5 Things People Reading Your Resume

Wish You Knew

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2014/10/31/5-things-people-reading-your-resumewish-you-knew/
Resumes are very personal documents. In fact, whenever Im reviewing a resume, I always
ask permission before I mark it up. Who am I to edit your lifes work?
That said, I can almost guarantee you that the way your career counselor handles your resume
is not the way it will be handled once you submit your job applications. After speaking with
many, many recruiters, here are some hard truths Ive learned.
1. If your relevant experience, education, or skills are hard to find at a glance, your
resume might as well be blank.
Its understandable to want to make your resume stand out a bit from the typical resume, but
getting creative in InDesign isnt the way to do it. As the head of Googles HR states, Unless
youre applying for a job such as a designer or artist, your focus should be on making your
resume clean and legible.
In other words, no funky formats. Youre far better off spending your time trying to maximize
the top half of your resume. This could mean writing a resume summary with your most
relevant qualifications or maybe pulling all your most relevant experiences into a separate
section at the top of your resume and relegating the rest into an Additional Experiences
section. As long as youre trying to maximize traditional resume formatting rather than do
something entirely different, you should be safe.
2. If its not immediately clear from your experience why youre applying, no one will
connect the dots for you.
Whether youre a career changer or just applying for a reach position, if a recruiters initial
reaction to your resume is confusion, youre not going to get very far.
So, make sure you connect the dots for the reader. Its likely that you have an idea of how
your skills can be transferred or why youre more skilled than your years of experience might
let on. But, unless you spell it out on your resume, the recruiter probably wont be able to put
the pieces togetherand youll never have the chance to explain in person.
One way to solve it? Using a simple objective statement. While you should definitely not use
an objective statement if youre applying for a position that makes perfect senseor if its a
clichd Id like to use my skills at an innovative, fast-growing organizationif your
background is a little unusual for the job youre targeting, a brief explanation might just be
what gets you to the interview.
3. If your resume is difficult to skim, it probably wont be read at all.

Theres some debate over how much time a recruiter will spend looking over a resume, but
everyone agrees that its less than 20 seconds. What does that mean for job seekers? It means
your resume needs to be as easy to readreally, skimas possible.
Read: Dont make your font so small that its barely legible. It doesnt matter how much more
youre able to fit on your one-pager if no one is reading it. And dont let your bullet points
drag on to that third line. Two is all you get and, more likely than not, one is all that will get
read.
4. If you expect to get your resume in front of a hiring manger, you need to first make
sure you get through HR.
That means making sure a layperson can understand what youre talking about in your
resume. It doesnt matter if youre managing complicated supply chains, coding complex
algorithms, or conducting cutting-edge research on nanolasersnone of your impressive
feats will reach the appropriate hiring manager if you cant at least explain it in a way that a
nontechnical human resources representative can understand well enough to put you in the
right pile.
This means cutting the jargon, giving proper context, and focusing on results. Use the job
posting to your advantage herefind the keywords and present your work the same way they
do. I know, jargon can be pretty fun to use and starts to get instinctive when youre around it
for long enough, but step outside of your industry bubble for a bit and try to approach your
resume as an industry outsider. The easier you make things for HR, the more smoothly your
application process will go.
5. If your contact info isnt correct, nothing else matters.
Finally, dont be that person who has everything a recruiter is looking for but is just
impossible to contact. Check, double check, and test your contact information. Typos are
always bad, but a typo in your contact information is probably as bad as it gets. Its a really
crummy feeling to notice an incorrect email address a couple months into your job search.
Dont let that be you.
RELATED: The Only Piece Of Resume Advice That Really Matters
Did I miss anything? What are some hard truths youve learned about resumes?
This post was originally published on The Daily Muse.
Lily Zhang serves as a Career Development Specialist at MIT. Follow her musings on Twitter
@lzhng.
The Resume Summary Statement: When You Need One and How to Do It
By Lily Zhang, August 19, 2014

