Honestly, a blank page with some empty bullet points might not be the worst resume I’ve ever seen. It’s still not getting you an interview.
I have had the distinct privilege of being a hiring manager for a little over a decade. I say “privilege,” because I can’t think of many responsibilities that have such a large impact on an organization. Having the authority to pick who becomes a part of your company or organization gives you the power to shift the culture of your team and ultimately your entire company. That’s not a tool that should be wielded lightly or carelessly. In fact, lots of organizations (including my university) are realizing this and requiring that managers use a hiring committee to make a recommendation to them, which has a lot of benefits.
In my role I get to see a fair number of resumes, and I have developed some strong opinions about what I like and don’t like to see in them. This week, I thought I’d go into some of the stuff I look for and some warning signs that I’ve seen in resumes. In a lot of ways, this post will hopefully distill much of the advice that I’ve given over the years when people have asked me to look at their resumes and provide some feedback.
Of course, I should provide some caveats and disclaimers up front. These are simply my opinions, and mangers are people – which means there is wide variance in what someone looking at your resume is looking for. Put differently, that means that if you’re trying to land a job for someone who isn’t like me - this advice could potentially be counterproductive.
So, without any further introduction, here are my top observations I’ve made over the years. I hope they’re helpful.
Make it look like you care
Car ads used to be a lot simpler. And so did resumes. You need to up your game in 2021 - show me why your “car” is the one I should buy!
First, let’s talk about the easy stuff. If I look at your resume and think that you threw it together in a few minutes carelessly, I’m going to assume that the work you’re going to do for me is going to be equally haphazard or careless. Your resume is a marketing tool for you. For the same reason that General Motors puts millions of dollars into their brochures and websites to make them really pop and look awesome to sell cars, you should be trying to do the same thing to sell me your product, which is you.. If your resume looks like garbage, I’m going to have the same reaction to it that you would have if a product’s website was hosted on GeoCities: I’m looking elsewhere.
What does this mean in practical terms? Good question. Let’s go through some of the stuff that I look for:
Did you edit it? Look, if you misspell things in your resume, I’m going to assume that your communication skills are poor or you don’t care enough to check your work – both equally bad. I once had a resume where the candidate misspelled their own name. Twice. In different ways.
Did you make the fonts easy to read? Are the fonts easy to read and not Courier New? Do you use bolding appropriately? If you use too many weird fonts, or make it hard to read, I’m going to think you are too erratic for disciplined IT work.
Did you properly format company and product names? If you tell me that you are an expert in MACs, and you mean Macs, we’re going to have an uncomfortable conversation when we meet. Similarly, if you write it as Vmware, I’m going to think that you have never logged into vCenter before.
Design: does it look good? Did you lay it out well and make sure that margins and spacing are consistent? Is the color use jarring? Obviously, this one is subjective to some degree, and you could argue that it’s a superficial thing. I counter that by saying that every tool you would write a resume with in 2021 has templates that will look good if all you do is fill in information about you - so there aren’t any excuses for horrible looking resumes. I recently saw one that was one solid block of text that was clearly put together in Notepad or something. I was not impressed.
Tell me what you accomplished
If you have summited Everest, don’t just tell me that you hike. I want to know what you accomplished!
This seems so simple as to almost be foolish. Isn’t that what resumes are for, to document your career so someone else can see what you’ve done and where you’ve been? Well, yes – but you can either do this in a way that lets me see evidence that you’re great or in a way that obscures it.
For an example, let’s go back to our GM brochure. Let’s say that the brochure is for the latest all-electric SUV that they’re introducing to the market. They could say “holds seven people,” or they could say “the only electric SUV with space for your whole family and luggage under $30,000.” Do you see the difference? The first is technically accurate, but it doesn’t tell me why it’s exciting. The second option clearly showed why the car is special and unique. I advise you to not simply list out what you’ve done, but explain why that is something that a potential employer would want to talk about.
In a very similar way, I really don’t want to just hear about your responsibilities at a job role. Anyone can have responsibilities. The fry cook that got fired from McDonald’s for deep frying a Big Mac in his first week had responsibilities – he was just very bad at them. In most cases, I’d rather have someone who had less (or more junior) responsibilities and knocked them out of the park than someone with more senior level responsibilities that barely squeaked by.
