I’ve Reviewed Thousands of Resumes: Everyone Could Use These 4 Tips

Your resume serves many purposes—only one of which is finding a new job. When you’re looking to be nominated for an award, picking up freelance work, or asking for a promotion, people will generally expect to review a current resume to get a sense of your overall career experience. Of course, if you are considering a new job, you’ll want to present yourself as a strong candidate via your resume before they even meet you. As a hiring manager, I’ve reviewed hundreds (maybe thousands) of resumes. As a mentor and career friend, I’ve offered advice to countless people who landed their dream jobs. Here are my top four tips for your resume.

1.     Tell Your Story

Your resume is a chance to showcase what you’ve accomplished in your career. Talk about what you did to make a difference to an organization. I love to format bullets as, “[Action Verb] X to achieve Y.” For example: “Developed program that resulted in increased efficiency by 15%.”

Hiring managers want to see how you distinctly added value to the role, what new processes you developed, or what awards you’ve received. This isn’t about your job description or what you were “responsible for.” As a matter of fact, take out any “Responsible for” and replace with action verbs like, “Created”, “Developed”, or “Launched.” This is not the time to dial down your awesomeness. On the other hand, ensure what you include is legitimately something you’ve done yourself, because you’re presenting both your job qualifications and your integrity as a candidate.

2.     Quantify Everything

This is my most important tip for your resume. Tell me the story of what you did in numbers. Did you staff two events or 200? Did you close deals worth $7,000 or $7 million? Did you save the organization $1,000 or $10,000? Talk about what you increased, saved, or added. Review your resume and see where else you can add in numbers or figures. Don’t worry if you’ve never done the exact job before you’re applying for. This is a great chance to show your experience can relate to what you aspire to do. When I worked in retail for seven months while I pursued a full-time job in development—a job that is based on raising money and building long-term relationships—I was able to add to my resume that I was the top sales producer and increased overall customer retention by 10%.

3.     Keep Things in Order

Put your experience first and your education second. Even if you’re a more recent college graduate, you’ll want to showcase your work and volunteer experience, which will be most relatable to a job. List your jobs in reverse chronological order, so the most recent experience is on top. Bonus tip: When you’re deciding what to bold or italicize on your resume, remember your job title or function is more important than where you worked, because it’s about you and what you did, so highlight that part.

4.     Drop the Class Years

Whether you recently graduated or graduated 15 years ago, take the class years off your resume. (While you’re at it, take this off your LinkedIn, too!) At some point, you’re either going to be seen as too young or too old for a role. I wish this weren’t the case, but it’s true. Why give someone a reason to reconsider whether you’re right for the job before you’ve even had a chance to meet them?

Spend 15 minutes updating your resume as a way to invest in yourself. I’m a firm believer that luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Having your resume prepared is your chance to be ready when opportunity comes along—or better yet to create it for yourself. 

Shanna A. Hocking