Its been well established that the good ol objective statement has gone out of fashion in the
world of resumes. But whats all this about its replacementthe summary statement?
Depending on who you ask and how youre using it, summary statements can either be a
complete waste of space or a total game changer. For those of you who dont know, a
summary statement (also known as Summary of Qualifications or just Competencies)
essentially consists of a few pithy and strong statements at the beginning of your resume that
help summarize your skills and experience in order for a prospective employer to quickly get
a sense of the value you could offer. Heres a sample:
Summary

Expert communicator with 10+ years of experience dedicated to

community development and advocacy within the field of education

Strong public speaking, teaching, and facilitating skills for diverse student,
professional, and general audiences

Extensive involvement in all levels of relationship building, marketing, and

program development

Proven ability to manage multiple projects while meeting challenging

deadlines

Sounds great, right? Minus the part where you have to give up valuable resume space for
information thats already on your resume. So, the big question is: Do you really need one?
The short answer is, it depends. Summary statements are usually best for more experienced
professionals with years of experiences to tie together with a common theme (read: brand).
Or, alternatively, they can be used to tie together disparate experiences with a set of key
transferable skills. On the other hand, if you have a pretty linear or straightforward career
path, the space is probably better used for additional bullet points in each role.
If you do decide that a summary statement is right for you, get ready to do some digging and
some introspection. You only have a limited amount of space for your summary statement
(think four to six bullets, give or take a couple), and you dont want to a) regurgitate your
resume bullets or b) sound like a list of buzzwords.
Once you have these two cardinal rules down, the real fun begins. Heres a three-step plan to
help you craft the perfect summary.

Step 1: Figure Out Where Youre Going

Since you need to be concise, its important to figure out what you want in your next position,
so you know exactly what skills and experiences to highlight. If you are not absolutely clear

about what you want, envision an ideal position that will value you for the main
characteristics and experiences you want to be hired for.
Ask Yourself

What skills do you most enjoy using?

What accomplishments are you most proud of and can best illustrate your
abilities?

What issues, topics, or areas are you most passionate about?

Step 2: Analyze Your Target Industry

Once you know what you want to do, your next step is identifying where you want to be
think industry, city, and companies. Then, research your industry and key trends affecting it
now: Read relevant industry news articles, research companies, and analyze job descriptions
youre interested in.
Ask Yourself

What is most valued in your target industry?

What experiences, skills, and characteristics matter in your target jobs?

What would you look for if you were the hiring manager?

Step 3: Find Your Fit and Condense

With your knowledge of your target industry, its time to figure out how you fit in (or want
to). Identify, describe, and refine your key selling points with your end goal in mind. Then,
craft them into 4-6 bullets, shooting for statements that are vivid and that clearly illustrate
what you bring to the table over anyone else.
Ask Yourself

What are your most impactful selling points?

What critical problems are you well positioned to solve?

What is the intersection of you want and what your target industry needs?

A summary statement can be a powerful branding tool the helps send the message that youre

the right one for the job. The best thing about taking the time to put one together (whether
you decide to actually use it or not) is that it not only helps hiring managers get a clear sense
of what you have to offer, but also helps you better understand what you bring to the table.
So, you get the added benefit of knowing exactly how to sell your skills the next time youre
networking, interviewing, or presenting yourself online.

Final Cut: Words to Strike from Your Resume

By Elizabeth Lowman, October 19, 2011

If youve applied for a job recently, youve probably looked over that 8 x 11 summary of
your career more times than you can countand tweaked it just as oftenin pursuit of the
perfect resume.
But before you add another bullet point, consider this: Its not always about what you add in
the best changes you can make may lie in what you take out.
The average resume is chock-full of sorely outdated, essentially meaningless phrases that
take up valuable space on the page. Eliminate them, and youll come off as a better, more
substantial candidateand your resume wont smack of that same generic, mind-numbing
quality found on everyone elses.
Every wordyes, every wordon that page should be working hard to highlight your talents
and skills. If its not, it shouldnt be on there. So grab a red pen, and banish these words from
your resume for good.

