Disclaimer: This blog is independently written and published by me. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.
Your resume is perhaps the most important document that you will ever write, but so few of us craft it to its full potential. As a hiring manager, I have reviewed thousands of resumes and as a mentor, I have coached students and friends on how to improve their resumes. To begin with, it’s important to understand the objectives of your resume.
Take a moment to think about the desired outcomes of your resume:
You are moved to the phone screen / interview stage by the resume screener (could be HR, the hiring manager, or the recruiter)
Sets the initial impression of you as positive as possible
Conveys positive attributes about yourself through its presentation
Influences what questions will be asked of you during the interview
After screening hundreds of resumes, here is my advice on common pitfalls to avoid:
1. You’ve written a multi-page professional biography
The purpose of your resume is not to relay your professional biography, it’s to get you to the interview stage. No one will spend 30 minutes deciphering your novel of a resume. A lengthy resume, however, will cause cognitive load, and lead the reader may simply move on to the next resume that’s easier to parse.
Reviewers look at dozens of resumes in one sitting and will only spend a few seconds looking at your resume. They will glance at your resume and look for keywords (hint: these keywords can be found in the job description itself). All they want to know is simply — does it appear that you can do the job? If you haven’t demonstrated that in the first 5 seconds, they move on.
What I recommend is to remove all distracting content and limit your resume to one page. Yes — ONE page. If you’ve reduced enough content about 50% of the page should consist of white space. Yes, that means that HALF the pixels on the page should have absolutely NOTHING on it.
It is critical that you radically simplify your content so that you don’t overload the reviewer. When the viewer sees large amounts of text, their brain doesn’t know where to focus and they may miss the important information (also my favorite principal of UX design). Here are some examples of well-designed resumes with ample white space:
If you can’t simplify your own resume, you’re not demonstrating that you can do a job that requires prioritization skills. For that reason, I deeply hesitate to interview any Product Manager that has longer than a 2 page resume even if their experience is relevant.
At minimum, please — PLEASE — do not end your resume using a quarter of a page. Any additional pages should deserve to exist, otherwise reduce and remove the page.
Tips for simplifying your content
About 60–75% of your text should be reserved for your experience section. Consider only adding descriptions for your last 3 jobs. For your current job description, use 5 bullet points or less, drop that to 3 bullets or less for your previous 2 jobs. For jobs prior to that, simply list your title, the company name, and the dates you worked there. Add adequate spacing between each job listed (10pt minimum) and and use slightly larger spacing between your major sections. Your margins should not only exist but be at least an inch on all sides.
2. Your content doesn’t fit the job description
If you’re applying for a position as an iPhone developer, don’t go into depth about the projects that you did in 8 other languages. Ensure that your resume screams iOS. Your first bullet point should list your iPhone development work. Don’t make the recruiter hunt to find it because they won’t.
Everything on your resume should demonstrate that you can do the job as it is listed in the job description. That may mean spending extra time to tailor your resume to each job description. Other details, like that you’re fluent in C#, are of low importance and should be removed as not to distract.
Look at the job description and for each skill listed, add a bullet on your resume with examples of how you’ve illustrated that skill. Mimic the tone of the job description. If a good culture-fit is highlighted, you might consider adding some of your hobbies to your resume.
3. You’re hiding the key points
What are the top 5 things you want the recruiter and hiring-manager to know about you? Write them down on a separate piece of paper (avoid including generic things like “I’m a hard worker”). Are you getting these points across in your resume?
Perhaps you want to showcase that you went to a top engineering school or that you won a prestigious award. In general though, you want to highlight that you are credible in your field: your titles and where you have worked. These are easy ones to just make bold.
Using bold wisely though — do not bold random words or phrases within a description as it truly looks hideous. Instead, make the important information the first thing you read in that section and eliminate any other content that distracts or doesn’t add significant value.
Test your new resume out by flashing it to a friend for a few seconds and then ask them what information they remember. Did they see any of your top 5 things?
4. You’re simply listing duties
Wherever possible, highlight your accomplishments rather than simply listing your duties — ask yourself how did you succeed in this job? For example, if you’re a social media strategist, don’t just list “ran social media campaigns”, include the key results, “that resulted in 2x sign ups per day” Showing your impact will make you stand out.
5. You’re repeating the same content for each work experience
Your resume should show a progression of skills learned and an increase in responsibility over time. You don’t need to repeat that you ‘write functional specifications’ and ‘run daily scrum’ under each of your past jobs. Each section should present new information.
6. You have typos and poor formatting
Proofread your resume and then proofread it again and then get someone else to proofread it for you. It is shocking that almost all resumes have spelling errors and inconsistency issues like these:
Ending some sentences with periods and not others.
