This episode Joi Noel gives you what you need to know about crafting a compelling resume. She's telling you exactly what Talent Acquisition and Hiring Manager like to see on a resume so you avoid the pitfalls that will land you in the dismiss pile!
Joi Noel spills all the resume tea this episode.
Learn what you need to do before you even start writing a resume.
Understand the 4 main types of resume formats and when to the. Also, learn which format is preferred.
Get actionable tips on how to organize your resume and what content you MUST include with examples/
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Hi there! You’re listening to The Recruiter Record.
The podcast that goes behind the curtain of Talent Acquisition and Human Resources in Corporate America; providing the ultimate tools, tips and tricks; so, you’re empowered with the information you need to boldly navigate your career. For all my newcomers welcome and I’m so glad you found this podcast, I hope it’s the exact resource you’ve been looking for.
My name is Joie Noelle, I’m a Talent Acquisition Specialist with 20 years of experience in Corporate America, former road warrior, connector extraordinaire and have a passion for helping people by sharing good actionable information. That’s my guiding principle for each episode. And that’s exactly what you should expect every time you listen to The Recruiter Record. Join me here ever 15th and 30th of the month when new episodes are made available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and all other major streaming services… hit that subscribe button so you don’t miss an episode and if you like what you hear and gained a nugget that you can put into practice leave a comment and let me know! Hang out with me on all social media platforms at Recruiter Record! I can’t wait to connect with you all!! Talk soon!!
Welcome back to TRR (The Recruiter Record) podcast. Thank you for listening in every 15th and 30th of the month!! I’m loving all the feedback that I’ve been getting. Please keep it coming and let me know what questions you have so I can continue to give you the information you need and discuss the topics that you’re interested in.
Alright so today we’re digging all the way into resumes! I was going to include cover letters, but I’ve decided to do a bonus episode on cover letters instead. So be on the lookout for that soon. If I would’ve included how and why to do a cover letter in this episode, I think it would have been too long.
Ok So back to the resume… To be quite honest I hate working on my own resume… it is a task and requires a lot of man hours and revisions and edits to get it just right. But in the end, it’s all worth it so I do it! I’m sure many of you feel the exact same way, right. Well the information I’m going to share with you today will help make it a little easier for you to get your resume in order and in a format that makes sense.
Let’s get this out the way first. The resume is not going anywhere anytime soon. Employers use the resume throughout the entire hiring process. It guides the questions they will ask you during the interview and it helps them learn more about you and ultimately if you’re a good fit for their company.
A resume is not a summary of your skills, it’s not a list of your job history and it’s not going to automatically get a company to offer you a job.
What it is… is a billboard on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper… right. It’s an advertisement. Think of is as your marketing asset
The key to remember when you’re crafting your resume is that the goal is for this document to get you to the next step in the hiring process, which is on the phone with someone in Talent Acquisition or the Hiring Manger themselves.
The main 4 types of formats to use to construct our resume are Chronological, functional, combination and targeted. Which one you decide to use really depends on which one you feel will showcase you in the best light.
Chronological is the most common: It’s where you’re work history is listed in order by dates. Keep your most recent position at the top and work backwards from there. If you have more than 15 years of experience don’t add it to the resume for the sake of it. Only add that experience if it’s relevant to the position you’re applying for. If it’s not you can take it off.
A functional resume focuses on your skills and experience to deflect focus away from your work history because maybe you have huge gaps in employment. The truth of the matter is gaps in employment are usually considered red flags, so we want to divert the reader’s attention to your skills instead.
The combination resume is just that. It marries chronological and functional, creating an effective way to advertise and highlight your skills while offering your work history in chronological order. All things that Recruiters and Hiring Managers like to see.
And finally, there’s the targeted resume. This format is tailored with content laser focused and specific to the position and industry you are applying to. Everything you list your skills, work history, professional summary should all be able to relate back to the requirements of the position.
My favorite format and style to use it the combination format. It permits you to use that 8.5x11 piece of real estate in the best way. What I’ll be discussing moving forward works best with the combination format. However, you could apply it to all.
Before you start typing and putting pen to paper take time to gather everything, you’ll need to write a compelling resume.
Now that you’ve done the proper research, we can start pulling things together.
Every resume needs to have the following.
Contact Info, Professional Summary, Work Experience w/ results, Educations.
We’re going to take each must have element on the resume and dissect each one.
Contact Information:
Believe it or not… people get this section wrong. I receive 1000s of resumes in a month. 1000s… one of the things that really has me scratching my head is when people fail to include a way to contact them on their resume. Sometimes when I’m going through resumes, I want to call the person right then and there to start an engagement. Vs. sending an email waiting for a response. And it’s frustrating and mind blowing when a phone number is not there. It slows down the process, lessens the excitement and just doesn’t make sense.
Sure, you have to provide a phone number and email address on the application but failing to put it directly on the resume is a fail. Always include these 3 things in the contact sections.
What you can delete immediately, and I mean right now open up your laptop while you are finishing listening to the podcast and delete these things right now.
