Tommy’s Resume Guide

Does it Work?

Despite having a 2.66 GPA, no connections, not coming from a top ten engineering school, and no brand name internships, my resume landed me an interview with Microsoft. I ended up surviving the interview loops and was hired as a Program Manager upon graduating in the spring of 2018 with a degree in computer engineering from Iowa State University.

Weeks spent writing, editing, reading, re-writing, re-reading, and polishing my resume - ended up paying off. All that work, just to hand it off to a Microsoft recruiter at the Iowa State career fair, was worth it. Getting hired by Microsoft after a less than stellar academic career and coming from a Midwest state school with a generous admissions rate felt like a dream. It was like getting drafted by the New York Yankees. That resume was really my only ticket to the big league.

Since getting hired, I have edited dozens of resumes, I reviewed resumes of candidates seeking jobs at Microsoft, and I wrote a few new versions of my resume to secure interviews with some of the most selective tech companies in the world.

This guide is for you if you are:

• Interested in learning about resume writing methods.
• Writing a resume.
• Hiring and reviewing resumes of job candidates.
• Job hunting.
• Using a resume that isn’t working!
• Convinced you know how to write a resume.
• All of the above.
• Some of the above.
• None of the above.

Disclaimer

There are other ways to write winning resumes that this guide will fail to cover.

Definition of a Resume

A resume documents the education, certifications, work experience, and achievements of someone in search of a new job. Giving a resume to an employer starts a process to determine if the applicant and the employer are a fit.

A resume introduces yourself to an employer; informs them of your qualifications; and demonstrates your ability to communicate. It is a tool used to make a strong first impression. You may never find out who reads it – or worse, it may never be read! That’s just how the game works.

Ten Commandments

1. A resume must not exceed 1 page in length.
2. Make a perfect resume.
   • No errors: spelling, grammatical, or formatting, e.g. font, symbols, text alignment.
3. Don’t tell us your qualities; show us.
   • Never list a skill or attribute that could be illustrated by a bullet point.
4. Tell the truth.
   • Dates, titles, GPA, gaps in employment
5. Assume the reader knows nothing.
   • Project names, what products do, what job titles mean, what it took to do the job
6. The perfect bullet point exists, and it starts with impact, then tells us how you did it.
   • Measure the impact when possible.
7. Begin every bullet point with a unique action verb.
   • Use verb lists found online
8. Cut to the chase. Don’t waste your 1 page of resume real estate or the reader’s time.
9. Shorten your LinkedIn URL.
10. Never have an intro blurb or objective longer than one sentence.

Interpretation of the Laws

1. A resume must not exceed 1 page in length.

Anything more than 1 page is hubris, a CV (not a resume), a waste of your time (you’ll be lucky if anyone even reads your entire one-page resume), and it reveals to the audience an inability to succinctly communicate.

Not all resume writers were told about this rule. Many of them are not fond of having such a rude constraint imposed on the epic poem they’re writing that portrays their work experience from restaurant busser to junior data entry specialist. If you or someone you know is thinking about stapling their resume together or attaching a multi-page document to a job application, please stop them before they commit such a heinous act. For those of you still stubbornly holding on to your greater-than-one-page-resume thinking that this first law is hearsay, please refer to the disclaimer found above.

2. Make a perfect resume.

If I was reviewing a hundred resumes, I would be looking for any reason to disqualify a candidate. Nothing would disqualify a candidate faster than a typo. It would tell me so much about the applicant’s ability to be detail oriented, to care about quality, to care about how they communicate, etc.

Examples that are unforgiveable are spelling errors, inconsistent usage of punctuation, inconsistent font type or size, inconsistent text alignment, run-on sentences, extra spaces, and inconsistent verb tenses in work experience.

3. Don’t tell us your qualities; show us.

Sometimes there is the temptation to make a skills section and include attributes about your personality. I’ve seen resumes that listed honest, responsible, communication skills, motivated, dependable, etc. Those are not skills. That’s your personality. If you want to convey that you’re responsible – show them examples in your work experience bullet points.

4. Tell the truth.

Embellishing something or exaggerating something that is fair game to get brought up in future interviews ensures disaster. Companies may want proof of transcripts for your grades, they may ask for references at your prior employer, they may do a background check that verifies dates, or worse: they may interrogate you in an interview and find out you don’t have your story straight. Don’t hide the facts. Instead, work on other stronger parts of the resume to compensate for areas that are weaker.

5. Assume the reader knows nothing.

Consider the audience and that they didn’t work at the same place you’re coming from. People may not know what the company you worked for does. The project(s) you worked on may not be known publicly. The job titles may mean one thing at Company A but something else at Company B. Assume that nobody has heard of the tools you used. Take the time to briefly explain what you did and why you did it. Beyond needing to clarify what happened, this can be a fantastic way to generate more bullet points that show off cool things you accomplished.

6. The perfect bullet point exists, and it starts with impact, then tells us how you did it.

Lead each bullet point with the most important information. In the eyes of an employer, the impact of your work is the most important thing. Leading with that demonstrates that you understand and care about the purpose of the work you do. You didn’t just show up and follow orders blindly; you paid attention to the bigger picture. Describe what you accomplished, how you did it, what you learned, and what you’re experienced with – after the impact.

Always, when appropriate, measure the impact with numbers, percentages, or dollars. Also, if you can’t quantify exactly what was accomplished, you can tell us how many people benefitted by the work or who depended on the outcomes. Paint a picture of how important you were in your previous job.

7. Begin every bullet point with a unique action verb.

Always begin with a verb. Use past tense verbs throughout the resume for every job. If you’re so inclined and it makes sense, you may use present tense for your current job.

Do not repeat verbs. Do not use boring verbs. This is an opportunity to use the thesaurus or search the web for “resume verbs.” It is lame to say, “developed…” for every single time you had a coding job. Some of my favorite verbs I was able to fit into mine were authored, piloted, troubleshot, and launched. Get creative!

8. Cut to the chase. Don’t waste your space or the reader’s time.

This applied to keeping the document length to one page. This also applies to over-explaining the intricacies of being a busser at a restaurant one summer. Use the absolute minimum number of words to get your point across.

9. Shorten your LinkedIn URL.

Go to settings and change your LinkedIn URL to be something like: linkedin.com/in/treins. It’s way cleaner than: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommy-reins-35135987918645. This shows that you’re not a luddite.

10. Never have an intro blurb or objective longer than one sentence.

Often, the intro blurb section turns into a description of your personality and claims of being respectful, honest, motivated, etc. Similar to the mistakes of the skills section, it’s best to show the reader how you’re all those qualities based on experience, rather than to just claim them.

I play this section simply and directly. I title the section as “Objective,” and I said, “To obtain a full-time position in computer engineering.” Replace computer engineering with the field of work you’re applying to.

Future Blog Posts

Resume Formatting Guide