Abbreviating some months and not others. Use ‘February’ and ‘March’ or ‘Feb’ and ‘Mar’ but do not use ‘Feb’ and ‘March’ together.
Using short hyphens ‘-’ with long hyphens ‘－’ within the same context, particularly in date ranges. Stick with one type please.
Using inconsistent spacing around hyphens. Always use a space before and after a hyphen.
Capitalizing Some Words and not others — Like I’m Doing right Now. Pick a sentence Case and use it Consistently.
Using sloppy alignment. Ensure your dates line up nicely. It can be tricky to do but gosh darn-it I know you can do it. I use an invisible table in Word.
Using different size bullets all over the place. You are screaming that you have no attention to detail.
Using too many fonts, silly looking fonts, or inconsistency with font sizing.
7. You’re using a MS Word Template
If you’re using some template that you found online or on Word, you’re likely not doing yourself any favors. Horizontal line dividers are a common component of these templates and they make the page look outdated and busy. Use white space as a natural divider instead. Watch your fonts — use something respectable and stick to one or two types. Absolutely do not use clipart. Unless you’re a designer, stay away from company logos or contact info icons on your resume. They typically look cheesy and date your resume.
I’ve passed over seemingly qualified applicants simply because their resumes were eye sores. If I’m looking to hire a Product Manager with UX and UI responsibilities, how can I trust someone with an unsightly resume to manage the design of our website?
8. You’re not including your Linkedin information
If a hiring manager is interested in you they will look you up on LinkedIn. So do them a favor and make it easy — add your LinkedIn information directly to your resume. Ensure your LinkedIn photo is a professional headshot, not something odd, creepy, or unprofessional (it happens more than you think), and that you have some great peer recommendations on there. If you have a portfolio or website, link to it.
9. You’re using LinkedIn to apply to jobs
When a recruiter looks at resumes that have been submitted via LinkedIn, they appear as .txt files. This means that the recruiter sees a dump of unformatted text (ruining all the effort you went to in steps 1–8 above). This may be ok for automated keyword matching, but it’s not good for human eyes. It is so difficult to read .txt files generated from candidates applying via LinkedIn that I often don’t bother with them. Besides that, applying through LinkedIn shows that you are mass-applying and aren’t really that interested in my company. Go to the extra effort of applying on the company’s site using a PDF and do include a cover letter.
10. You’re submitting a MS Word doc instead of a PDF
Are you using a Word file for both your resume and cover letter? You’re making a huge mistake. Here’s why: When I open up a word file, I’ll see all the red underlining from spell check and it appears to me like it’s still in draft mode. Simply save your Word file as a PDF. It’s easy, it is critical — there is no excuse.
11. You’re using bad file names
Did you know that recruiters can see what you name your files? So don’t do use names like this: “Johnson_June_2016_forGoogle.pdf” or “MyResumeV4.pdf”. This can appear like you are applying to several places and it also just simply looks unpolished. A recruiter or hiring manager may choose to download your file so stick to something simple like “HenryJohnsohnCV.pdf”. This goes for your cover letter also.
12. Your cover letter is absent
Don’t have a cover letter? Some hiring managers (like me) may take this as demonstrating a lack of enthusiasm. It sends the message that you don’t care much about the role. Cover letters take time but do make a difference. If a hiring manager is on the fence about you, a strong cover letter can tip things in your favor.
13. You’re including your fraternity affiliation
Unless you know that the hiring manager was in your fraternity, I would suggest leaving off your Kappa Sigma whatever affiliation. It may actually work against you when the hiring manager may imagine colorful fraternity life in their head.
14. You’re using 1st or 3rd person
Avoid using personal pronouns in your resume such as ‘I’, ‘me’, or ‘my’ as it may come across like you’re taking all the credit and not a team player. Don’t jump to referring to yourself in the 3rd person either: “Margot is a Program Manager with 20 years experience..” as it may come across pretentious (Fortune 500 CEOs can get away with that, but you probably can’t). Instead just omit the pronouns and simply write something like: “developed a virtual reality game generating $50,000 in sales.”
15. You’re including your less than stellar GPA
No one is forcing you to put your GPA on your resume. Most hiring managers won’t notice if it’s not there. Only add your GPA if it’s a 3.8 or above. Don’t give someone a reason to think you’re not smart.
16. You’re listing MS Word in your skills section
Iit’s 2020 — knowing MS Word equates to knowing how to tie your shoes. Unless it’s explicitly listed in the job description, remove this as a skill.
Remember that a skill doesn’t have to be a software program. It could be anything — Brainstorming, Leadership, Innovation, Social Media Marketing, Tai Chi, Improv Comedy, Dog Whisperer etc.
What sets you apart? Write that.