Writing your resume is hard. I have read a million of them, and when I write mine, it is still hard. I usually send it to some Recruiter friends to have them look it over, and they always come back with advice. It is hard.
I have seen some posts lately on writing resumes, I thought I would jump in and try to make it as simple as I can. I am no expert, don’t take my advice as gospel, but I can give some tips.
If you get stuck writing it, think about what you would tell someone if they ask what you do? What would you tell them? Brag about? That might get the juices flowing and help you get started writing.
When I am recruiting for a role, I want to see if the person has experience doing the role I am trying to fill. What they did, where they did it, when they did it, and what was the result.
What they did: have they done this type of work? Experience working on similar projects or programs? Have they used a certain technology the same way this role requires it to be used? If the person was part of a team working on a project, what specifically did they contribute to the project? (this happens all the time, Recruiters & Hiring Managers read a resume and can’t figure out what role this person had on the team)
Where did they do it: experience working in the same industry, similar products? Did they work at a competitor? Was the company similar in size?
When they did this work. Was it recent or has this applicant not performed these job duties in XXX number of years?
Result – what was the result of their work? Was it successful or not? (it is ok if it was not, what did you learn?) Did they reduce cost? Increase efficiency?
These are some of the items a Recruiter or Hiring Manager will look for right away in your resume.
Do’s and Don’ts:
Don’t put your picture on your resume – you don’t know if you look like someone’s psyco ex.
Home address not needed. Phone number, email, and linkedin profile link are all you need for contact information.
Keep your resume at 2 pages. This can be tough because if you have been working for a while, you want to list your accomplishments. However, is what you accomplished 10, 12, 15 years ago relevant?
Be able to explain every line on your resume. If you wrote it on there, you need to be able to elaborate on it if asked.
If the job description specifies certain experiences, technology, or projects and you have done those…put it in there!
You will probably have to make minor edits to your resume for each application.
Don’t save your resume as “Badass Resume” or some other goofy name. Keep it professional.
It can’t hurt to show you use the products. If applying to a job at Google, use a gmail address. Apple: me.com. And so on…