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Resume Writing & Telling Your Story

Writing a resume is so overwhelming. Staring at that blank sheet of paper trying to sound confident, but not cocky. Trying to find a voice that sounds like you, but is also professional. What does the professional you sound like anyway? Will anyone even read it? I want this job so badly, will this help me get it? Will it hurt my chances? Do I need to create a new one for every role? What does the template style say about me? Or maybe that is just what the inside of my brain looks like…

So first, relax, you’ve got this. I promise writing your resume isn’t as hard as you think. Starting with a template that feels right to you can help shake off the writer’s block, but don’t get bogged down with making your content fit on one page…yet.

One page! If I can get my 19-year career on one page, you can make one page work too. No one wants to read pages and pages of content they can already find on your LinkedIn. This is the reference point a hiring manager will go back to during the interview process so what story are you telling.

How to Pick a Template
I like the Time Money template from 2017. The key ingredient that works for me is that you can easily roll up many positions at one company with a story which saves on space. Rather than have every position listed out since 2006, I’ve rolled up each company to tell my story.

They have one every year if this one doesn’t speak to you (2018 & 2019). You can also just search online to find many free template ideas. Various apps like Microsoft Word usually come pre-packaged with a few templates as well.

Telling Your Story
You’ve already figured out your superpower and listed all of your accomplishments and work history on LinkedIn, so this is all about crafting your story.

Use language from job descriptions so you pop for search engines.

Use quantifiable results when you can. Get creative. There are more of them in your day-to-day then you think. ex. Grew team from 2-7 people over 2 years. Increased app rating from 2.8 to 4.7. Supported 65 CE products across 3 mobile applications serving 10M users.

Google special circumstances. There is so much good advice out there. Still working on your degree? There are examples for that. Volunteer work? There are examples for that. Just out of school with no real work experience. Yup…examples for that too.

Use your judgement on whether or not to use dates for education that might give away your age. DO use dates (at least the year) for your employment history.

Never, ever, lie.