Career Objective
My first few resumes had a statement like this emblazoned top and center: Career objective:
To obtain a position as a [insert job title here] that leverages my skills and experience as well
as provides a challenging environment that promotes growth.
Yawn. This is not only boring, its ineffective (and sounds a little juvenile, to boot). The top
of your resume is prime real estate, and it needs to grab a hiring managers attention with a
list of your top accomplishments, not a summary of what you hope to get out of your next
position.

Experienced
You can be experienced in something after youve done it onceor every day for the past
10 years. So drop this nebulous term and be specific. If, for example, youre a Client Report
Specialist, using a phrase such as Experienced in developing client reports is both vague
and redundant. But sharing that you Created five customized weekly reports to analyze

repeat client sales activitynow that gives the reader a better idea of where exactly this socalled experience lies, with some actual results attached.
Also eliminate: seasoned, well-versed

Team Player
If youve ever created an online dating profile, you know that you dont just say that youre
nice and funnyyou craft a fun, witty profile that shows it. Same goes for your resume: Its
much more effective to list activities or accomplishments that portray your good qualities in
action than to simply claim to have them.
Instead of team player, say Led project team of 10 to develop a new system for
distributing reports that reduced the time for managers to receive reports by 25%. Using a
specific example, you show what you can actually accomplish. But simply labeling yourself
with a quality? Not so much.
Also eliminate: people person, customer-focused

Dynamic
While resumes are meant to highlight your best attributes, some personality traits are better
left to the hiring manager to decide upon for herself. There is a difference between
appropriately and accurately describing your work skills and just tooting your own horn.
Plus, even the most introverted wallflower will claim to be dynamic on a piece of paper
because, well, why not? When it comes to resumes, keep the content quantifiable, show
tangible results and successes, and wait until the interview to show off your dynamism,
enthusiasm, or energy.
Also eliminate: energetic, enthusiastic

References Available Upon Request

All this phrase really does is take up valuable space. If a company wants to hire you, they will
ask you for referencesand they will assume that you have them. Theres no need to address
the obvious (and doing so might even make you look a little presumptuous!). Use the space to
give more details about your talents and accomplishments instead.
In a crummy job market with a record number of people applying for the same positions, it
takes more than a list of desirable-sounding qualities to warrant an interview. Specific
examples pack a punch, whereas anything too dependent on a list of buzzwords will sound
just like everyone elses cookie-cutter resume. So, give your resume a good once-over, and
make sure every word on that page is working hard for you
12 Tiny Changes That Make Your Resume Easy for Recruiters to Skim

By Lily Zhang, July 25, 2014

Theres some debate about how many seconds a recruiter spends looking over a resume, but
we can all agree that its not a lot. With such limited time to get important information across,
anything you can do to make your resume easier to skim could mean the difference between
the forward or toss piles.
So, after youve spent some time perfecting the content of those sections and bullet points,
its time to make sure theyre as easy (and appealing!) to read as possible. Here are 12 little
formatting tricks you can use to help recruiters and hiring managers get the most from your
resume during their six to 18 second scan.

1. Dont Center Any of Your Text

Even your section headings should be aligned to the left. This improves readability because
the eye naturally returns to the left margin once its ready to move on to the next line of text.

2. Align Your Dates and Locations to the Right

You can only fit so much different information (company name, job title, location, dates of
employment) on one line of text before it gets unwieldy. To help separate out your
information, make a separate column for dates and locations that is right adjusted. On most
word processors, you should be able to just create a right-tab.

3. Dont Justify Your Resume

Overall, using a justified setting for your bullets may make your resume look tidier, but it
does nothing for readability. This setting leaves uneven gaps between words that ultimately
make text harder to read, so for your bullets and resume overall, stick with regular ol left
alignment.

4. Keep Everything the Same Size Font

Aside from your name, which should be a little bigger, the font size throughout your resume
should be the same size to ensure readability. Rather than using font size for emphasis
throughout your resume, use bolding, italics, and all-capssparingly, of course.