Next is the Professional Summary! It’s one of my favorite components of the resume. It sets the stage for what’s to come next. And many times, determines for me if I’m going to really dig into the resume or if I’m going to just scan it. It’s the introduction of who you are so you need to catch the readers attention as quickly as possible! The purpose is to establish why you’re an ideal candidate for the job! This should not be long either. Remember you have limited space so keep this to about 4 – 5 sentences. To put this together include these 4 things.
Some people will list this as an objective statement which is a mistake if you’re an experienced professional. An objective statement usually focuses on your interest as the person seeking the job. This is not the space for that. Remember the goal is to get the interview. So, it needs to be all about the value you can bring to the organization in this position. Which is what a Professional Summary does.
Next is the Skills section where you list out your skills that are relevant to the role. I advise people to stay away from listing out common skills like multi-tasker, or Microsoft office unless the job description mentions them specifically as a requirement for the job. Otherwise this section should be a list of skills that have impact and are meaningful to the position. So, if it’s a sales position you might list relationship development, territory management, consultative selling and the client management systems that you’ve used like Salesforce. If it’s an IT position you should list out the programming language that you are exceptional in. If it’s a Scientist position list out your lab techniques like in-vitro, in-vivo, ELISA, qPCR, cell culture etc. When listing out your skills try and group them into categories like functional, technical aka hard skills and soft skills. When you do this list them in order of proficiency.
Next up is the Experience Section: This is the meat and potatoes right here folks and should account for 80% of your resume. Let’s focus on the format of this space first. Standard format start w/ the job title of the position you’ve held first. Then the Company Name and city state where you worked. The month and year of employment and finally a bulleted list of responsibilities and results.
You do this for each position and you’re working backwards so your current or most recent experience should be listed first.
Now the trick to this is to not just copy and past your current job description in this section… DO NOT DO THAT!! In most instances the Hiring Manager and recruiter already know what your responsibilities are.
Instead combine go back to the job description and understand what the key responsibilities of the role is. Marry your responsibilities to what’s listed in the job description and add the results or achievement.
As an example. Let’s say you’re a sales executive and you’re applying for a Sales Management position. Your role is to
Reach out to potential clients
Maintain existing client relationships and develop business
Prepare and submit weekly sales reports to management
Well guess what that’s 90% of any sales position. You want to stand out… and you do that by showing us the results.
So instead of saying “generate leads via cold calling you might say Exceeded team KPIs by 32% in Q1 and Q2.
Instead of saying Managed existing business. You might say. Generated over $50,000 in new business from existing portfolio employing a consultative approach.
Recruiters are looking at 1000s of resumes. Every statement needs to pack a punch. If it’s not going to demonstrate that you are the person for the job… don’t waste the space.
Tailoring your resume to each position you apply to is also a good look. And it does not have to take a whole lot of time to do. Tailoring the resume is a combination of including keywords and phrases from the job description in the body of your resume… Let me give you an example. Keeping with the Sales Executive example. Go back to the job description and look at what you highlighted in the requirements portion.
It might have said
8+ years of complex solution sales & 3+ years of sales leadership experience, selling to large enterprise accounts
proven ability to influence at all levels to build strong stakeholder relationships both internal and external
Add similar language to the experience section of your resume. That’s what I mean when I say tailor your resume for each position that you intend to apply to. Simply put mention the requirements in your resume considering you have that relevant experience and accomplishments. Write it and phrase it so it’s your voice coming through in the resume. This is NOT an exercise in copy and paste ok.
One thing I should mention here is you should not fabricate the experience... it could end up hurting you later. It’s not going to be a good look for you. I can guarantee you that. So, no lies, please!
Finally close out the resume with your Education. Just cause it’s at the end does not mean you get lazy here. Include these 3 things
A few more tips on the education section:
If you don’t have any work experience and/or you’re a recent grad w/ internship put your education at the top of your resume. Otherwise it should go at the bottom.
If you have your bachelor’s degree there’s no need to list, your HS
ONLY list your GPA if you have an outstanding academic career i.e. 3.0 or better of and list out your cumulative GPA as well as your GPA in your major. And if you’ve graduated more than 24 months ago you may consider not including it at all. Especially if you’ve gotten some solid work experience under your belt.
What we just went over are the absolute must haves on every resume. Other optional things you can include that are specific to certain industries are industries are
Publications, projects, certifications & Awards, Volunteer Experience.
One thing that I’m not a fan of are seeing hobbies on the resume. Unless of course, you’re a recent graduate or still in school. They are usually always the exception to several of the so-called rules.
Congratulations!! The hard part is done!!! Now you can stylize the resume and make it look amazing. A word of advice make sure that in the end it’s easy to read and formatted well. Have a few people you trust to review your resume not only for content and misspelled words but for aesthetic also.
So, a quick recap because this was a lot of information on creating a resume that will get you in front of the hiring manager.
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Recruiter Record Podcast. I hope you took at least one nugget that you can use when crafting your resume, so it gets you an interview. For more tips and career advice follow me on IG @RecruiterRecord. If you have a topic that you’d like me to talk about or have questions send me an email to info@therecruiterrecord.com
I’m excited to connect with you all! Talk soon!!