There are three essential things that your resume absolutely must do.
In today's video, I'm going to tell you what those things are,
and how to write a resume step by step that helps you get hired.
Stay tuned.
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I'm really glad you're here because I know there is no shortage of
how to write a resume videos here on YouTube.
And most of them are going to tell you exactly the same thing,
how to write a resume that probably is going to get you through an ATS.
But that's about all it's going to do. Now, if you haven't met me before,
you might not know, but I actually have been a recruiter, a hiring manager,
and a digital marketer in former lives.
As well as a criminologist and a whole bunch of other things,
but I'm going to save those tales for another day.
But having interviewed hundreds of candidates,
participated in hiring dozens of people,
and as being someone who has learned how to optimize conversions throughout a
funnel. I actually have a slightly different approach to resume writing,
which I think is going to really help you land your dream job. Now,
if you're ready to learn what that is,
click that like button and let's jump right into it.
Before we get into the steps,
it's really important for you to know what three things your resume needs to
actually do. The first one is the one that I've already mentioned. I.
t needs to be optimized sufficiently to
actually get through an applicant tracking system, or an ATS.
ATS is going to scan for keywords which are always listed in the job description
itself. If you don't pass this test,
there is a robot somewhere like this one...
That is going to be qualifying or disqualifying your resume from ever seeing
human eyes.
The second thing that your resume needs to do is
it needs to make it the recruiter and the hiring manager be like, Oh my God,
I need to talk to this person right now. Get them on the phone!
But like a little bit less aggressive,
because they're like excited and happy about it.
Now the final thing that your resume needs to do and it's actually
derived from the second one is it really needs to showcase your potential.
This is particularly important if you are trying to up level or transition
roles.
Now I'm not going to leave you in mystery or send you to some $597 course.
I'm going to tell you EXACTLY how to create a resume like this in this video.
And it does begin with the super basics. First of all,
where are you actually going to create your resume?
Are you using Microsoft word?
Are you using Google docs? Are you using InDesign or Canva?
Figure out where you actually want to create your resume as your very first,
and very fundamental step. In this phase,
you also need to identify what job you are actually trying to land,
and what you need in order to actually land it in terms of requirements,
both technical skills as well as soft skills and experience. Now,
the final thing that I need to really highlight here is
the resume that we are going to create together today
is not going to be a resume that you were going to send out to a hundred
different companies. Please, whatever you do, do not do that.
This is going to provide you a template for you to use,
so that you can customize the resume for each job you applied to.
Now that we've gotten those fundamentals squared away,
it's time for us to move into step two,
which is to take an inventory of incredibleness.
Now, I call this by actually many different names,
but what I do recommend is that this is an ongoing practice
that converts into your Chronicle of awesome,
but let's save that for another day.
What is an inventory of incredibleness you ask? Well,
I've mentioned something like this in several videos before.
It is at its core a list of your super awesome achievements
and impacts from the roles that you've held in the past,
including your current one and everything that you're going to be including in
your resume.
So you're going to want to include things like where you really overperformed on
it had a really dramatic impact or instances where you really flexed your
competencies in the key criteria that they have for that job. For example,
if you're applying for a sales job,
negotiation is probably an important skill for most sales jobs,
so you're going to want to think about times that you
really flexed your negotiation Ninja muscles to demonstrate that you are a
skilled negotiator
who has a lot to offer into the role and super important as much as possible.
You want to quantify this.
You want percentages, you want dollar amounts, you want quantities.
We like numbers, people bring your receipts!
And we're actually gonna come back to this one really soon.
Now your inventory of awesomeness, you can write it down on a pad of paper.
You can create a doc for it, doesn't really matter what it is,
what it looks like.
It's going to give us a list that we're going to be working from,
but now we're ready to move into step three,
which is to choose a resume template.
Do note that there are three different types of resumes. There's chronological,
there is functional, and there is a combination, or a hybrid, of those two.
For the purpose of this video,
I'm going to be focusing on a chronological resume. These are the most common,
and you're going to find a ton of templates to help you actually create your
chronological resume.
There are a ton of resume templates both for free and paid that you can find
online.
Now you can sort through the plethora of templates that are available to you,
or you can use the free template that.
I have for you at capdecasolutions.com/resume. In any event,
you want to find a resume template that you like,
that you feel like reflects you.
It doesn't need to be super duper fancy and in fact,
some of the coolest looking resumes are actually the hardest
ones to get through an applicant tracking system.
This is something to keep in mind when applying for jobs is one of your primary
search strategies.
No matter where you get your template from though or what it actually looks
like. There's one thing that I really want to get squared away here right now.
If you're in the United States or Canada and you are not an actress or model,
do not put your photo on a resume.
Let me repeat that.
