How to Write a Resume That Will Get You Hired

Resumes may seem old-fashioned, but they are still important tools in the job search process. Unfortunately, many people overcomplicate the resume-writing process, making it harder on themselves to craft one and make an impression on potential employers.

Kamara Toffolo , who is a job search strategist and LinkedIn Top Voice, cuts through all that noise on the latest episode of Get Hired with Andrew Seaman to make the resume-writing process simple and straight-forward for job seekers. She tells LinkedIn Editor Andrew Seaman what people need to know about each section on their resume. Kamara also tackles common questions, including how far back in time you should go on resumes.

A transcript of the conversation is below. You can listen to the episode above or wherever you like to listen, including Apple Podcasts by clicking here .

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TRANSCRIPT: How to Write a Resume That Will Get You Hired

Andrew Seaman: There's perhaps nothing so fundamental to a job search as a resume. If you're diving back into the job market, it's probably time to refresh that old resume that you've been tweaking for too many years. Or maybe you're just starting out staring at a blank screen and unsure of what to write. I get it. Summarizing all of your skills and unique talents into concise bullet points and compelling descriptions can be intimidating, especially when the stakes are so high.

Your resume doesn't need to be fancy or showcase your graphic design prowess, but it does need to present the strongest case for why you're the right person for the job. Today, we're getting back to basics and breaking down resumes from top to bottom. Stick around to hear more.

From LinkedIn News, this is Get Hired, a podcast for the ups and downs and the ever-changing landscape of our professional lives. I'm Andrew Seaman, LinkedIn senior managing editor for jobs and career development, bringing you conversations with experts who like me, want to see you succeed at work, at home, and everywhere in between.

My guest today is Kamara Toffolo. She's one of my favorite people to follow on LinkedIn. Kamara is a job search strategist and resume expert. Today, I'm asking her all of my burning questions about resumes that, well, you probably have too: Should I have a summary? Do employers care about my quirky hobbies? And how am I supposed to fit all of this on one page?

Kamara is here to walk us through best practices for resumes and help us banish myths that might get in our way. Here's Kamara.

Kamara Toffolo: The job of the resume is to market you as the best possible person to fill the business needs that come with the role, the job that's actually being posted. So it's doing the job of representing us in the best possible way.

Andrew: Got it. And for people who are just... They are in normal work area, resumes, curriculum vitaes, CVs, whatever you want to call them, what are the main parts of a resume or a document like that?

Kamara: Yeah, let's walk through what the structure of a resume would look like and kind of what the expectations are of the readers of the resume. So at the top we would certainly have your name and contact information. And so that would include your city and state or province. We don't need full mailing address. It would include your phone number as well as your email address, which I like to recommend having that hyperlinked and then linked to your LinkedIn profile, also hyperlinked.

Usually then, I like to see that followed by a professional summary, and that really is serving as like a mini elevator pitch for the reader. So we're not just going right into work experience, we're giving a little bit of background about the unique value we can bring to the table.

Then we might follow that up with a skill section, and so we're using the skills in their specific names. So if we're applying to a sales job, we might have ‘sales,’ ‘sales strategy,’ so very specific skill names and not explaining the skills, like ‘excellent sales skills.’ We don't need to give that extra.

Then after that, we would get into our professional experience section. That is the bulk of our resume and where we need to devote the most time. And then that would be followed most likely by an education section. Of course, there's extras that we can throw in like community involvement, but those sections that I just mentioned, those are the most important to have on our resume.

Andrew: I think you once told me the best summary of a summary, which is basically you're setting the scene for the rest of the resume.

Kamara: Mm-hmm.

Andrew: If you're making a career change or you're doing something that maybe you're going for a level above where you were, you can sort of make that case very quickly, very succinctly at the top and sort of frame how that person is going to read the rest of your resume.

Kamara: Yeah, I think that's a great interpretation of the value and importance of that section. So usually what I like to recommend as the very first sentence in that professional profile paragraph is to name the type of professional you are, and then I like to follow that up with what you're most known for in terms of adding value or making a difference or contribution at your organization. So ‘sales professional known for driving multimillion dollar growth for SaaS organizations,’ as an example.

Andrew: Mm-hmm.

