share how you increased the bottom line and decreased costs. And don’t wait until you get to your work experience section. You’ll want to give a number or two in your profile section, if you can!
Crunch the numbers and decide whether it makes sense to share these numbers as a raw # or a %. Which way makes you sound better?
Don’t undersell yourself.
Many of us don’t allow ourselves to take credit unless we do “it” on our own. When you’re tracking your achievements and results, be sure to keep track of your informal contributions along with your formal contributions. They absolutely count!
FORMAL contributions tend to be more visible.
Some examples: getting a high-profile meeting set up, making an ask, getting a sale, troubleshooting and fixing a problem, assembling a team, putting together a report, making a slide deck, generating a new lead.
INFORMAL contributions tend to be the stuff we do behind the scenes to help accomplish something.
Some examples: copyediting content, being the final “eyes and ears” on a presentation, doing research, getting buy-in for a project / getting it off the ground, herding the cats and keeping everyone on the same page/deadline, managing the project, organizing and synthesizing information.
Ask trusted people for feedback on your resume.
Once you’ve finalized your resume, it’s important to go to a couple people you trust (and who are part of your fan club) for feedback. Ideally these people will understand the role/industry you’re pursuing. Ask them for feedback on:
What’s missing?
What’s extraneous?
What needs clarification?
Do not ask them for a job. 🙂
Don’t go beyond 15 years.
Knowing ageism is real, stick to the last 10-15 years of work experience. If you have older experience that you feel is relevant to the jobs you’re applying for, my recommendation is to create a section called “Career History” or “Career Progression” or “Earlier Roles Included” section and add them there with a short blurb about whatever is relevant and no dates.
Remember: LinkedIn acts like a “read more” option so you can include your older roles on your profile.
LinkedIn is your resume’s BFF and also wants a glow up.
Your LinkedIn URL should go on the top of your resume along with your other contact info. Make sure your URL is clean, meaning it doesn’t have a bunch of numbers at the end. Here’s how to customize your URL.
You’ll want to update your LinkedIn profile so it matches your resume’s new glow up. You don’t want your LinkedIn to be the “meh” wingperson in sweats. You want them to be confident, drawing people in so they can tell them: “Check out my best friend, Resume. She’s incredible and you’ll be making a major mistake if you don’t.”
You can repurpose a lot of the language on your new resume to your LinkedIn profile. Be sure to write it in first person (resume is in third person) and make it more conversational. ChatGPT can help you do this.
Last but not least, don’t ever use the word “seasoned” to describe yourself.
I don’t care that you have 20+ years experience. There are other adjectives you can use. Use powerthesauraus.com to find those words. You are not french fries.
And remember - I am here if you need me. I offer resume reviews and ghostwriting services. If you’re stuck, book a call.