Don't put your photo on a resume, because if you do,
it is going to go into the garbage. I've seen a ton of resumes with images,
and I even personally disqualify those people.
Because it shows me that they don't really know what's important to get the job,
and that they're not paying attention to context.
Your appearance does not have any merit in terms of your position as a
candidate.
I've even seen people that made fun of applicants who included their photo on a
resume. You do not want to be that person. Now,
I do want to caveat because I know a lot of people from all over the world
do watch my channel and this is something that is going to be local to your
country. I know that in many Asian and European countries,
it is very normal and in fact sometimes even expected to include your photo on a
resume.
If you're not sure if it's normal in your country to include your photo on your
resume,
a quick Google search is going to get you the answer.
And actually since we're all here, let's crowdsource it!
Drop into the comments below your country,
and if photos are typical on resumes in your country. Anyways,
back to the actual resume creation. Now that you have your template selected,
or you downloaded the free resume template that I'm giving to you,
it's time to move into the next step,
which is to start actually populating it beginning with your contact
information.
The first thing that you're going to complete is your basic information
including your name and your contact information or contact information.
Seems kind of straightforward, but there's a little bit more to it.
So let's dive in just a little bit.
Obviously you're going to include your email address and your phone numbers
so that they can get in touch with you.
So it is very common to include your LinkedIn profile link.
If you have a LinkedIn profile which you should,
but that's another rant for another day as well,
As at least your city and state including address information is optional.
But it is something that you will frequently see on a resume.
Now there may be other things that you choose to include in your contact
information. For example, if you have an online portfolio,
you might link to the site where they can actually go and see your work
or perhaps you have a Facebook page that you operate professionally.
You might choose to include a link to that.
The main thing that you want to consider,
especially when you're linking to any online or social media profiles,
is you want to make sure that they are professional profiles.
If you have a personal Instagram that doesn't have any bearing or merit towards
their work, there is absolutely no reason to link it here.
Now, if you have a lot of different sites,
you can actually compile these into one landing page.
Once you have your basic info all squared away.
The next thing that you are going to do is you are going to create your resume
summary. Resume summaries are actually technically optional.
You do not need to have a resume summary and if yours is a boring snoozefest,
please do everyone a favor and just leave it off and use the space more
productively. However, I do think that a resume summary can be something
that is really engaging and really helps to make that WOW moment
for both the recruiter and the hiring manager.
I'm actually so into writing effective resume summaries that my next video
is going to be sharing my lit strategy to create your resume summary.
If you want to tune into that,
make sure you click the subscribe button so you don't miss it.
Once you have the summary,
the next thing that you're going to do is you are going to add your experience.
Let's be clear because this is where a ton of people get this really,
really wrong when they are writing their resume. This is not a job description.
It is not a list of things that you did on a daily basis
unless you have a really unusual job.
Your job title has said it all already.
This is where you are going to really show off those receipts and start dropping
AWEbombs. But to do that,
I need to explain to you what an AWERbomb is in the first place.
An WEbomb has three criteria. First of all, it's appraised.
Remember what I said earlier about numbers. That's this.
This is where you're going to include your numbers.
If your impact achievement or success can be quantified,
you are going to drop a number here,
give it a value so that the person who is reading your resume can understand the
impact.
The second component of an AWEbomb is Weight.
What was the actual scope of impact? Is this something that helped your team?
Was it your entire company?
Was it a global recognition award that you received?
Or was it just something that helped you be more productive?
Be specific here in terms of scope of impact.
And you really want to be showcasing your weightiest contributions here.
The third component of an AWEbomb is excellence.
What did you do better than anyone else and were you recognized for it?
So things like being a top performer on your team,
getting an award of recognition or getting really kick ass client feedback,
are great things for you to integrate into your op bombs. So for example,
instead of saying something along the lines of a quarterback deals to close,
which is, so
you're going to say something like overachieved on quota,
six consecutive quarters driving $3 million in new revenue,
you're going to drop our bombs for every job that you include on your resume.
Which brings me to a very important point for your experience.
You only really need to list relevant experience.
And this is something that's particularly important,
especially when you're earlier in your career.
For something like your first job,
you might actually be including things like a summer as a
counselor at summer camp, And stuff like that.
But as you gain more professional experience,
that is going to begin to drop off. And when you are dropping the AWEbombs,
you also want to calibrate for the directness to the role that you were actually
applying for. For example,
if earlier on in your work history you had a job that actually
doesn't directly map to the job that you're applying for.
You wouldn't want to include like 10 points and only three for the job that was
most relevant. You want it to be proportionate,
and you want every line that you include on your
resume to demonstrate how you meet the criteria of the job description posted.
For example, when I was in university,
I spent a summer working at a box factory.
