I’ve reveiwed thousands of resumes throughout my career—and believe me, I’ve seen it all: Too long, too short, too hard to read. Clichés, jargon and acronyms. The braggadocios, the adjectives and the superlatives. And also, along the way, many that left a lasting impression.
Yes, you do need a resume. But despite all the importance people place on trying to become the Hemingway of CVs, they account for only about 10% of the hiring decision.
And now, with the advent of AI, a new phenomenon has emerged: the SEO keyword perfect resume. We’re all seeing them.
It seems that every resume today is polished and exactly formatted, a sea of perfection.
Yet, curiously absent are persona and heart.
The result is a modern-day quandary. Job candidates are trying to distinguish themselves, frustrated because of a lack of visibility. And companies are trying to separate the wheat from the chaff, navigating the wave of AI that makes everyone sound the same.
The truth remains, whether it makes its way directly to a hiring manager or gets put through the ATS filter, your resume and the next steps in your hiring process will be decided in just a few seconds.
There will be a time and a place to decide what opportunity ultimately is going to be a fit for you and what will make you the most happy. What I tell people all the time is that this stage in the process is all about authenticity and impact. You want to open doors.
Where do we start? It begins with understanding that a resume is where art, science and technology meet storytelling.
Ascending from the Aggregate.
Not all job titles are created equal. Two people can have the exact same position on paper, but vastly different levels of scope, scale and responsibility. Unless you bring that out in bright lights, the natural inclination for an employer reviewing thousands of resumes is to assume the aggregate. Prove otherwise by standing out and distinguishing yourself based on what you actually do and the impact you make. It’s all about accomplishment, not just activity. So, break the pattern. Don’t take for granted that they will recognize your greatness. And most importantly, elevate beyond the title. Note: the corporate internal job title you carry (or carried in previous jobs) may not be accurate for public consumption. Modifying your job titles is perfectly acceptable as long as it doesn’t misrepresent your role or level in the organization.
For the first-time job seeker, were you an intern in the legal department, or an intern who reported to the general counsel? For the mid-career professional, did you implement the innovation or create it? For the senior-level executive, are you responsible for margins and profits, or are you truly a leader of people? Details matter. Don’t assume. Tell.
To Bot or Not to Bot.
That is indeed the question. AI is a tool for critiquing and tailoring your resume. So absolutely, use all the prompts, queries and feedback to help amplify your expertise and showcase your accomplishments. At Success Discoveries, we don’t start with an AI draft – we audit the freshly developed resume using AI. We can confidently say our process is best and trying to create a DIY resume with AI won’t work out the way you think. Beware the danger of all bot and no back story. AI cannot create your authentic self. Your personality. Your voice. Anything that is unique to you and your experience. Because beyond the font and what to bullet or bold is something far more important: the story only you can tell. In other words: You. That is why at Success Discoveries, every client starts with a “new client survey” and talent assessment. The talent assessment provides incredible detailed insights that can selectively be used to ensure your authentic self is present in the resume.
How do you elevate resume ATS scores and avoid the Abyss?
Your resume has a primary job: to get you through the screening and on to the interview. So, whether you are uploading your resume, updating your LinkedIn profile or splicing parts of both into a company’s ATS, there are the basics: Summarize experience, describe the results and your impact, and show how you match the qualifications, and, yes, use keywords from the job descriptions. Our AI audit at the end uses relevant job postings that you are interested in.
Scaling the Interviewing Staircase.
A resume tells the story of a career journey. Whenever I am reviewing resumes, one of the top things I’m looking for is clear progression, increasingly larger roles, broader responsibilities and greater impact. With just a glance, I want to see a staircase pattern of growth that jumps off the screen. It goes beyond qualifications and a career lattice. It speaks to the specific qualities I’m looking for: growth, hustle and heart.
Be Careful What You Brag About.
It goes without saying, everything on a resume should be truthful, not embellished – numbers shouldn’t be exaggerated. It’s simply not realistic that you hit it out of the ballpark consistently for 20+ years. It also is not likely a 20+ career doesn’t have a single gap in employment dates. Embellishing will diminish the accolades you actually have achieved. So, be mindful of when hyperbole doesn’t match believability.
Job Search Strategy really matters.
This is a huge deal. The real differentiation comes from your networking strategy. It is when a resume comes through a recommendation or directly reaches a hiring manager (or higher level executive). For the recommendation strategy, six degrees of separation really do work. It’s all about having someone refer you to a position and vouch for your experience, accomplishments and character. This is the one-two punch that gets you noticed and your resume read. For getting your resume to the hiring manager or key executive decision maker, the actual time to apply online is the easy and least effective step. Expect to multiply that amount of time by ten for hiring manager and key executive networking. And, yes, the place to do that is LinkedIn.
Despite all of the technological innovations of yesterday, today and tomorrow, the reality is that the art of crafting a resume really hasn’t changed.
It’s still all about you and the impact you have on others.