I’ve read hundreds of resumes over my management career and have seen them all. From embedded memes to pictures of candidate’s dogs. Information on how to write an effective resume is abundant online…it can be overwhelming. I recommend three simple things, that, if done well, can set you apart from other candidates and land you an interview for your dream job.
Remember the objective of a resume is to get you an interview. You’ll need your resume to get through both the applicant tracking system (ATS) filter and then the hiring manager review to get an interview. I like to say that you should write your resume for both people (HR and hiring manager) and machines (ATS).
There are three areas you should focus on to get through these screenings to get an interview.
1. Include a high-impact summary statement:
The summary statement should be 3-4 sentences at the top of your resume. It should emphasize your key experience and qualifications for the job you’re applying for.
Hiring managers typically read through 25-30 resumes after the ATS screen. They will rarely read through entire resumes, skimming the top to see if they should read the rest. You need to hook them with a high-impact, relevant summary.
You want this to be your career highlight reel…like a movie trailer enticing the audience to want to see more. While emphasizing your top skills and experiences, you need to make sure your summary relates to the job that you are applying for.
You should slightly tailor your summary for each job you’re applying for…making sure your summary includes keywords and qualifications from the job announcement. This is an area to focus on to “beat the bots” (ATS).
2. Put your relevant skills in bullet points:
Make sure you incorporate key skills and qualifications from the job notice on a bulletized list under your summary statement. Remember, you are writing this for both people and machines. This is another area to “beat the bots.”
You should always place your technical (hard) skills before your interpersonal (soft) skills. This is important as it allows the first items employers see to be job-related skills in order of proficiency.
Again, make sure your bulleted skill list includes keywords from the job announcement to help you pass the applicant tracking system screening. You should tailor this section for each job you are applying for.
3. Highlight your accomplishments:
Write your “professional experience” section in your resume to highlight your past accomplishments that are related to the job opening.
Hiring managers look for three things on your resume, “What did you do? Why did you do it? And what was the result?” Ideally, you want to list three to six roles on your resume demonstrating progress on your career journey.
Under each role, include a short description of the job responsibilities followed by high-impact bullet statements of accomplishments. Responsibilities describe what you were supposed to do, and accomplishments are the specific outcomes that demonstrate how well you performed your role.
For your bulletized accomplishments, follow the STAR method: What was the situation, what action did you take, and what were the results? Use action-oriented verbs to begin each bullet.
AI Tools Can Help You
You can use AI tools to help you with your resume. Rezi and KickResume are great AI platforms that can assist you in writing your resume. I’ve found these tools especially helpful in providing action words and verbiage for accomplishment bullets. You can pick from various resume formats and styles to fit your brand.
I recommend using ChatGPT to help you with your summary statement. I use the free AI “chat” function in Microsoft Bing to help me with wording for summary statements and cover letters.
Jobscan is excellent for reviewing your resume against keywords in a job announcement. You upload your resume and the job announcement, and it will give you a score on how well your resume connects with key words in the job notice. It will also give you recommendations for improvement. This is a go-to tool for me to help clients’ resumes “beat the bots.”
Summary
When writing your resume, include an impactful summary statement; put your relevant skills in a bulletized list; and highlight your relatable experience and accomplishments.
If you want to see a few examples of summary statements, bulletized skill lists, and accomplishments, check out the templates on my web page:
If you follow these three steps and utilize AI tools to help you, you’ll have a good chance of “beating the bots” and connecting with the hiring manager to land an interview for your dream job.