5. Pick Either Your Roles or Your Companies to Bold

Bolding of select words and phrases helps with scanning, but you dont want to go overboard.
So choose what to bold wisely, depending on the message you want to send. If your job titles
effectively illustrate your path to management-level roles, bolding those might make the most
sense. On the other hand, if youre a new grad and most of your experiences are internships,
you might benefit more from emphasizing the companies on your resume.

6. Use ALL-CAPS Very Sparingly

While it is an option for creating emphasis, all-caps is a lot harder to read and therefore
harder to skim than text that isnt capitalized. Save your all-caps option for section headings
or your name.

7. Maximize the First 5 Words of Your Bullets

When skimming a resume, a recruiter is very likely going to be reading the first few words of
a bullet, then moving on to the next line unless his or her interest is piqued. This means those
first few words of your bullets are much more important than the rest. Make sure the first five
words of each line make the reader want to keep reading. (Need help? These power verbs will
make your resume awesome.)

8. Keep Bullets Under 2 Lines

Even if your first few words are the most interesting thing your recruiter has ever read, going
over two lines per bullet is pushing it a bit. Try to keep your bullets short and sweet. (And
yes, you should always use bullets, not paragraphs, to describe your experiences.)

9. Use Digits When Writing About Numbers

Using numbers in your bullet points quantifies results and helps recruiters better understand
the scope of your work. (Heres how to do it well.) Make these numbers easy to read by using
digits (i.e., 30% versus thirty percent). It improves readability andbonussaves space.

10. Have a Separate Skills Section

Just to really drive the point home, piling up all your relevant skills into one section helps
ensure that the recruiter sees them. You should still highlight your skills in the context of your
work, but pulling them out into their own section doesnt hurt.

11. Keep Your Formatting Consistent

People can get pretty creative when theyre trying to fit all their relevant work experience
into one page. Thats fine, but make sure that however you decide to do it, you keep your
formatting the same throughout the document. Consistency helps with skimming, and if the
recruiter wants to refer back to something, he or she will know where to look.

12. Try to Have Some White Space Left Over

Lastly, having some breathing room on your resume also helps with skimming. Different
amounts of white space can signal to the reader that this is a different section or help
emphasize the importance of something, such as your name or skills. And overall, it just
makes the whole document less overwhelming.

Having your resume skimmed is a fact of life as you apply for jobs. So, make sure you
maximize the experience and make it as easy as possible for the recruiter to find the right
informationand send you along to the next step of the process.

185 Powerful Verbs That Will Make Your Resume Awesome

By The Daily Muse Editor, January 07, 2014

Led
Handled
Managed
Responsible for
Most resume bullet points start with the same words. Frankly, the same tired old words hiring
managers have heard over and overto the point where theyve lost a lot of their meaning
and dont do much to show off your awesome accomplishments.
So, lets get a little more creative, shall we? Next time you update your resume, switch up a
few of those common words and phrases with strong, compelling action verbs that will catch
hiring managers eyes.
No matter what duty or accomplishment youre trying to show off, weve got just the verb for
you. Check out the list below, and get ready to make your resume way more exciting.

You Led a Project

If you were in charge of a project or initiative from start to finish, skip led and instead try:
1. Chaired
2. Controlled
3. Coordinated
4. Executed
5. Headed
6. Operated
7. Orchestrated
8. Organized
9. Oversaw
10. Planned
11. Produced
12. Programmed

You Envisioned and Brought to Life a Project

And if you actually developed, created, or introduced that project into your company? Try:
13. Administered
14. Built
15. Charted
16. Created
17. Designed
18. Developed
19. Devised
20. Founded

21. Engineered
22. Established
23. Formalized
24. Formed
25. Formulated
26. Implemented
27. Incorporated
28. Initiated
29. Instituted
30. Introduced
31. Launched
32. Pioneered
33. Spearheaded