Kamara: So it just gives, in a single sentence, just a really clear snapshot of what you can do for that organization should you become their next employee. And then what we might also integrate in following sentences would be aspects of our skills and strengths that relate to the role and how, again, we leverage those in order to make a difference. And particularly in people leadership roles, we absolutely want to include a sentence that speaks to our leadership style, possibly the size of teams we're used to leading and what we're known for leading our teams to do.

Andrew: Got it. And then in the skills section, which is going to be much more succinct and targeted, how do you know what to include? And I guess, how many skills should you aim for? Because I've seen some meaty skills sections.

Kamara: I love that term, meaty. So usually I like to cap it at 16. I don't think there's any rule per se, but my cap is usually around 16. Whether I organize it in a centered format or if I organize it in columns, it doesn't look like an overbearing amount of words at that point. Beyond 16, I think we're getting a little excessive. When we do get excessive, it looks like we haven't done our homework.

Andrew: Yeah. And I think a lot of that comes down to knowing what is actually important. Like when I first started in my career, there were some systems that newsrooms use that just don't exist today. I wouldn't put that on my resume now, right?

Kamara: Right. This is often a pitfall I see with folks who are highly technical, like maybe software developers. I occasionally see redundant programming languages or rarely used programming languages that would be irrelevant to the employer. So it's just not adding any value to the resume. We want to make sure we're cutting anything that just is unrelated or irrelevant in terms of our skill section.

Andrew: So then moving on to the experience section. Obviously people, they will put the title, they put the years, the location, the company, and then a short description of the role itself. How do you do that? And also how do you do that so it doesn't take up a ton of space?

Kamara: Yeah, good question. So first of all, I recommend trying to aim for four lines a piece for these short paragraphs. So the first line we want it to focus on what we're overall most responsible for. So in the customer advocate role, probably our first sentence would be, ‘Lead customer service for the, whatever organization.’ So that's kind of the overall mandate. Then we can get into a little bit of extras. So probably leading a team so we can add a sentence about that. And then possibly getting involved in projects, so we can add a sentence about that. But we don't need everything and it certainly doesn't need to read like a job description. We just want to hit the key points, especially as they relate to our target job.

Andrew: Yeah. And then for achievements, how should those be structured and how do you know what actually to include?

Kamara: So we want to use that job posting to our advantage to identify where we want to show the reader that we're skilled. And so then those are the achievements that we prioritize. In terms of writing achievements, I like to recommend the RAC approach, which is leading with the results that you achieved or the positive outcome or positive impact, following that up with the action that you took to achieve that result. And then C is for context, so any additional information the reader might need to fully understand your contribution.

We just want to make sure that we're asking ourselves, "Where did I make an impact for the business and where was it the most impactful or where did it add the most value?" So the best achievements are basically the ones that we want to prioritize on our resume.

Andrew: Yeah. And also I think what you said was so important with the context, because I see a lot of people and companies do this obviously for very legitimate reasons. They'll have internal rewards or internal titles that they give to people, like ‘intrepid sales leader of the quarter’ or something like that. But to people reading that resume, it's like, ‘Oh, that's nice,’ but it doesn't really tell them maybe all the other salespeople suck that year. So I always tell people like, if you got the award, tell them why you got the award.

Kamara: Yeah. This is where contrasting can also become valuable, like, ‘won the intrepid sales leader award…’

Andrew: I would be a very bad awards director for a company.

Kamara: No, I like it. It sounds adventurous.

Andrew: Yes.

Kamara: So ‘won the intrepid sales leader award as a result of outpacing average sales growth by so much percent.’ Or ‘one of 250 sales people to win the award.’

Andrew: Yeah. And also when it comes to writing achievements and highlights and results, there's always going to be the people, because I know I, for most of my career, were one of these people where I'll say, ‘I don't have any numbers.’ So if you fall into that camp, what should you do?

Kamara: Yeah. And that's a lot of us who fall into that camp. We want to get qualitative. It's totally okay to describe a result in words. Of course, numbers are great because digits convey impact really fast, but we can still use words to describe what we've done and what we've achieved and the impact that we've had.

So maybe you don't have a number, but perhaps you built the first process that enabled something at the company. So you just look at another way of describing basically the same results, but without numbers.

Andrew: We'll be right back with Kamara Toffolo. And we're back with job search strategist, Kamara Toffolo.

Andrew: There are a lot of things that go into the experience section that are variables. So just looking at a few of them. I think the first is if you've been in the workforce for a while, how do you handle having a career that spans two or three decades?

