Apprentice Program - Week of July 29th, 2024 (WK31)

What’s on Julia’s mind these days?

Resumes. They are a lot of work. I read an interesting factoid today. “If you're applying to a role with the title "x" and required skills "a, b, and c", all 4 of those pieces of information need to be present within the first 4 lines of your resume.” If you are in a job search, especially in this market, you cannot expect recruiters and hiring managers to do the work for you. 

Imagine that I'm a recruiter or a hiring manager skimming through 100s of applications for a role. And, let's just say the role is a resume writer. And, the top 3 skills I'm looking for are resume writing for professionals, attention to detail, and personal branding.

If I read two different resumes and the first four lines read as follows, which one do you think I will be shortlisting?

RESUME 1 SUMMARY: 

15 years of experience copywriting, copyediting, and ghost writing for major publications. Team manager with exceptional leadership skills and a track record of people development results. Enthusiastic, hard worker, with a passion for AI and new technologies. 

Skills: Copy Writing | Ghost Writing | Grants | Publications | Management

RESUME 2 SUMMARY: 

5 years of experience writing professional resumes across a wide variety of industries and functions (including. business, creative, and technical roles). Extreme attention to detail in both resume delivery and customer experience. Passionate about helping others land their dream role through effective communication and personal branding. 

Skills: Resume Writing | Resume Reviews | Copy Editing | ATS systems | Recruiting

See how the second example is very clear and matches closely with the requirements? That’s what you want to do right now in this job market and where you can include transferable skills.