Resume advice
Updated 2024-06-18
In my work as a hiring manager, recruiter, and career coach, I’ve learned a lot about how to create effective resumes. If you follow this resume advice, you will maximize your odds of landing an interview. These strategies are specific to the U.S. workplace. Other countries have different cultural norms.
Include your middle initial.
Using your middle initial may cause people to believe you are smart.
Choose a career focus.
Before you write your resume, choose a clear focus. It is extremely difficult to job hunt if your resume seems scattered or overly generalist. Even when startups say they want someone with broad skills, there are usually primary skills they are seeking. Include the accomplishments that fit your focus, and consider deleting extraneous material that doesn’t fit.
A Career Summary section at the top of your resume is a good place to communicate a clear narrative about who you are and what you offer. This tutorial by Jobscan does an excellent job explaining how to write an excellent Career Summary.
Use a popular format.
Use a chronological or hybrid/combination format. Both these formats are preferred by hiring managers and recruiters. By contrast, functional resumes are less popular.
Pursue positions for which you are qualified.
If you don't meet 80%+ of a job's required qualifications, either focus your job search on networking (because then connections may matter more than your career history) OR do some things (education, professional organization membership, volunteer work, etc.) to increase your marketability before launching a job search.
Select a modern font.
Consider using Aptos as the font for your resume, for the reasons outlined by executive resume writer Donna Svei. Aptos is even more readable than my previous favorite, Calibri.
Describe your employers.
Unless you worked for Fortune 10 companies or other employers that everyone knows, describe your employers. For example, if you worked for a small human resource management consulting company called "Henderson and Co.," you could write after the company name: “A boutique human resource consulting company specializing in benefits and retention.”
Quantify your accomplishments.
If you say you "increased customer satisfaction," a hiring manager is likely to want proof. Here are some examples from Indeed.com of how to quantify your accomplishments. If you work in a field where the work is more qualitative than quantitative, you can ask clients to rate their satisfaction with your work, and then cite metrics.
Use strong action verbs.
Instead of weak phrases like “Responsibilities included” or “Duties were,” choose strong action verbs.
Stick to plain formatting.
Avoid tables, graphics, and fancy formatting that will be unreadable to applicant tracking systems or look terrible once imported into recruiting software.
Follow career level and industry standards for your resume’s length.
If you are a recent college graduate, one page is fine. Mid-career professionals and executives may need two pages to describe their experience. For academic, research-oriented, or scientific jobs, you can go up to three pages.
Consider adding some hobbies and interests.
I disagree with resume advice that says hobbies and interests are never appropriate to include on a resume. I’ve seen some stellar success stories where a job applicant differentiated themselves from other candidates by including their noteworthy hobbies and interests. Here is a guide about how to include hobbies and interests effectively.
Ask colleagues and friends to review and proofread for you.
It is always a good idea to have multiple people read your resume to catch any problems or errors.
Use A/B testing to help you resolve contradictory advice.
In marketing, A/B testing is a method for comparing two or more versions of content to determine which one performs better. If you show your resume to two different people and they give you contradictory advice, you can use A/B testing to see which version of your resume lands more interviews for you.
Be strategic about what you reveal about religion, politics, or social causes.
Traditional wisdom said to be caution about including information about your participation in religion, politics, or social causes, but you can also be strategic and reveal information that will help you screen for employers who choose you because there’s a good fit.
Omit personal information.
Unless you are an actor or model, don’t reveal personal data such as a photo, height, weight, ethnicity, marital status, health status, etc. Because of U.S. EEO laws, some of this data can expose employers to legal liability. Even for information that isn't illegal to include (such as height or weight), it is culturally non-normative to include these things.
Avoid mentioning references.
Don’t list references on your resume or use valuable space to say, "References available on request." You can submit references on a separate page once employers ask for them.
What other tips do you think I should include? Send them to me, and I may feature your resume advice in this or a future article.
