Why You Should Write Your Own Resume

Introduction

Hello! It’s Kristine here with the Express to Impress podcast. This episode is for anyone who is looking for a job or who will be looking for a job in the near future. As you know, you’ll be introducing yourself a lot during your job search. One of the first introductions you’ll make will be in writing, through your resume. A resume is an excellent chance to give employers a snapshot of your abilities and accomplishments. Prepared correctly, it can be your ticket to a job interview! Today, we’re going to talk about writing a resume and why you should write your own. 

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Now, let’s begin!

The Purpose of Your Resume

Imagine you’ve found a job that excites you. Getting the job would finally give you the chance to do more of what you love most, like doing cutting-edge research, working one-on-one with customers, leading a team to develop a new product, or learning new technologies. The only thing standing between you and the job is communicating to the employer that you could do that job really well so that they’ll hire you. In the hiring process, you’ll have many opportunities to show your passion for the job and to demonstrate how your skills and experiences and how they have prepared you for it. Presenting your resume to a recruiter or employer is often the first step to applying for the job, and at this stage, your resume will speak for you. 

Let’s look more closely at the purpose of your resume. With your resume, you will:

• Introduce yourself to a recruiter or potential employer;
• Provide a snapshot of relevant experience to show you’re qualified for a job;
• Attempt to pass the screening process by including keywords from the job description so an Applicant Tracking Software indicates you’re a strong fit for the position (Don’t worry, we’ll talk more about this point later!);
• Demonstrate the quality of your work and attention to detail;
• Allow the employer to see how you stack up next to other candidates;
• And ultimately, make a memorable impression and land an interview. 

So, as you can see, your resume is a critical document, and it’s something you should contribute to all the time, not just when you’re looking for a job. I’m a fan of having a master resume–perhaps one that’s many pages long–that you can cut down once there’s a job you want to apply for. 

Now, I’d like to tell you about some of my experiences working with clients on their resumes. 

Story

While I firmly believe that every job seeker should write their own resume, at least the first draft of their resume, I have seen my fair share of resume-writing horror stories. Students and clients have come to me after applying for jobs for months or even years, yes years, wanting to know why they are not getting invited for interviews.

These are professionals and students with successful careers and academic track records, mind you. They should be getting job interviews. They wrote their resumes on their own, and yet it didn’t work out for them. So, what in the world was the problem?

While they put a lot of effort into writing their resumes, they didn’t have a strategy for writing a resume that would stand out based on an understanding of the modern recruiter’s techniques.

In the tips section of today’s episode, I’ll share some of the advice I share with job seekers with under-performing resumes–that is–resumes that don’t lead to job interviews. 

Tips on Writing a Resume

When people come to me for advice on their resumes, I primarily talk to them about including measurable results and keywords as well as avoiding resume design mistakes. Let me elaborate on all of these points. 

Include Quantifiable Achievements

First and foremost, you need to brag about your accomplishments in your resume. It’s easier said than done, I know. Sometimes potential clients ask me for specific, measurable results, and I don’t always have the numbers they want at my fingertips. They might say, “It sounds like we’re a great fit, but how many of your clients have landed jobs at Amazon?” I’m the first to admit, tracking measurable results takes time and effort. It’s hard to come up with reliable numbers on the spot, but there’s time to gather this important data when writing a resume.

Why are achievements so crucial on a resume? Well, employers aren’t impressed by resumes that look like job descriptions. They want to see your contributions and the impact you made, so they can imagine the impact you could make for them. But don’t worry, even some measurable results make a big difference, so aim for including five or more.

So, how do you express measurable or quantifiable results? By using numbers and percentages. And keep in mind it’s better to write numbers than spell them so they stand out. Let’s look at some examples: 

• Cut inventory costs by 15% in the 3rd quarter
• Trained 20-member management team on interviewing techniques and best practices, leading to 15% higher employee retention rate in 2019
• Provided high-quality customer service to over 4000 employees by answering benefit and policy inquires
• Contributed to more than 50 publications related to short-term oil demand trends and oil market conditions 
• Delivered 25-30 public speeches across Europe to promote the Italian Pavilion at the Milan Expo 

 

Sounds impressive, right? Now, it’s your turn. I’ll ask you many questions to help you identify your quantifiable achievements. Have you:

• Improved sales or efficiencies in some areas? If so, when and by what percentage? 
• Reduced accidents or expenses? 
• Increased market share, productivity, or sales? 
• Launched new products? If so, how many products and how many new markets? 
• Developed new systems and processes? 
• Established higher performance standards or efficiency protocols? 
• Generated new client leads or secured new client contracts? If yes, how many, and what was the dollar amount of those contracts? 
• Decreased errors, inaccuracies, or customer complaints? If so, how many or by what percentage? 
• Bid and won contracts? How many? 
• Managed budgets? If so, how large were they? 
• Supervised teams? If yes, how many team members did you supervise?

