Crafting an Effective Resume
Good day to everyone reading articles on Medium instead of working. This edition is part 3 of the interviewing experience. It covers something never before seen on Medium— how to craft an effective resume. I know! I’m amazed it’s never been done before too. Don’t scroll past just yet — I promise you’ll find at least one new helpful tip that you can use on your career journey.
Let’s set the stage right off the bat. This is not an article about the perfect resume format & layout. There are literally millions of pages online that each have the perfect resume structure for you, that they will happily create on your behalf for a nominal fee. And most of those resume crafters will say that every other resume crafting company is garbage, and that you should never even consider providing your precious work history to those scoundrels. I’m here to reassure you that you have the power to build a strong resume all by yourself, even without Clippy’s help (remember that guy/object?).
The two biggest questions that any hiring manager has are: 1) Can this person do the job? and 2) Do I want to work with them? Your resume is the first thing the hiring manager sees that will start to answer those questions. You could decide to skip the resume and get the manager’s attention by saving their pet from certain doom or sending a singing telegram to their door. That’s starting to veer into stalking territory, which is not the right look for anyone except those applying to become a paparazzo. Much easier to write down notes about your previous work experience and hit send. Even better if you have a compelling, easy to read account of yourself so the hiring manager doesn’t have to work too hard.
There are only a few items that your resume has to contain: your contact info, where you did stuff, when you did the stuff, what you did, and what happened after you did it. There are all kinds of bells and whistles to jazz up your resume from there, but you need to get those basic elements right. Keep the section headings clean to make your resume easy to navigate. You have to paint a clear picture in someone’s mind on where you started your career journey, how awesome you were each step of the way, and how each role prepared you for the next one. Don’t make them guess on the work or your impact, because they probably won’t guess in your favor. I always enjoy reading resumes that connect the dots and create a narrative for me.
You want to be seen as the hero of your story, not some person who threw a dart at the want ads. (Author’s note for Millennials — the want ads were a section describing available jobs in a newspaper. (Author’s note for Gen Z’ers — a newspaper is like a screen, but made of blended up trees with ink printing instead of pixels.)) Focus on actions and results — You did something that resulted in something great (hopefully with some quantifiable values). Make sure those impacts are easy to grasp and easy to impress others.
“But Philip”, I hear you say, “what about my wildly expensive education?” Well, not everyone decides to opt for a standard college experience. Education should be treated the same way as work experience. You went to a place for a certain period of time, and the result was a degree. If you are recently out of school, then expand upon what you got out of the experience and any extracurriculars that are relevant to the role. If you’ve been out of school for more than 5 years, then I wouldn’t spend a lot of time or valuable page real estate on details. The majority of companies are looking to check a box on the education requirements. Bachelor’s degree? Check. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy about those term papers, doesn’t it? Don’t worry, college isn’t a waste of time. It’s preparation for your next role, just like work experience, and that’s how you should talk about it.
This is my personal opinion, but I feel that Summary statements, Objective paragraphs, and Key skills sections are overrated. You start recognizing the same words and phrases after the third resume you read. Oh yeah? You’re a hard working change agent who likes to make a difference? What a coincidence. The last 5 applicants said the same thing. I’m not saying don’t put those sections in. Your resume, your rules. If you do decide to include one or more of those sections though, make it entertaining for the reader. Add some esoteric skills or outlandish objectives. Maybe you have incredible bow staff skills and your objective is to own 1% of the world’s surface. Now that would grab my attention.
Work history gaps don’t have to be a bad thing — embrace the gap by adding it as a line on your resume. You did something during that period, so find a way to articulate it as part of your narrative. You took some time off to figure out where your passions lie. You took time off to care for someone else. Even jail time can be portrayed as a learning experience (yes that’s a stretch, but maybe you’re going for a sales role). The point is that you don’t have to hide or ignore a gap in your work history. Life happens, and it should always take precedence over work.
The question of keywords in a resume tends to confuse people. You may think your resume has all of the info on it, if they would just read the sucker then I wouldn’t need key words. That’s just not how most companies operate these days. Keep in mind that the first reader of your resume probably won’t be a person. It is easier than ever to apply for positions online, which means companies need better gatekeepers to keep the riff raff out. I’m not talking about you of course. You’re reading this article, so I already know you have good taste. The first stop on your resume’s journey after you hit submit is probably a program designed to look for key words and reject resumes that don’t meet its criteria. That may sound unfair, but that’s why it’s up to you to tip the scales in your favor.
I’ll paint you a picture to help clarify why keywords are important. I want you to close your eyes for a moment and imagine that your target company is an exclusive club, and the position you applied for is the VIP table. Now open your eyes so you can keep reading the article. I SAID OPEN YOUR EYES. Good, now all of us super cool, hep cats know that the first goal to get to the VIP table is to make it in the front door. We’ll have to get past the bouncer. Bouncers are looking for key attributes like “has money” & “attractive enough for a Tuesday” & “won’t be a dick”. Demonstrate those attributes and you’ll get in the door. You have to do the same thing with your resume. Show the software that you have the skills they are looking for plus the amount of experience (and that you won’t be a dick). That may sound daunting, but the target company gave you a major leg up with the job description. They told you the exact words and phrases that they are looking for before you even applied. Make sure your resume mirrors the words and phrases they use, and you’ll be very likely to make it into the club.
However you decide to write it, keep in mind that the goal of any good resume is to have someone want to read through to the end, and then still want to meet the person who wrote it. If your resume isn’t an attention grabbing, non-stop action thriller (and I promise it isn’t), then you’ll need to pump up the jam and reduce the slog. Show that you’re the hero of your career journey, and you will make sure the bouncer wants you in their club. Whether or not the club is any good is a topic I’ll tackle in a future article.
-Philip
