A great resume stands out and puts you above the rest of the candidates from the very start. You need to write a great resume to introduce yourself to HR recruiters, the hiring supervisor, or the manager and convince the company to hire you no matter what.
You won’t get any interviews if you don’t have an outstanding resume. I have looked at hundreds and hundreds of resumes for nearly a decade, watched other bosses look at resumes, and how HR handles resumes. You can get a job or lose a job based on one tiny sentence or missing period on that document so let’s work to get you ahead of the rest of the candidates with a resume that pops!
What I Am Looking at as a Boss With Your Resume
I have never met you. This resume is the only information I have about you, but it can tell me everything. If it doesn’t appear you have put a lot of time and effort into your resume I am not really sure you want the job. If you started a resume today for a job you found online, you haven’t had enough time. This resume is a commercial or ad to sell yourself to me. Don’t make me switch the channel to someone else, keep me interested from start to finish.
Resume Tips
If you are applying to a great company you are going to have some stiff competition. Some months my company gets 6,000 resumes. If you want to work for the best you better present yourself as someone that fits with the best and stands out from the thousands of folks who are applying.
- Make it one page – If it is longer than one page I hope you didn’t put anything important on the other pages because I’m likely not getting to it.
- Sell yourself hard up top – I am looking at hundreds of resumes or sometimes HR is looking at hundreds and only passing along the best. The best information to make you stand out better be at the top where my eyes go when I start reading. Non-pertinent information at the top makes me fall asleep on you.
- Perfect Spelling – Did you know computers have spell check? Apparently, not everyone does. Instant no.
- No weird fonts or change in fonts and sizes – I am a business not your best friend from junior high to pass cutesy notes. Keep it professional. Too weird and I’m going to print it off and pin it to my wall to laugh at and show others who come into my office.
- Customize your resume for each job you are applying for – If I work for Google and see a resume come in that is titled John Smith adobe resume.pdf I am not going to be happy.
- Have a current resume – Just like the one above if you are too lazy to update it and it is 2023 but your resume says John’s resume is 2020, it shows me you just don’t care. Don’t give me any reason to think you don’t care and are lazy!
- Keep it clean and clear to read – Don’t jam-pack your resume so full of details that it looks like one giant paragraph. Clear, concise, to the point, and one sentence per bullet point.
- Make sure it matches LinkedIn – I am going to check LinkedIn and Facebook and everything else I can to find out about you. I better be impressed at what I find out there. It also better matches exactly what is on LinkedIn or it will make me wonder which information is correct and why they are different.
Resume Items I Love to See as a Boss
- How many people have you supervised in the past, if applicable?
- How big of a budget have you been in charge of in the past?
- How much money have you saved your company and how?
- What new ideas or products have you created and the impact on your company?
- Have you increased sales and how.
- How is your employee retention within your division?
What I Don’t Need to See on Your Resume
- References available upon request – No duh…don’t waste space to tell me that.
- GPA – (this is totally a personal preference of mine) I honestly don’t care about school. Some people are good at tests and some are good at work. I care about work and as your boss, I am your teacher now. We’ll contact prior bosses to see if you work, GPA doesn’t tell me too much about the business world. Again this is totally my own preference and does not apply to all. If you have been out of school for a long time your GPA doesn’t apply as much as your work history.
- A big paragraph describing your personal work philosophy or goals – Can’t tell you how many times I have read “Dedicated, a hard-working employee looking for great fit inside of top company who is ready to hit the ground running and add a lot to your team” or something like that. It’s so generic and really doesn’t add to my information. If you are going to give me information it better be amazing to take up space on your resume.
- Mistakes – One little mistake in spelling, company name, or just an overall bad resume style stands out more than a great resume. I can still remember the worst resumes I have seen because they were just awful. I like to print them off and show them to others that come into my office. One mistake and I’m done with you. Your resume should be perfect.
Make Your Resume Look Like You Are the Best
You shouldn’t expect amazing results from small efforts in life and it is the same with your resume. It should be outstanding from top to bottom. I’d personally show it around to lots of other people, especially bosses and HR people to have them pick it apart. Again mediocre work on your resume tells me you are uninterested and lazy.
If you aren’t getting a lot of interest I would change it up. I always like to see more information from your latest job than jobs from 10 years ago.
Network Like Your Life Depends on It
Just because you have a great resume doesn’t mean the work is over. Sending it off into internet oblivion doesn’t mean you shouldn’t network like crazy. You need to establish contacts while in school and work on those for the rest of your career.
Any little “in” with someone goes a long way in anything you try to do in life. Usually, networking is a lot more important than your grades. Although you should strive to be the best at anything you do. Then you can worry about investing and becoming rich. Life is about relationships and selling/proving yourself to others.