I can assure you that no resume of mine ever stated the fact that I worked at a
box factory.
Making boxes. And folders. And folder accessories.
Interesting story? Yes. Relevant resume point? No.
So when you are writing your resume,
you do want to take into consideration the relevancy of the role
that you had and if it actually does have any points that are going to
support you as being the best candidate
for the hiring manager and the recruiter to speak with. Ultimately,
when you're listing something on your resume,
I want you to ask yourself this question:
Is the hiring manager going to be impressed by this achievement?
The unfortunate answer for my box factory job was always a clear and resounding
no. Because ideally, when you are writing your resume,
you want to keep it to a single page of paper.
Space is a premium and you want to make sure that you are investing it
accordingly.
Once you've gotten all of your experience and dropped those AWEbombs,
it's time for us to move onto the education section.
This section is again a pretty straightforward.
You're going to list the degrees that you have achieved,
the majors as well as the minors,
the institution that you graduated from and the date that you graduated.
And the days that you attended. If you did get any fancy awards,
you can list them here or in a separate award section on your resume. Now,
one of the questions that I get from people when they are learning
how to write their resume, especially early on in their career,
is do they need to include their GPA?
A lot of new graduates do include their GPA,
especially when their GPA is impressive.
Now it's not going to hurt you to include your GPA,
unless your GPA was like really bad,
in which case be the person who leaves it off.
Because outside of getting your first job out of college or university,
it's not really going to be a relevant point on your resume.
That said,
sometimes people are going to ask with that education section squared away.
Let's move into the next section which is skills.
The skill section is definitely one that you want to do some research,
especially when you are applying for a specific role.
You want to identify the keywords for both the soft skills,
experience and technical skills that are required and you want to make sure that
they're integrated.
If you haven't naturally been able to integrate them into the language in your
experience section,
you definitely want to make sure that they are included here.
Of course you don't want to list skills or claim to do things that you have no
idea what to do. So if you have no idea how to use accounting software,
now is not the time to say that you know how to use accounting software
within your resume template and not for a specific role.
You want to at least include some baseline skills that you feel
like you are going to integrate on a regular basis.
Think of expertise that you have,
key soft skills that you possess and any technology that you are
particularly savvy at because the skill section has a lot of white space.
It is a great area and a highly scannable area for you to really showcase
the fact that you are an outstanding candidate for that role.
And that brings us to our final section when we are writing our resume and that
is references.
I've seen a ton of resume templates that actually include designated
As for you to actually insert your references directly onto your resume,
I do not recommend that you do this.
You can actually completely exclude the section,
or you can just include the pretty standard
references are available upon request or references are available at interview.
The main reason you don't want to include references on your resume
is that you don't want people to be frivolously contacted.
Most companies don't do this, but I'm professional ones might,
so you just want to make sure that you were avoiding that potential pitfall.
You also want to make sure that you're in control of
when the reference contact information is being handed over.
Because you need to contact that person first so that they are expecting a call
from that company. Especially when you get further into your career,
and definitely when you're senior in your career,
you might also be electing to connect your hiring manager
or the recruiter with different people to speak to different qualities
depending on the conversations that you're actually having in the job interview.
So don't include it.
It's not that you're going to hide your references from them,
but you just don't need to include it on your resume.
You might notice that there's one section that I completely omitted,
and there is a reason for that. It is my most hated resume section.
And that is the objective. The reason why I hate the resume objective section,
and I don't suggest that you include it,
is it does tend to include a lot of redundant information, a lot of goals,
stuff that doesn't actually pertain or support the conversation that you really
want to have.
Of the thousands of resumes that I have reviewed over the course of my career,
there have been very, very few,
I think less than a handful of resume objectives
that I thought were really well crafted, really made the candidate stand out.
I'm really provided function in terms of ongoing conversations within the
interview.
The resume objective is also often listed at the very top occupying prime real
estate on your resume,
so you want to lead with this strength which is the LIT summary,
which I'm going to show you in my next video ,and you can just ditch the
objective.
It's not serving a purpose and it is entirely optional.
If you haven't already, make sure that you do.
Go to my site capdecasolutions.com/resume
to get your free resume template. I do actually include a lot of the tips,
strategies and notes on everything that I've just reviewed in this video.
And it's really going to help you write a great resume.
And the thing that I wanted to end on here is that you need to remember.
that the resume isn't the thing that gets you hired. In fact,
you might actually get well into interviewing without needing a resume at all.
If you want to learn how to do that,
go and check out this video for my top job search strategies.
I'll see you over there. And of course if this video was helpful,
make sure you give it a like and I'll see you in the next video. Bye for now.
[bloopers]
Nope.
Now, a lot of new graduates, a lot of new [inaudible].