Kamara: So it depends on if your early work experience is relevant to where you're going or is so relevant because you are trying to return to an earlier career path. When the work experience is truly relevant but we're worried about going way far back because we're worried about ageism, let's say, then what we can do is we can create like an other-work experience highlight section at the bottom of our professional experience to extract and highlight the best, truly the absolute best highlights from that earlier work experience. So we're not losing it entirely.

What I always worry about is people just cutting because it's old and then we lose maybe a really important part of the story. So just because it's old doesn't make it irrelevant, but there are different strategies that we can use to protect our age and make sure that we're sharing the most important information.

Andrew: And then the other thing is there are people who've been at employers 20 or 30 years, just one single employer, and now they're in the job search. So if you've had a long tenure at a job, how do you get that across on the resume?

Kamara: Mm-hmm. That is challenging. But basically what we want to do is create categories of achievements so that we can show the breadth of skill. So we want to just pick maybe the top three areas of expertise that your target employer, target job wants from you, and then pick your best accomplishments from those categories of skills and strengths. And so that will help us fill space because I think a lot of people feel like they're in the Pam Beesly situation where her resume fits on a Post-it because she only held one job.

Andrew: Got it. And then if you have a career gap, what is your suggestion for handling that?

Kamara: Sure. So I work with a lot of folks who have been recently laid off. We want to make sure that we're being factual and forward-looking, basically. So what that looks like is just an explanation of what happened and just saying something like, ‘I'm ready for my next role as…’ whatever your target role is. So for example, ‘Ready for next role as sales manager following reorganization at whatever company.’

If we're getting into personal reasons for a career gap, so maybe extended parental leave beyond the standard several years, we do need to be a little careful because there is bias around sharing personal reasons for career breaks. So you need to ask yourself, ‘Do I want them to know that I was off raising my family or not?’ So if you don't want them to know, then you can simply say something like, ‘Took planned leave and then ready for next role as whatever.’ Or, ‘Took temporary planned leave,’ so that there's reassurance for the employer that is done, and then, ‘I'm ready for my next thing.’ But it shouldn't be more than a single sentence to explain these career gaps.

Andrew: Yeah, definitely. And then I think the last thing that I want to touch on with the experience section is when it comes to career changers, how do you suggest people make sure that their stuff is relevant, but it makes the case for them?

Kamara: Yeah. So there's a couple different ways we can do that. So we need to reflect on our work experience and achievements and block out the ones to showcase where we are demonstrating the skills and strengths that are required or desired of us in our new target direction. And then we need to also look at connecting the dots, translating what seems like unrelated work experience to help it seem related. And in most cases it is.

So we need to just look at a different way of telling that story and ask yourself like, ‘How do I prove that this accomplishment in my previous job actually demonstrates skills that are required of me, desired of me in my target job?’ So it's totally possible. It just takes some reflection, I should say.

Andrew: Which also should come just anyway, if you're making a career change. You should be doing that in your head anyway to be like, ‘I'm going to have to sell myself to people and how I can do this as a career change.’ So you sort of have to make that case to yourself to get other people on the same page, right?

Kamara: Absolutely. You have to make sure that you're qualified, and so then you just need to make sure that your resume is showing that you're qualified.

Andrew: That kind of goes to the education section. So I guess starting with the degrees and all of that, what is your suggestion? How far back do you go? Do you put high school on there? Do you put your GPA?

Kamara: Yeah, I would prioritize listing your degrees, prioritizing your highest-ranking degree, so to speak. So master's would be listed first, then your undergrad, so bachelor's. If you have a diploma from a college, then that might come up under that. Certificate would be under that. When it comes to high school, I would almost always recommend leaving high school completely off of your resume. If high school is the top education that you received or the highest education you received, then I would eliminate the education section or I would bring in professional education, like training that you did on the job, certifications that you may have taken that relate to your profession.

Andrew: Got it. And then if you decide that you need another section, like you said, for hobbies or other extracurriculars, so say you're super active in a few community organizations or nonprofits, how do you decide what to include, what not to include, or even if to include anything?

Kamara: Sure. So generally speaking, I'm hearing from recruiters that they really don't pay any attention to volunteering community involvement. So I tend to aim to eliminate hobbies and interests. But where I might add in the more personal aspect of things is volunteering or if you're involved in a board or something like that, that's where I might bring it in in a community involvement section.

