No matter what industry you’re in or how long you’ve been working, pretty much everyone dreads creating and updating their resume. How long should it be? How do you stand out among hundreds of other applicants? What will help you get that first interview?
We spoke to three seasoned recruiters who have seen their fair share of resumes over the years. Read on for the top resume tips from Executive Recruiting Leadership Kim Rawlings, Head of GCO Talent Acquisition Justin McKenna, and Head of People Technology Tavish Ledesma.
What is your process when you first look at a resume?
- Tavish: One of the very first things to think about when you’re building your resume is keeping things concise, having lots of white space, and having some very clearly delineated bullet points that really succinctly summarize what your accomplishments are — because a recruiter may not have time to read through paragraphs and huge blocks of text when they’re looking at potentially hundreds of applicants for a job.
What do you look out for when you see a resume for the first time?
- Justin: The key things I look for are clarity of information and simplicity of presentation. How does an individual present their experience and how do they extract the key, valuable items from within that experience and present them clearly in the right place?
What stands out to you on applicants’ resumes?
- Kim: For me, it’s a lot about the impact that they’ve made. I also like to see people highlight in their tenures if they’ve changed jobs or taken on new roles, the impacts that they’ve made within those roles and the partnerships that they’ve gained. Cross-functional collaboration is huge wherever you go, so if you have examples of that it’s super helpful. If your role is in tech, mentioning what tech stacks you’ve worked on and what you’re most experienced with there is important. And in sales, mentioning some of the targets you’ve hit and leadership team sizes is great.
What do the resumes of top applicants have in common?
- Tavish: I’ve been a professional for 18 years now, and I still have a one-page resume, and I only include the meaty details of some of my more recent accomplishments. A recruiter can always ask about previous history that’s not included on your resume, so definitely be succinct and keep things to one page if at all possible. Secondly, if you’re technical in nature, include a bulleted list of the technical skills that you have. Many times, recruiters may search by keywords like Python, so you want to have that bulleted list so your resume will show up in those search results.
- Justin: They’re very well-structured, and crystal clear in how you can really see the valuable information from their experience. I also think that top applicants take the time to tailor their experience and their resume to the particular role and company they’re applying for. They understand the nature of the role they’re applying for and what’s happening in the company, and reach into their experience and bring forward what’s most relevant to the company at that time.
Want more ideas on how you can up your resume game, plus other advice from the pros? Check out their application tips video on our Instagram here.
