Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Pocket Guide to Writing a Resume 1
🏢Pocket Guide to Writing a ResumeIntroHello and welcome.
I'm Quinn Hanson. Thanks for being here.
This document is meant to be one piece in a series of resources for those looking to stand out in their job search. From conducting a job search to resume building and interview prep, there is a lot to cover. Here we will focus on resume advice.
Why focus on resumes?
The short answer is that we all need a resume at some point in our careers to get into a new role.
The long answer is that companies don't just go around handing out job offers. Businesses have lengthy recruiting and hiring processes and a resume is the cornerstone piece. Step one in the job search process is usually sending your resume in online for a particular role. Even if we have a network of people that can help us get a foot in the door at their respective companies, we will still need to pass along a resume to someone. A resume is effectively a ticket into a company.
Pocket Guide to Writing a Resume 2
Additionally, not everyone is going to be an entrepreneur and work for themselves for their whole life. As Daniel Vassallo says, "Becoming self employed is easy. Staying so is hard." With that perspective in mind, it's clear that most of us will need to find employment somewhere.
This guide will share an inside look at how hiring decisions are made, from someone who works in recruiting and gets people hired as a day job. I've seen countless resumes, interviewed hundreds of people, helped people get hired in dozens of companies and want to pass this information around so everyone knows what is going on behind the scenes.
We'll start off by going over resumes and some tips to consider when making one. The accompanying samples of commented resumes includes over a dozen examples to take a look at as well.
� Let's go!
Necessary disclaimer: Nothing in this document is a guarantee of success nor a validation of the practices used in hiring. This is simply a document of information to consider when looking for new roles. Businesses operate in unique ways and not everything herein will be relevant at all times. Use your discretion.
Résumés
💡 Résumé - a document to present your background, education, skills and accomplishments. (Also spelled as resume). Wikipedia
If you're here and reading this, I assume you have a resume or at least know what they are. The Wikipedia article linked above does a great job breaking down what they are and their historical relevance. What not everyone realizes about resumes is their true purpose.
Pocket Guide to Writing a Resume 3
What is the point of a resume? If you are thinking to yourself, the point of a resume is to get a job, I would encourage you to pause for a second and take a step backwards. Before someone gets a job, there is a multi step process for interviewing prior to being hired. Initial phone calls, the scheduling of an interview and depending on the job, there can be multiple rounds of virtual or in person interviews or assessments. The resume is you putting your hand up in a sea of people to express interest in the role. The point of a resume is to get an interview.
🗣 The point of a resume is to get an interview.
There is not a best format for making resumes that is collectively agreed on. With that in mind, we'll go over some tips to consider when making a resume and the accompanying document has commented resumes that will shed light on how a hiring manager interprets a resume.
At a high level, a resume generally has a few specific sections;
1. Basic info (Name, contact info, location)
2. Education (school, degree(s), focused area of study)
3. Professional Experience (reverse chronological list of what you accomplished, company name, position title(s), & location)
4. Personal (optional)
5. Skills (optional)
🗣 Minimize the custom formatting. Moving resumes between Google Docs, Word, PDF and other programs will break the formatting and result in bad looking resumes.
Basic InfoA resume needs to include basic information at the top. Your first and last name, phone number, email address and city you live in. Adding in a job title is an option as well (e.g.
Pocket Guide to Writing a Resume 4
Civil Engineer, Customer Success Manager, Operations Lead, etc.).
Name - This one is pretty simple and hard to get wrong. "First Name Last Name," ex: Quinn Hanson, should be the first thing someone reads when they pick up your resume. The font size for a name should be bigger than the other text.
If putting a nick name, make sure it's appropriate. Ex: Quinn "laziboi" Hanson is going to tell a hiring manager you don't actually want a job. Elizabeth "Liz" Hanson is a much more appropriate nick name than laziboi.
Phone number - nothing fancy here, just the number in an easy to read format.
Format should be 111-111-1111 or (111)-111-1111
Do not list a phone number as 1111111111
If you have a particular country code (e.g +41), you can include it, but I would encourage you to look for a free country specific number via Google Voice (or a similar VOIP service). More details below under Location.
Email address - This is going to get detailed. An email address on a resume can say a lot about an individual. It's important to have a professional, appropriate email address to avoid causing a hiring manager any concerns.
An email address needs to be professional looking
[email protected] is a great example of a professional email address. E.g. [email protected].
other options include
[email protected] (hanson.quinn@...)
[email protected] (qhanson@...)
[email protected] (q.hanson@...)
[email protected] (hansonq@...)
This is not an exhaustive list of what is acceptable, but the point is to make it close to your name. Here are some things to avoid.