Keep in mind that you can include an estimate or a range if you’re unsure of an exact figure. 

Alright, now that you have your measurable results, you need to put them somewhere in your resume. But where? You can incorporate them in many places. You can include them in your resume summary, in the experience section, and a “key accomplishments” section beneath your general responsibilities of a position. 

As you can see, you are the only person who can generate this information for your resume. A resume writer or editor can’t, or rather shouldn’t, come up with these numbers and percentages out of thin air. 

Incorporate Keywords

And yes, when writing a resume, you have to assume an applicant tracking system will process it.

In case you’re unfamiliar with applicant tracking systems, also known as ATS, I’ll introduce them briefly. An ATS collects and stores resumes in a database for hiring professionals to access. Those resumes may be stored long after the original job you applied for is filled.

Some applicant tracking systems automatically compare your resume to the job description and rank you based on how well your resume scores based on the job description. For example, the software scan may indicate you are a 48% match for the role based on the frequency of hard and soft skills included in your resume that also appear in the job description. This way, recruiters don’t need to review every application. Instead, they can focus on candidates the ATS has identified as a great match, typically applicants with a score of 80% or higher.

Applicant Tracking Systems are extremely common, though tracking down exact numbers is difficult. It’s safe to assume that if you’re working with a recruiter or applying at a large company, they’ll be using an applicant tracking system. If you’re targeting a mid-sized company, they’re also likely to use an ATS, with adoption rates over 50%. However, if you apply at a small organization, they may not use one. For more information on Applicant Tracking Systems, I recommend the Jobscan article, “8 Things You Need To Know About Applicant Tracking Systems.” 

Let’s face it, applicant tracking systems are not humans with emotions that can be forgiving of a few mistakes on a resume and they filter out qualified candidates every single day. Companies are overwhelmed by applications and are willing to lose out on talented candidates who don’t conform to modern recruitment techniques.

But you can prepare your resume in a way that makes it past applicant tracking systems.

Avoid Formatting Mistakes

Applicant Tracking Systems have changed so much the way people go about writing a resume, including the way they format them. Since many decorative design elements like images, tables, non-standard bullets, unique fonts, and lines interfere with an applicant tracking system’s ability to parse information from your resume, it’s best to avoid them. So that means the design of your resume will look quite basic. That’s okay. The content of your resume will speak louder than the design.

Writing Your Own Resume Will Pay Off

As you can see, when people come to me for resume help, the most valuable thing I can offer them is not my resume writing skills but my knowledge of the recruitment process so they can write resumes that will stand out. 

In addition, quantifying your contributions in your resume is excellent preparation for your interview. Employers want to know how hiring you will make things better, and your measurable results are proof that hiring you paid off for the last employer, and it will pay off for them, too.

And as for identifying the keywords from the job description to incorporate into your resume, this intensive research project is also excellent preparation for the interview. These are the very words you should be using in your interview. For example, when a hiring manager asks about your strengths or what you could bring to the position, it can be hard to know which strengths to talk about. But if you know the job description like the back of your hand, you know what matters most for success in the position, and you’ll know what strengths to talk about. 

Write a Standout Resume Online Course

There’s only so much I can cover about resume writing in a podcast episode. But don’t worry! I go into much more detail in my online course, “How to Write a Standout Resume.”

To help my clients write strong resumes, cover letters, and e-notes during the job search process, I created the 90-minute online video course. It includes a whopping SIX handouts. There are resume, cover letter, and e-note samples and templates, and importantly, a Guide to Finding Your Writing Mistakes. The guide includes seven steps to follow to uncover your writing mistakes and a full page of examples of common writing mistakes that you can look for in your own writing. 

The course is just $49. Plus, as a listener of the podcast, you get 15% off by using the coupon code podcast15 at the checkout. As a bonus, I’ll review your resume after you complete the course. To learn more about my How to Write a Standout Resume video course and watch free lessons from it, visit my website express-to-impress.com. 

Tune in Next Week

As you know, there are no outside advertisements on the podcast. Of course, I’d love to keep it that way! So if you get a new job or a raise in part because of something you learned on the podcast, I invite you to make a donation to keep the podcast on the air. 100% of any amount you give will go to production expenses. You can donate with a debit card, credit card, or Paypal account on my website at express-to-impress.com/podcast.  

That’s all for today! I invite you to tune in next time to improve your English skills. You’ll learn definitions of phrases and idioms from this episode. 

Thank you so much for listening to the Express to Impress podcast. If you found this episode useful, please remember to share it with a friend! See you next time. Bye!

 

Music By Lucas Knutter