Resume Review Content Results and Learnings
Sharing a few generalized learnings from my resume review contest which was won by @randomness - a former Air Force director, current fitness gym owner, and all-around fascinating resume.
Tell a Story
Overview and objection sections can be tricky. I've heard many recruiters advise against them entirely. Personally, I think they work well on more experienced resumes were you are trying to craft a story. If you keep and overview or objective section, you want to make sure you are leading your reader with a compelling and broad story that is ultimately backed up by the experience and education sections below.
Make sure it scans well.
Most recruiters will never read your complete resume. They will scan it. You need to improve the scan value by using simplified text and strong verbs when possible within your bullets. Try to keep things to 1 line descriptions (2 at most), and aim for an Action-Result sentence structure. This helps your contributions stand out and be easily noticed during a scan.
e.g.
• Improved loyalty and reduced churn by 43% yielding revenue increases of 55%.
In improving your scanning, be sure not to bury your lead. Start with the impressive numbers, and then provide only enough detail to tantalize.
e.g.
"Saved company $5.1M by ..."
instead of
"Did this that and this and that and saved $5.1M"
Trim Old Experience
Resumes can get pretty long. You want to share every single tidbit of useful professional experience. You want to make sure nothing gets lost. However, old experience can be more of a detractor than an addition. No one cares about your old jobs if they are not directly related to the role you are applying. Be conscientious in cutting old details and descriptions that don't work anymore.
If you feel like you need to keep parts, consider turning them into interesting tidbits that may evolve into interesting stories about yourself, or consider your LinkedIn as an extension to you resume. Anything left on the cutting room floor can be added color to your LinkedIn. There, someone may want to know your detailed background. It can't hurt on a webpage, but it can be dismissive at worst and distracting at best for recruiters scanning your resume.
Have multiple resumes
This is the future. Text editing is free and abundant. It is worth having multiple resumes. One for each type of role you want to apply. You can focus your old experiences on the story around that role - project management work, team leadership, budget and operations, etc. This allows you to speak more directly to the recruiter and align yourself to what they are after. No job seeker should have a single resume anymore.
If you are searching for multiple types of jobs, have multiple types of resumes.
Conclusion
Hopefully these few tips were helpful for others. I look forward to another resume review contest in the near future? Maybe at 300 members? We'll see! Thanks for reading!
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You have definitely given me some food for thought.
I am almost scared to look at resume tips online now. If you look enough, you start seeing disagreements between the different advice.
I have an overview section. I suppose I need to rethink if I want it there, but in the sense that HR does skim, it does tell the broad arc of my story in very little space.
Yea, you'll get different opinions. At the end of the day, the opinions are subjective. You either communicate clearly, or you don't. So, I think an Overview/Objection section be used very powerfully if its acting as a conclusion to the story the recruiters will find in the meat of your resume.
If that story is clear enough in your experience and education, you probably don't need it though. As a hiring manager, I'm pretty sure I don't read the overview or focus on it vs the meat-and-potatoes of the experience and schooling.
It is reassuring to hear that you are a hiring manager. I might have missed that above.
Thanks for the reply!
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Cannot remember anymore when the last time I created a resume. :P
Right that it should be trimmed or precised/summarized cause too long resumes will no be given much attention. :D
I try to keep my resume current at least once a year, year and a half. It can be a great exercise and can be ready when you need it. e.g. Your lose your job or find a great, immediate opportunity.
I figure a resume is now the twitter of your career, and linkedin can provide a lot more detail (for the few recruiters interested enough).
Thanks for sharing your comment!
Welcome. Thanks for sharing tips. :)