No drug reference email addresses. e.x. [email protected] or [email protected]
Pocket Guide to Writing a Resume 5
No email addresses that allude to never wanting a job. e.x. [email protected]
Avoid numbers when you can
no 69s, or 420s in your email address
no numbers over 4 digits long. Ex: [email protected] looks like an autogenerated, spammy email address
Avoid putting your birth year in your email address.
Avoid silly email addresses. E.x: [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected]
The reason for avoiding unprofessional email addresses is to prevent the hiring manager from writing you off immediately. Yes, a bad email address can absolutely lead to negative judgement. It's assumed that when someone sends a resume in to apply for a position, they are putting their best foot forward. If someone's best foot forward looks immature, goofy, or out of line for any reason, it's a bad sign to the hiring manager. Email addresses are free, so if needed, make an new email address for resumes and job applications that is as close to your name as possible.
🗣 Unprofessional email addresses can lead to unfair, negative judgement.
Location
When an application is submitted through an online job portal, e.g. Indeed, Ziprecruiter, Career Builder, Workday, or any company's website, it goes into a database. Those databases are called applicant tracking systems (ATS) and they (basically) organize applications into a spread sheet full of rows of people and columns of information pulled from the resume. One of the columns the ATS will specifically label is the location on the resume. A far away location may deter the hiring manager if the role is in person. If there is no location, the priority level on calling someone drops because it is assumed they are far away.
So, to minimize the chances of someone skipping your resume, include the city and state you're in. A specific address is good too, but city and state work well.
Pocket Guide to Writing a Resume 6
Most businesses are looking to hire people that can start quickly. Having to bring someone in from outside of the area delays the hiring process, costs more money, and is a bigger risk. Being in the same relative location as the company is ideal. (For in person roles at least. For remote roles, the most relevant location data is your time zone).
Basic Info Example
Quinn Hanson Customer Success Specialist
Salt Lake City, UT
111-111-1111
🗣 Pro tip: Make your LinkedIn detailed so that recruiters find you. Let the job market seek you out.
Tell No LiesAt the end of the day, yes, it can be hard to prove exactly what someone actually did at their past places of employment or during their education. That does not mean it's a good idea to lie about what you did.
The saying, "past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior" applies here.
Someone that is willing to lie their way into a new role will likely lie in some way once in their current role. That will be noticed, and it won't go well.
Professional relationships built on lies do not last long.
Relationships built on lies do not last long.
Education and Experience
Pocket Guide to Writing a Resume 7
The education and professional experience sections should make up the bulk of your resume. This is the real meat and potatoes of the resume. The majority of your resume real estate should be dedicated to experience, and more specifically, to what you accomplished.
Note, there is no need for a summary, personal profile, or objective on a resume. A resume is a summary of you and your accomplishments that has one objective - get an interview. Dedicating additional space to any kind of summary is unnecessary.
Whatever information that you might want to convey in a summary can be moved to the professional experience section. As a writing exercise, it's helpful to write a short biography. The important parts from the bio can then be outlined in the experience section.
Education
The education section is pretty straightforward. The goal is to lay out what kind of degree you have, from where, when, and other noteworthy info, e.g. minors, focuses, leadership classes, etc.
Samples:
BA: Psychology - University of Oregon - 2020
Minor in Youth Brain Development
BS: Construction Management - Northern Arizona University - 2012
Specialized in Concrete construction practices
AAS: Manufacturing Technology - Minneapolis Community College - 2013
Focus on CNC Machines
In progress: AAS in Spanish
High School Diploma - East High - 2021
Student Body Vice President 2019-2021
Junior Varsity volleyball
MS: Mechanical Design Engineering - Oregon State University - 2018
Focus on Bio-inspired robotics
Pocket Guide to Writing a Resume 8
BS: Mechanical Engineering Technology - Montana State University - 2014
Minor in Business Administration
Certifications:
US Air force Financial Improvement Audit Readiness Course - 2015
US Navy Supply Officer Department Head Course - 2014
Seth Godin's AltMBA program - 2019 Cohort
Design Concepts and Applications - 2017
Why all the samples?The fast answer is because there are a lot of different ways to demonstrate and highlight education.
There are more ways to highlight education, see the accompanying resume samples for more ideas
Did you notice how none of those listed a GPA?
In most cases, a GPA is not necessary. Someone that is coming right out of high school or college and does not have many other achievements to highlight can use their GPA if it's noteworthy. Most schools use a 4.0 grading scale, a noteworthy GPA is generally 3.6 or higher.
If you're beyond college, there is no need for the GPA.
Is high school necessary to include?
Usually not.
