I want to dispel two falsehoods right off the bat: First, I have heard all the arguments that “resumes are dead,” “you don’t need a resume if you have an online portfolio,” and “it’s who you know.” Here is my counter: I can still get anyone a job with a $10k raise, improved benefits and flexibility, or starting in a new industry by writing them a stellar resume. I have achieved these results for folks with professions that you may assume use standard resumes, like nursing and teaching, as well as those you assume are who-you-knows, like management consulting, or online-portfolio-preferred, like marketing.
In reality, certain industries are now accepting alternatives to resumes. If you want to advance in a particular field quickly, creating a larger brand for yourself that conveys your unique skills in an exciting way is optimal. But if you are looking for a typical full-time job, an outstanding resume is still your ticket to an interview.
The second falsehood I need to dispel is that you need to send out a ridiculous number of job applications (with your resume attached) because the job market, especially in certain industries like tech, is so saturated right now. This is incorrect. Submitting a resume 100 times to 100 jobs is a waste of your time, and you will not get a single callback because that resume is not tailored to the job. Instead, you should look to send 5–10 resumes tailored to specific positions or extremely similar positions. If your resume does not get you an interview after ten applications, it either is not tailored specifically to the jobs to which you are applying or you do not have the right experience for these positions.
I can tailor my own resume to show a quantitative-focused data analytics expert, a published author and subject-matter expert in a niche field (and I can toggle that expertise between a couple different fields), an educator or instructor who can confidently teach diverse audiences from high schoolers to defense officials, and many other personas that exist through combining these qualities. Being able to sell these qualities is a big reason I was able to create my own job, but doing the same can help you create a standout resume, even if you have less experience.
Step 1: Find Your Ideal Job Posting
Search job postings and identify one that would be your ideal next job. This does not mean the CEO position you want to secure in ten years; find the job that is a big—but possible—step up from your current situation. If you are reworking your resume to make a career field switch, find a job that is realistic given your limited experience but that would still make you feel fulfilled.
This job description does not have to be for a current opening. If you saw your dream job a year ago, did not feel ready to apply, but saved the job description, that will work! Additionally, if you can find 2–5 of your ideal job postings, that is even better. It will give you a better idea of what your ideal employers are seeking in employees and make it possible to tailor your resume to fit the 5–10 jobs to which you apply rather than creating different resumes for each one, assuming you are looking for a single type of job.
If I am writing someone’s resume for a career jump, I have them send me at least one ideal job posting, but I will usually compare three when completing the next step to ensure consistency. Three job postings seems to be the sweet spot for identifying trends without spending too much time on your resume.
Step 2: Identify Your Verbs
Using those job descriptions from step 1, go through and highlight every verb used. You can actually print them out or highlight them on your tablet, but really make sure you note every single verb!
Take a sheet of paper or Word document and list all the verbs you highlighted. I like to put them in alphabetical order, but that is not essential. If the same verb appears multiple times in your job posting(s), add tick marks or the number of times you have seen it in these job postings next to it. For example, if you are using a computer, this may look like:
Develop: 3
Create: 4
Compose: 1
Manage: 2
Organize: 2
The standard verbs for your industry and ideal job will vary from other industries. That is why it is so important to identify them! Using the same vocabulary viewed as the standard exemplar vocabulary in your field will make your resume stand out as a better fit for the job. Do not try to find the weirdest synonym to the verbs used in a job posting. Use the exact same verbs that are in the job posting in your resume. The. Exact. Verbs.
Noting the frequency of verbs’ appearance in the job postings also shows you which verbs to use more frequently and/or more prominently in your resume. For example, if I wanted to apply to a job with the frequencies of the list above, I would make sure the first bullet point describing my current position experience started with the verb “create,” and I would probably use “create” in at least one other bullet point later in my resume. The fact that “create” and “develop” are both used the most also tells me that this role values creative folks who initiate change in their projects rather than waiting to take direction. I would make sure my resume highlighted cases that reflect those values and use these exact verbs to describe those cases.
Step 3: Identify Desired Skills and Qualities
Looking at the job postings again, underline the precise phrases that describe the skills and qualities sought by the employer. Describing your skills and qualities is much more formulaic than most job applicants make it out to be. After underlining the skills and qualities listed in the job posting, you will use these exact phrases in your resume. Just like you used the exact verbs, you will include the exact same words to describe skills and qualities.
A note on this: It can be tempting to reorder a phrase to “make it your own” on your resume. Do not do it! In recent years, many employers search for keywords throughout resumes using computer software (more on that in Step 4), and rephrasing may prevent the software from sending your resume forward as a match to an essential keyword. A job posting is the employer telling you what they want. Tell them you have exactly what they want.
For example, if the job description says it is looking for someone with “experience with marketing automation and CRM tools,” then your resume should describe that you “created email marketing campaigns using marketing automation and CRM tools to increase subscribers by 300%.” If you want to highlight specifics, do so while keeping the original language. For example, maybe you “created email marketing campaigns in MailChimp and managed campaigns using marketing automation and CRM tools, including Microsoft Dynamics 365, to increase subscribers by 300%.”
Take time to reflect on how the skills and qualities listed in a job description align with your prior experiences. Match skills listed in the job posting with specific instances in your work history to prepare to write relevant bullet points about your experience. You may find that skills may match unexpected experiences. For example, when applying to a Warehouse Manager role, you may realize that “effectively managing day-to-day shipping operations” reminds you of when you fulfilled orders for your Etsy shop side hustle. Skill matching is not job title matching. Really think about instances where you displayed the skills and competencies listed in the job description(s).
