Your Resume Sucks.

Yeah, I said it and I'll say it again: Your resume sucks.

I don't do resume reviews anymore.I sold that company back before the pandemic. Even so, y'all still want help. So read this.

Here's why your resume sucks:

1. Bad template: You pulled a template that is hard to read. No, it's not really Marissa Mayer's resume, it was a marketing stunt by a company that sells resumes.
2. Wrong target: Your resume doesn't speak to the right audiences. You wrote it for the hiring manager but forgot the three other audiences. Most of you can't get your resume directly into the hands of a hiring manager. Tough truth.
3. Bad advice: Your cousin's friend who works in HR reviewed your resume...and they don't work in your field.
4. "Responsible for": You cut and paste your job description. Get rid of it. List your accomplishments.

Here's one of the big problems: No matter what you do with resumes, someone will believe you're wrong. HR looks at resumes one way. The hiring manager looks at them differently. Applicant tracking systems are getting better, but most HR companies don't invest into the systems to get what they really need. Oh, and there's no standard to train junior recruiters or job applicants.

So if the four audiences all have their own idea of what a good resume looks like, what do you do?

Your goal is to be the least wrong possible.

There's absolutely a target that will get you to where you need to be.

Here's a snapshot from an article that I wrote on this topic in 2019. It's still valid. I read almost every resume book on the market to try and find similarities. I learned that there is NO STANDARD and no one agrees:

So how can you be the least wrong?

I'm agree with Marc Cenedella on how to be the least wrong / most correct. Marc said in the Ladders Resume Guide 2019 that you need to consider four primary audiences when you write a resume:

1. Junior HR professionals
2. Hiring Managers
3. Applicant Tracking Systems
4. Recruiters

Marc believes (and I agree) that you need to thread the needle between the four audiences.

Here's what I recommend:

1. Start with a template that is friendly for ATS (applicant tracking systems). That means, no color, no hyperlinks, no special characters like ; | \ { + = * - _, no horizontal lines, no columns, etc. Want a #free and #open source template to use as a starting place? I wrote that I no longer maintain that is very close to the least wrong. It's on Github here: stephensemmelroth/Resume Template.
2. Write your first draft for the hiring manager. Use accomplishments and write in the [past tense verb] + [action] + [result / outcome] format.
3. Scrub the content and simplify it in a way that junior HR professionals and recruiters can read and understand.
4. Here's a an example template that goes much deeper on some tips and strategy: stephensemmelroth/Resume Guidance.
5. If you really want to go off into the deep end and dive into a more technical analysis, go here: Analyzing the Art of the Technical Resume.

Just to reiterate: I DON'T DO RESUME REVIEWS ANYMORE.

But I also want to make your life better.

So take this to heart and if it's useful: pay it forward.

Go forth and prosper.