If you are applying for a summer job in your home town while in or just after high school, then yes include it. If you are in the middle of college and looking for a role in your home town then sure, include it, it doesn't hurt anything. Aim to fill the resume with work accomplishments before putting a high school on a resume.
If you are in college and looking for job in a different town than you went to high school in, don't include it. (No one outside your town knows about the high school). Once you are in college or have a college degree (associates, bachelors or beyond), it's assumed you finished high school (or equivalent) and thus it's not necessary to dedicate resume space to it. Remember there is finite space on a resume and dedicating any of it to something unnecessary should be avoided.
Pocket Guide to Writing a Resume 9
Experience
This is the most impactful part of a resume. This is where accomplishments and what you are capable of should shine through.
Some Do's:
Add numbers, metrics, and quantitative information to your resume. A few examples;
Increased sales by 25% resulting in $1,000,000 more in revenue
Decreased customer turnover rate by 18%
Improved NPS score from 63% to 91%
Hit 130% of quota every month for 15 months in a row
Saved 60 seconds on a key process resulting in savings of $250k in a one year period
Redesigned single family home layout to use 15% less sheet rock which reduced time & cost by 5% & 7%
Supported 200 people and 225 devices as the only in house IT person
note, the bullet point accomplishments do not need to spell out every detail of how something was accomplished. Bullet points open the door for a hiring manager to ask you for more information. More detail can be included on a longer resume, which can be brought with to an interview (not used to apply).
Make the format consistent. Position title, name of company, and dates are the most important thing to get down for every company.
Analyst, Bank of America 7/2017 - Current
Business Development Manager, Light Shine 3/ 2015 - 6/2017
Accounts Payable Specialist, Game Stop 3/2020 - 8/2021
Taylor the language on a resume to match the description of the role being applied for
If previous job duties align but the job title is slightly different, use the job title the new company is using
Pocket Guide to Writing a Resume 10
If the job description says to meet or exceed expectations or quotas, discuss which quotas you previously met or exceeded
If the job description asks for specific software skills (e.g. tableau, excel, salesforce, python, etc.), list your experience with those. No, don't lie about any of it.
Some Don'ts:
Don't copy and paste the job description into a resume.
Don't try to mislead someone by putting in wrong dates, leaving dates off,
or embellish on experience or accomplishments.
Don't repeat yourself. There are too many things to include, don't take up
space by repeating yourself.
Don't include references on your one page resume. They can (and should) exist on a stand alone document. A one page resume has too little real estate to give space to a reference that won't be called until after the interview process has already started.
Don't include the amount of hours you worked or previous pay rates for former roles.
Don't put a personal photo on your resume.
Don't allow for typos & grammatical errors.
When Discussing Experience —>
Keep the tone past tense
Use language that matches the job description
Be as specific as possible
Examples of getting specific —>
Customer service --> Processed 200+ customer requests per day via phone and email support.
Pocket Guide to Writing a Resume 11
Built IT infrastructure --> Designed, tested, and implemented X, Y and Z programs to handle 3,000 phone calls and 200 devices a day.
Production worker --> Produced 400-500 widgets a day operating a standing press
Design Team Lead --> Promoted to lead and train a team of 4-6 on Illustrator, photoshop, and Canva
Accounting Manager--> Led and directly supervised a team of 4 Accounts Payable and 3 Accounts Receivable specialists
Dishwasher --> Organized and ran a high volume dish washing station to provide 600+ people per day clean dinnerware
Host --> Controlled the flow of 450+ guests into the restaurant using Opentable, resulting in 10% increase in volume
Cashier --> Processed $3-$5,000 dollars of cash and credit card transactions per hour resulting in the shortest line for shoppers
When making a resume:Name, phone, email, location at the top.
When applying for a new role, keep the resume to one page. A longer resume can be used once in the interview process.
No objective statement needed. The only objective of a resume is to get a job interview.
No summary or profile needed. A resume is your summary & profile.
Relevant education should be included. If any education beyond high school was completed, then there is no need for high school to be included.
No GPAs needed.
Professional experience should take up the bulk of the resume real estate. Past tense tone, focus on accomplishments.
Pocket Guide to Writing a Resume 12
Don't copy and paste a job description into your resume. Focus on what you actually did and what you accomplished.
Use numbers, specifics, and quantifiable information as much as possible.
References do not go on a resume.
Formatting should be consistent.
Experience should be in reverse chronological order (most recent at the top).
Resources:
How Toby DMd his way to a job
Google doc templates (number 3 is my favorite)
Turn your resume into a website
Making a great LinkedIn Profile
Grammarly - for resume editing
The Billion dollar job (from a tweet)
Negotiating Salary
87 Interview questions
Answering Common Interview Questions
Need something else? Follow & Ping me on twitter
@ Quinn_Hanson22