If we have only one instance of volunteering, like you volunteered in 2022 at a soup kitchen during the holiday time and that's it, we're not going to create a section just for that. It is more so to show ongoing commitment to community. I would be hesitant to include anything that might indicate your religious affiliations and anything that might indicate your parental status because we just don't want to expose ourselves to unnecessary bias, right?

Andrew: That makes complete sense. And then obviously we've covered a lot. We've covered the name, the summary, the skills, the experience, the education, the community involvement stuff, and everyone's probably thinking, ‘How do I include all of that and stay to one page?’

Kamara: So first I want people to make sure they're sharing the best stuff. So I think there's this urge to include everything. We do need to make sure that we're prioritizing what's doing the best job of highlighting our qualifications. So that's where that starts. From a space-saving techniques perspective, there are a few things that we can do to save some space.

We might want to reduce some of the white space, we can make sure that we're not using a huge font. Our font doesn't need to be 12, maybe take it down to an 11-point font. So that's another way to save space. If we're starting to cut entire sections of our resume, the first thing we would want to cut is community involvement. It's adding the least value. And then we would look at where we might be able to trim down our professional experience. So maybe we do get rid of that small paragraph for the earlier roles, and we just use the highlights of achievements. That's okay to do.

So there's a variety of different things that we can do to keep it contained. We also don't need to overly stress about resume link. I've seen a lot of resumes that are three pages. There's no hard set rule around link a resume. So if you're like, ‘No, I'm exactly at three pages, I can't get it any less.’ I'd say just run with your job search and see what happens. I doubt that it would get in your way.

Andrew: Yeah. So basically for most people, one page is not going to be enough. You're going to have to go to two. And then for most people, probably two is enough, but you can go over to three just in case, right?

Kamara: Totally. So a one-page resume would be something that we would see for someone who's a new grad or someone who's very early in their career. I have also done one page for someone who has had the same role for 20 years, let's say. That happens. Then most people, most professionals are going to be on two pages. And then yes, three pages can happen. I see three pages most often where people are in fairly senior roles, so director level and up.

Andrew: Yeah. It's funny because a lot of times the longest resumes that I get are sometimes from recent grads because they throw everything on there. Every first baby tooth fell out or something, and they'll be like, ‘I just can't get it any new shorter.’ And it's like, ‘You just graduated last year, you shouldn't have a five-page resume.’

Kamara: Yeah, right. Oh dear.

Andrew: But yeah, so obviously there's so many different things that we could talk about when it comes to resumes, but is there anything else you want to leave listeners with?

Kamara: I think what I really want to leave listeners with is to just make sure that when you are writing your resume, that it is properly reflecting the impact that you've had at work. That is what you should keep in mind throughout the entire writing journey of your resume. Is this properly showcasing how I made an impact or made a difference in my role? And is this properly reflecting that I'm qualified for what I'm applying to? Everything else is kind of extra. So we just really want to make sure that our resume is covering the basics in order to best set us up for success.

Andrew: Kamara, thank you so much for joining us. I always enjoy our conversations and I hope everyone hears and understands now why you are one of my favorite people on LinkedIn.

Kamara: Aww. Thank you for having me. It's always so much fun talking to you. I love it.

Andrew: That was Kamara Toffolo, a job search strategist and LinkedIn top voice. Before you go, I want to hear your job search horror stories. Send me a message or voice note sharing your story to gethired(at)linkedin.com, and you could be featured in an upcoming episode.

If you're leaving today's conversation with a new learning to apply to your job search or career, I'd also like to invite you to write about it in a review on Apple Podcast. Our team really enjoys reading what you learn from our shows, plus it helps other people discover our community.

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And of course, don't forget to click that follow or subscribe button to get our podcasts delivered to you every Wednesday because we'll be continuing these conversations on the next episode right here, wherever you like to listen. Get Hired is a production of LinkedIn News. The show is produced by Grace Rubin and Emily Reeves. Assaf Gidron engineered our show. Joe DiGiorgi mixed our show. Dave Pond is our head of news production. Enrique Montalvo is our executive producer. Courtney Coupe is the head of original programming for LinkedIn. Dan Roth is the editor-in-chief of LinkedIn. And I'm Andrew Seaman. Until next time, stay well and best of luck.