📝 Resume Writing: Your Ticket to the Interview

Think of your resume like a movie trailer. You only have 2 minutes to make someone say “I NEED to see this movie!” Your resume has about 6-7 seconds to make a recruiter say “I NEED to meet this person!”

🎬 The Story of You (On One Page)

Imagine you have a magic box. Inside this box, you keep all your best toys, your favorite drawings, and your proudest achievements. Now, someone asks: “What makes YOU special?”

You can’t dump everything out. You pick the BEST things. You arrange them nicely. You tell a story.

That’s your resume.

📋 Resume Structure and Format

The Building Blocks

Think of your resume like building a LEGO house. You need certain pieces in a certain order:

graph TD
    A[📧 Contact Info] --> B[📝 Summary/Objective]
    B --> C[💼 Work Experience]
    C --> D[🎓 Education]
    D --> E[🛠️ Skills]
    E --> F[✨ Extras - Awards, Certs]

The Perfect Order

Format Rules That Matter

✅ DO THIS:

• One page (unless 10+ years experience)
• Clean fonts: Arial, Calibri, or Georgia
• Font size: 10-12 points
• Margins: 0.5 to 1 inch
• Consistent spacing throughout

❌ NEVER THIS:

• Fancy cursive fonts
• Photos (in US/UK)
• Rainbow colors
• Walls of text

🎯 Golden Rule: If a robot scans your resume (and they do!), can it read it? Stick to simple formatting.

🎯 Tailoring Your Resume

The Custom Fit Secret

Imagine you have ONE toy that transforms into different things—like a LEGO set you rebuild for each friend’s birthday party.

Your resume should transform for EACH job!

The 3-Step Tailoring Process

graph TD
    A[Read Job Posting] --> B[Highlight Keywords]
    B --> C[Mirror Those Words in Resume]
    C --> D[🎯 Perfect Match!]

Real Example: Same Person, Different Resume

Job Posting Says: “Looking for team player with data analysis skills”

Keyword Matching Game

📋 Job posting: “We need someone who can manage social media campaigns and track ROI”

✅ Your resume should say: “Managed Instagram and TikTok campaigns, tracking ROI through analytics dashboards”

❌ Not this: “I’m good at posting things online”

💡 Pro Tip: Copy-paste the job description into a word cloud generator. The BIGGEST words? Put those in your resume.

💪 Action Verbs and Metrics

Words That PUNCH

Boring verbs put recruiters to sleep. Power verbs wake them up!

The Magic Formula

Action Verb + What You Did + Result = WOW

LED a team of 5 → to redesign the website → increasing traffic by 40%

Numbers Are Your Best Friends

Which sounds better?

❌ “Improved sales”

✅ “Boosted sales by 35% in Q3, generating $50K in new revenue”

Where to Find Your Numbers

• Money: Saved $X, Generated $X, Managed $X budget
• Time: Reduced time by X%, Completed X days early
• People: Trained X people, Led team of X
• Growth: Increased by X%, Grew from X to Y
• Volume: Processed X applications, Handled X customers

Power Verb Cheat Sheet

📄 CV vs Resume: What’s the Difference?

The Simple Answer

Think of it like this:

• Resume = Movie trailer (short, punchy, highlights only)
• CV = Director’s cut with bonus features (everything you’ve ever done)

Side-by-Side Comparison

When to Use What

graph TD
    A[What job are you applying for?] --> B{Academic/Research?}
    B -->|Yes| C[Use CV]
    B -->|No| D{In Europe/UK?}
    D -->|Yes| E[CV - but they might call it CV even for short ones]
    D -->|No| F[Resume - keep it short!]

Quick Decision Guide

Use a RESUME for:

• Corporate jobs
• Startups
• Most US/Canadian jobs
• Industry positions

Use a CV for:

• Professor positions
• Research scientist roles
• Medical positions
• Grants and fellowships
• Academic conferences

🌍 Fun Fact: In some countries (UK, New Zealand), they call everything a “CV” even if it’s one page. When in doubt, ask!

⚠️ Common Resume Mistakes

The 10 Resume Killers

1. 🔤 Typos and Grammar Errors

The Problem: One typo = “This person doesn’t care about details”

Real Horror Story:

“I am a perfectionist and detail-orientated” ← Spot the irony?

Fix: Read it backwards. Out loud. Then have someone else read it.

2. 📧 Unprofessional Email

3. 📜 Too Long

Rule of Thumb:

• 0-5 years experience → 1 page
• 5-10 years → 1-2 pages
• 10+ years → 2 pages MAX

Nobody reads page 3. Nobody.

4. 🎨 Crazy Formatting

What recruiters see:

WEIRD FONTS   →   "Can't read this"
TINY TEXT    →   "My eyes hurt"
HUGE MARGINS →   "What are they hiding?"

5. 📋 Job Duties Instead of Achievements

6. 🕰️ Including Outdated Info

Remove:

• Jobs from 15+ years ago (unless super relevant)
• High school (if you have college degree)
• “References available upon request” (they know!)
• Your photo (in US/UK)

7. 🎯 One Generic Resume for All Jobs

Remember: Your resume should shape-shift like water, fitting each container (job) perfectly.

8. 🚫 Lying or Exaggerating

The Truth:

• Background checks exist
• Recruiters talk to each other
• Skills tests happen in interviews

One lie = No job + Bad reputation

9. 📱 Missing or Wrong Contact Info

Checklist:

• [ ] Phone number works and has professional voicemail
• [ ] Email is checked daily
• [ ] LinkedIn URL is custom and clean
• [ ] No address needed (city, state is enough)

10. 🤖 Not Passing the Robot Test

ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) hate:

• Tables and columns
• Headers and footers
• Images and graphics
• PDFs with weird formatting

Solution: Test your resume at free ATS checkers online!

🎯 Your Resume Checklist

Before you hit “Submit,” ask yourself:

• [ ] Does it fit on one page?
• [ ] Did I tailor it to THIS specific job?
• [ ] Do my bullet points start with ACTION VERBS?
• [ ] Did I include NUMBERS and RESULTS?
• [ ] Is my email professional?
• [ ] Did THREE people proofread it?
• [ ] Can a robot read it (simple formatting)?

🚀 The Final Word

Your resume is not your life story. It’s not a complete history of everything you’ve ever done.

It’s your highlight reel. Your greatest hits. Your “this is why you should meet me” document.

Make every word count. Make every bullet point shine. Make that recruiter say:

“I NEED to interview this person.”

“Your resume gets you the interview. Your interview gets you the job. Don’t let bad formatting steal your chance.”