Resume Writing

Your resume must specifically address the industry or industries you’re targeting and the position(s) you want. So I want to share five questions you can answer to help you get clear before you start writing your resume:

Q1: What role am I targeting?

Your resume needs to be geared towards one specific position. Employers want to hire specialists, not generalists. You need to position yourself for a specific role if you want to get noticed.

Q2: What companies am I targeting?

Knowing the company, you are targeting helps you narrow your research and be more specific in your writing. You can speak to the company’s pain points when you’ve researched them and know what they need.

Q3: What challenges are they facing?

As you write resume bullets, you want them to show you’ve faced and overcome similar challenges, make sure to include results. Metrics, if you have them, are important to include.

Q4: What skills are critical to success?

The answer to this question tells you exactly which keywords and hard skills you need to include on your resume. We just went over where to find those keywords and hard skills in my first tip.

Q5: How do I add value?

Your resume must show how you can add value in a way that means something to the employer. Focus on accomplishments that resonate with your target company and meet their needs. Not every accomplishment has to be tied to revenue. If you can answer how you add value, you have accomplishments to write about on your resume.

Everyone adds value. If they didn’t, the job wouldn’t exist. How is your performance evaluated? How is the role assessed?

Once you’re clear, you must do two crucial things:

1. Include the target job title at the top of your resume so there is no question in the recruiter’s mind about which role you want.
2. Include the industry you’re targeting in your career snapshot/summary section. This can be easily changed as you apply to different industries, but it lets the hiring manager know you’re targeting their industry.

One of the most common mistakes job seekers make is using generalized resume advice, but with my Resume-In-A-Day Workshop, you’ll learn how to create a personalized resume that showcases your unique skills and experience and gets you noticed by hiring managers.

Get Noticed So You’ll Get Hired

Ok, so all of the previous tips I’ve shared are geared toward doing two things.

1. Making your resume discoverable in applicant tracking systems.
2. Standing out once your resume is in the hiring manager’s hands.

This last tip will offer additional strategies for getting your resume noticed so you get interviews and get hired.

First, a great resume is only half the job-search battle. You must also actively connect with employees and hiring managers at your target companies. Thanks to LinkedIn, this is relatively easy.

A quick way to do this is to look for the hiring team when applying to a job on LinkedIn. LinkedIn will now include a link to the profile of the person who is posting the job or responsible for hiring for the role. If you have LinkedIn Premium, you can send them an InMail message. If you don’t, you can see if you’re a second-degree connection, in which case you can message them.

I advise that you send them a note after you apply to the role, letting them know you applied and why you believe it’s a good fit. Focus on experience and values, and keep the message short.

Not every hiring manager will respond. It’s a 20 – 40% response rate, but it sure beats the apply + wait + get ghosted stuff happening all the time in today’s market.

While doing that, you can also examine your job search from another angle. Head to the company’s LinkedIn page, and check out their People tab to see employees. Look through the list and see if there’s anyone you’re already connected to — a fellow alum or someone else, like a group member with whom you share a connection. Then, request an informational interview.

Do not ask for a job or a referral. Your goal is to gather information and advice if a referral comes of your conversation; GREAT! But your goal is to gather more information to see if the company/industry/role fits you and to get advice from someone in the industry/company on how they found success.

You will be surprised how many people are willing to help when you ask for a favor, and once you get to know each other, how many are willing to offer names of others you can speak to or who might give a referral for an open role.

One last tip: Find and follow your target company’s page on LinkedIn. Then, engage with what they post — whether that’s an ad, content, or something else. LinkedIn spotlights you as a candidate when you apply to a job if you’re engaged with that company on the site. It alerts the hiring manager that you’re more likely to respond if they reach out to you about a role, which makes you stand out even more as an applicant.