Bottom line: I don’t want to hear so much about your responsibilities or a reprint of the job description you just left. I want to know what accomplishments you had while in that role. So instead of saying “responsible for data center management” tell me why you were good at it. Maybe that’s something like “returned 50% of the data center budget back to the business by renegotiating support contracts.” For a VDI engineer, I’d like to see something like “automated pool creation and upkeep, resulting in labor savings equivalent to 50% of an FTE.” Wow! I want to talk to you about that – maybe you can do that for us. Congratulations! You just landed an interview.
Put the most important thing towards the top.
Generally, a resume should have the information that is most important or relevant to the job you are seeking at the top of the document. If you’ve been in the field for 25 years, I don’t need to see your high school information at the top, it’s just not that relevant. However, your technical skills likely are quite relevant, so I like to see those somewhere near the top - even ahead of the list of your experience.
Make sure that your resume starts with the most impactful stuff. If you are Tim Berners-Lee, don’t put “I invented the World Wide Web” at the end of the second page. Maybe make that front and center.
IT certifications are tricky, and I haven’t fully decided where I think they make the most sense. You could make a strong argument that they should be at the top if you’re trying to highlight them, but I don’t think you need to highlight them if you have a good amount of in-the-field experience. I would only move certifications to the top if that’s your top-rated feature.
Some people like to put an “objective” at the top, but I don’t see any point in this at all. If I’m looking at your resume, your objective had better be to get the job you’re applying for. If your objective says that you want to start your own travel agency, I’m probably not going to give you too much consideration as an IT professional. I may ask if you know how to get discount plane tickets to Disney World, though.
Instead of an objective, I tend to like a brief narrative or introduction that tells me a little bit about what you feel your strengths and specialties are. My advice is to make sure this summary lines up particularly well with the job you’re applying for. Don’t go too crazy on this part; it’s not a replacement of your cover letter. I’m not looking for an essay, but rather something like an executive summary of the document. An elevator pitch, so to speak.
Think again about our SUV brochure; if the killer feature is how well it does off-road, we want that to be the first thing we see. We don’t want to bury it towards the bottom with the option packages. I would suggest you consider what your “top feature” is and put that right at the top.
Show me your whole self
It can be hard to work volunteer experience or side hustles into a resume, but I’d encourage you to do so. I personally have grown immensely from volunteering, and I enjoy seeing what else people do with their time. In fact, often these roles provide a substantial boost to office skills. Do you lead a Scout troop? That’s leadership skills right there – let me know that. Spend time volunteering as a VMUG Leader (or as some other industry group leader) in your city? That’s passion for your industry and craft – and also a ton of project management experience. Do you teach at the vocational school at night? Communications skills for days! My point is that many of these things bring additional development and characteristics to you, so don’t hide them.
Your resume’s job is to get you to this table. After that it’s up to you.
Finally, before I end this post, let me acknowledge that the purpose of a resume is not to get you hired - it’s to get you an interview. You don’t need to cram in exhaustive detail about everything you’ve ever done; you just need to give me a reason to think “this person could be a great to talk to.” Let’s go back to our example of the brochure for GM’s latest vehicle. Its purpose is to get you to a dealership to look at one; its purpose is not to get you to write a check. It’s the same thing with a resume; you just need to get me interested enough to meet you. Once you have the interview, that’s your chance to “close the deal.” Just please, whatever you do, don’t make me sit with that guy in the “finance” office.
Ultimately, your resume should be a reflection of you and so most hiring managers that I’ve spoken with will treat it as such. If it’s well thought out, precisely organized, and polished – I’m going to make the assumption that you are as well. If it’s really rough, I’m going to think you likely are as well. In fact, I was speaking to another hiring manager recently who interviewed someone who had a poor resume because they were having a tough time finding candidates. After the interview they were shocked; the candidate turned out to be awesome despite the weak resume. I bet that candidate might have had other opportunities to interview if their resume was better.
I hope you find this advice useful if you’re looking for your next role. I’m confident that if you take these ideas into consideration, your resume will be an awesome brochure that will get employers really excited about signing on the dotted line to add you to their team.
Questions for reflection:
When’s the last time you refreshed your resume? Do you update it annually to make sure it’s current? Have you had a trusted colleague look at it and provide feedback?
Is your resume a proper reflection of who you are and what you bring to a position? Does some of your personality show?
Put yourself in a hiring manager’s shoes. You have limited time and need to find the best candidate for the job. Would you want to interview someone with your resume? Why or why not?