The Only Resume Blog Post You Need To Read

This is the only Resume blog post you need to read if you’re looking for a job. The US job market is bad right now. But it is horrible if you’re an Immigrant. We're not exaggerating, we're not going to share another AI resume tool, nor are we going to sell a course or 1:1 consultation at the end of this video. 

You’ll only find one thing in this blog post: information. This is the first one of our series - Jobsearch Simplified

If you read this entire blog, we can promise you that you’ll be armed with everything you need to create a great resume. But you’ll still have to do the hard work of creating that Resume. 

So, what are we going to cover in this blog post?

1. Resume Format and different sections to include in the Resume

2. What is the ATS?

3. Professional Summary with an example

4. How to craft that bullet point

5. How to identify keywords from a job description and add them to your Resume

6. What if I have a career break

7. Some common Resume mistakes

This blog post will be long. So, brace yourself!

Resume Format and different sections to include in the Resume

By now, all of you know that your Resume should only be 1 page and a Word doc or a PDF. It can go to a second page if you have more than 10 years of relevant experience. We say relevant because if you were an engineer like before and have since changed careers then you don’t need to include your engineering experience unless you’re applying for a role where your engineering background can be of help. 

Keep the format of your resume simple.

Don’t add your photograph. An ATS system doesn’t process images. Don’t add your full address. If it’s been a while since you’ve completed your education then don’t add your graduation dates. 

Now, let’s discuss all the different sections in the Resume. 

At the top of your Resume, in the header area, add your name. Use a big font and make it bold. It should stand out. Below that, add your email address, your contact number, the city you’re currently in, and a hyperlinked LinkedIn profile. That’s it. You have the option to add your Portfolio or your website as well. 

Here are the sections that you need to include in your Resume. 

1. Your Profile summary

2. Skills

3. Professional Experience

4. Leadership & Awards (optional)

5. Education

That’s it. No need to add hobbies to your Resume. If you are an international student who has just completed their graduation or is about to complete, then your education section will be right after your Profile summary.

Now that we’ve understood the format and basic sections, let’s discuss how to build a good resume. And that starts with a profile summary. 

What is the ATS, and How Does It Work?

Before we explain how to write a profile summary or a professional summary, let’s take a minute to understand what the ATS is. It’s important because for most people, ATS is like a black box. They think that it’s like a machine that takes a resume as input and hands out automated rejections as output. So, let’s bust some myths today. Because if you understand how the ATS works, you’ll also understand how to ensure that your Resume gets in front of the recruiter. 

So, when you apply for a job online, you apply with your Resume. As we all know, 100s of people apply for a single job, and a recruiter doesn’t have time to go through all the resumes. That’s where the ATS or the Applicant Tracking System, comes into the picture. 

The ATS scans your resume and parses it. This involves sifting through your information and converting it into a structured format. Almost all ATS can’t parse images and it may not be able to convert your Resume in a structured format. And that’s why you shouldn’t have images on your Resume. 

This information is stored in the ATS tracking database. When recruiters want to find suitable job candidates, all they have to do is search through the database for them.

The recruiter uses “keywords” related to a job to filter candidates for that role. For example, If the recruiter is hiring for a social media manager role, they may use keywords like “social media”, “Instagram”, “TikTok” to filter candidates. 

This helps the recruiter to reduce the pool of say 100 candidates to maybe 15 candidates. Reading the resumes of 15 candidates is much easier for the recruiter than to read the resumes of 100. 

But the journey of your Resume doesn’t end here. The recruiter now spends ~6-8 seconds on each Resume to figure out the top 5 candidates that can be interviewed. And you know what they read in those 6-8 seconds? 

Your Profile Summary. 

What is a Profile Summary and how to write it?

A profile summary, or a professional summary, is a brief statement at the top of a resume that highlights relevant skills, experience, and accomplishments. It should be short, usually 2–5 sentences long, and written in a bulleted form or brief paragraph. The summary should appear right below the contact information. 