Step 4: Search ATS Keywords
The next step is to software-proof your resume to make sure your resume does not get tossed before a real person reads it. You do this by including ATS Keywords throughout your resume. ATS stands for “Applicant Tracking Systems,” software that many companies use to narrow down applicant pools by automatically rejecting applications without the most important qualities listed in their resumes.
If you are applying to the job posting(s) you are using for examples, Step 3 will likely get you through most Applicant Tracking Systems, but adding the most popular keywords for your job or industry strengthens your resume if you plan to apply to jobs beyond the specific job posting(s).
Figuring out how to trick advanced software systems sounds trickier than it is. In reality, all you need to do is search “ATS Keywords *your ideal job/industry*” For example, if I want to apply to be a Business Analyst, I type ATS keywords “business analyst” into Google (or your preferred search engine) and immediately receive the following list of keywords: data analysis, project management, communication skills, process improvement, technical, SQL, business development, financial modeling, requirements analysis, business analysis, collaboration, Microsoft Access, and Tableau. This tells me that I should probably note in my resume that time I “collaborated with the project management team to project fourth quarter earnings through financial modeling using Tableau.”
Step 5: Quantify Your Success
The final piece of new information you need to describe your experience in your resume is quantifiable evidence of your success. Bring out the numbers!
I know when folks read (or hear) this, they immediately think, “But I don’t work with numbers.” (Unless you are like me and do work with numbers, which means this will be even easier for you!) It does not matter if you work with numbers. Your resume will have numbers, and they will be impressive. If you doubt me, here are some examples from past resumes I have written:
Student Assistant at a college library: “Tracked approximately 300 books a week through a 20+ step process using Iliad and Odyssey, international lending software; processed 700 books a week through local software, culminating in 1,000 books/week”
Program Assistant at a summer camp/outdoor education center: “Reviewed 40–50 camper medical history forms prior to arrival each week to identify preexisting conditions like allergies/asthma; organized and conducted initial camper health screenings to provide backcountry patient care”
Administrative Assistant for club sports: “Managed all financial transactions for the 26 university club sports teams including tracking all transactions, fulfilling reimbursement requests, filing needed forms and records, and approving purchases”
None of these jobs required in-depth mathematical calculations, but there are numbers that provide more specific information about the work that folks did at these positions. Numbers make your experience precise.
If you work with numbers or know some quantified results, even better! “Raising revenue by 30%,” “managing client portfolios up to $500 million,” “cleaning data with more than three million unique variables,” “raising student grade levels by 2.1 grades in one year,” “increasing followers by 60%,” and “selling $100M in products” will make any resume glow in comparison to your competition. However, even if you are earlier in your career or simply work in an industry without these kinds of metrics, “trained five interns,” “sorted 1,000+ pieces of mail,” and “greeted 100–150 patients each day” are real statistics that tell the story of your experience.
Step 6: Put it Together by Explaining WHY You are the Best
To recap, after following these steps, you should have:
A list of verbs from your job posting(s).
A list of skills and qualities from the postings, each tied to a prior experience.
The top ATS keywords for your job/industry, each tied to a prior experience.
Quantified achievements.
The last step is to pull these together into meaningful but concise sentences.
Think of this like a matching game. Map each verb with one of the skills and qualities/experience combinations or an ATS keyword. Match each quantified achievement with one of those verb/skill/experience or verb/ATS keyword/experience combinations.
Not every bullet point will have a quantified achievement, and that is okay! Additionally, you may be able to add a skill or quality and an ATS keyword to the same bullet point. The matching game should give you results that include any of the following information combinations:
Verb + Skill or Quality
Verb + ATS Keyword
Verb + Skill or Quality + Quantified Achievement
Verb + ATS Keyword + Quantified Achievement
Verb + Skill or Quality + ATS Keyword
Verb + Skill or Quality + ATS Keyword + Quantified Achievement
Once you match all the pieces of data together, your last task is to actually write the bullet points describing your experience. This can be difficult despite having all the pieces. The best way to think about how to pull together the information is to do so by explaining why the achievement matters. Every single bullet point on your resume should explain why that piece of information made you a successful employee—the kind of employee your future employer wants to employ.
You may read this and think those must be the longest bullet points ever. First, yes, they should fill up the entire width of a page because you want to avoid blank space on your resume. However, these sentences may be shorter than you think. Take this example from my own resume:
Create macros in Excel to automate four daily reports and decrease time spent on daily reporting by 80%
I have my chosen verb “create.”
I have a skill or quality found in the job posting in “daily reporting.”
I have multiple ATS keywords related to my field including “Excel” and “macros.”
I have a quantified achievement by describing that I decreased the time spent on daily reporting by 80%.
I explained why all of this information makes me a huge success as an employee. This one bullet point says: “I have the Excel skills to write macros that will save your team a ton of time and streamline the boring tasks that one of your current employees spends too much of their time completing each day. Hire me if you want me to decrease the amount of time it takes you to complete your boring daily tasks.”
When writing a resume today, your first step is to get through the software gatekeeping applicants. Once you do, you want your employer to read your resume and see their skills and qualifications wish list tied to quantifiable evidence that you are the outstanding employee they have been seeking. When you reflect on your prior experience, your statistics will be more impressive than you think. Put them all down on paper, do not sell yourself short, and brag about your experience. Create a perfect resume for the job you actually want rather than a generic resume to send to 100 jobs. Then, go get a $10k raise.
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