You Saved the Company Time or Money

Hiring managers love candidates whove helped a team operate more efficiently or costeffectively. To show just how much you saved, try:
34. Conserved
35. Consolidated
36. Decreased
37. Deducted
38. Diagnosed
39. Lessened
40. Reconciled
41. Reduced

42. Yielded

You Increased Efficiency, Sales, Revenue, or Customer

Satisfaction
Along similar lines, if you can show that your work boosted the companys numbers in some
way, youre bound to impress. In these cases, consider:
43. Accelerated
44. Achieved
45. Advanced
46. Amplified
47. Boosted
48. Capitalized
49. Delivered
50. Enhanced
51. Expanded
52. Expedited
53. Furthered
54. Gained
55. Generated
56. Improved
57. Lifted
58. Maximized
59. Outpaced
60. Stimulated
61. Sustained

You Changed or Improved Something

So, you brought your departments invoicing system out of the Stone Age and onto the
interwebs? Talk about the amazing changes you made at your office with these words:
62. Centralized
63. Clarified
64. Converted
65. Customized
66. Influenced
67. Integrated
68. Merged
69. Modified
70. Overhauled
71. Redesigned
72. Refined
73. Refocused
74. Rehabilitated
75. Remodeled
76. Reorganized
77. Replaced
78. Restructured
79. Revamped
80. Revitalized
81. Simplified
82. Standardized

83. Streamlined
84. Strengthened
85. Updated
86. Upgraded
87. Transformed

You Managed a Team

Instead of reciting your management duties, like Led a team or Managed employees
show what an inspirational leader you were, with terms like:
88. Aligned
89. Cultivated
90. Directed
91. Enabled
92. Facilitated
93. Fostered
94. Guided
95. Hired
96. Inspired
97. Mentored
98. Mobilized
99. Motivated
100. Recruited
101. Regulated
102. Shaped
103. Supervised

104. Taught
105. Trained
106. Unified
107. United

You Brought in Partners, Funding, or Resources

Were you responsible for a great new partner, sponsor, or source of funding? Try:
108. Acquired
109. Forged
110. Navigated
111. Negotiated
112. Partnered
113. Secured

You Supported Customers

Because manning the phones or answering questions really means youre advising customers
and meeting their needs, use:
114. Advised
115. Advocated
116. Arbitrated
117. Coached
118. Consulted
119. Educated
120. Fielded
121. Informed
122. Resolved

You Were a Research Machine

Did your job include research, analysis, or fact-finding? Mix up your verbiage with these
words:
123. Analyzed
124. Assembled
125. Assessed
126. Audited
127. Calculated
128. Discovered
129. Evaluated
130. Examined
131. Explored
132. Forecasted
133. Identified
134. Interpreted
135. Investigated
136. Mapped
137. Measured
138. Qualified
139. Quantified
140. Surveyed
141. Tested
142. Tracked

You Wrote or Communicated

Was writing, speaking, lobbying, or otherwise communicating part of your gig? You can
explain just how compelling you were with words like:
143. Authored
144. Briefed
145. Campaigned
146. Co-authored
147. Composed
148. Conveyed
149. Convinced
150. Corresponded
151. Counseled
152. Critiqued
153. Defined
154. Documented
155. Edited
156. Illustrated
157. Lobbied
158. Persuaded
159. Promoted
160. Publicized
161. Reviewed

You Oversaw or Regulated

Whether you enforced protocol or managed your departments requests, describe what you
really did, better, with these words:

162. Authorized
163. Blocked
164. Delegated
165. Dispatched
166. Enforced
167. Ensured
168. Inspected
169. Itemized
170. Monitored
171. Screened
172. Scrutinized
173. Verified

You Achieved Something

Did you hit your goals? Win a coveted department award? Dont forget to include that on
your resume, with words like:
174. Attained
175. Awarded
176. Completed
177. Demonstrated
178. Earned
179. Exceeded
180. Outperformed
181. Reached

182. Showcased
183. Succeeded
184. Surpassed
185. Targeted