There are 3 main objectives of writing:

1. It helps you get noticed faster

2. You get to highlight your key skills and experience upfront

3. You get to add relevant keywords from the job description

Now, Let me share an example. Suppose, you’re a Social Media Manager applying for a role of Social Media Specialist. And you notice in the job description that they are looking for people with a minimum of 3 years of experience in Google Analytics, PPC and SEO. So here’s what you can write:

“Social media specialist with detailed knowledge of Google Analytics, online marketing and social media analytics. Over 3 years of experience in web marketing, PPC and SEO. Adept at researching relevant industry and market developments and using insights to develop digital strategies.”

Let’s look at one more example:

Here’s a profile summary for the role of a Senior Creative Strategist with a minimum of 7-8 years in digital content, managing agencies, and collaborating with multiple teams across the company.  

“Senior Creative Strategist with a passion for crafting audience-centric digital stories and 10+ years of experience in developing and executing high-impact creative strategies, including managing complex digital campaigns and collaborating with multiple teams to deliver engaging assets. Skilled in integrated marketing, agency management, building and leading cross-functional teams, securing strategic partnerships, and optimizing production efficiencies”.

By the way, this was the Profile summary that Darshan used to apply for his role at Indeed a year and a half ago. Now that we know how to write a profile summary, let us now move on to the rest of your Resume, which shares the highlights of your professional experience in reverse chronological order, starting with your latest job. 

How To Craft a Great Bullet Point for Your Resume?

For that, you need 2 things:

1. Action Verbs

2. Quantifiable Impact

We all know that each Resume bullet point should always start with an action verb. But why?

It’s because when the verb is specific to the job to which you are applying, it helps the hiring manager visualize you doing the work. For example, if you’re applying for a role that requires you to have some leadership qualities, it makes sense to use action words like spearheaded, managed, led etc. 

Next is quantifiable impact.

Quantify your impact using numbers and metrics. Did your achievement save time for your team? Increase revenue? While you might not be able to do this for every bullet point, do it where you can.

The biggest mistake that most of us make in our Resume is that we share a list of our duties. What we did on a day-to-day basis. The hiring manager or the recruiter is not interested in that. They want to know the impact of your work i.e., what you achieved?

Now, does that require you to use some flowery language? Yes. Does that require you to exaggerate? Not lie, but exaggerate a bit, probably. But that’s how it is these days. And it will probably remain like that. So it’s better to adapt. 

Some other things to keep in mind:

• Don't use fillers (e.g., 'various', 'multiple'). Instead, be specific by using numbers (e.g. don't say you 'implemented various features'. Instead, say you 'implemented 10+ features').

• Remove personal pronouns (e.g., I, my, their). It is understood that your resume is written about you and your experiences, and personal pronouns just take up space and increase wordiness.

• 1-2 lines long. Short, succinct bullet points are key to your resume's readability. Bullets or paragraphs that are three lines or longer will probably not be read.
  

Now that we’ve understood the 2 things needed to craft a good bullet point. Here’s a format that will help you craft the best bullet point:Accomplished X as measured by Y by doing ZOr if you want to make it easier:Did X By Doing Y To Achieve ZSo, how do we create a bullet point using this template?Here’s are a few examples:

• Led full redesign of website with findings from customer segmentation and competitive research, increasing website leads by 200%

• Created a performance reporting template, achieving an 80% reduction in the preparation time of standard client materials

• Increased publication rate by 50% within 4 months by strategically building and managing a team of content writers

• Produced 50+ videos for the social team that drove 20+ views and increased social media followers by 20%

Notice how each example uses the format I shared earlier? Pay close attention to the fact that all of them start with strong action verbs, use numbers and are accomplishment-oriented. These elements show the recruiter what kind of impact you can have.

How to identify keywords from job description and add them in your Resume

Everyone says, “include keywords in your resume.” But there’s hardly anyone who actually explains how to identify keywords from the job description and then how to include them in your Resume? But that’s exactly why we are creating this video.

Here are 6 steps that will help you in this process:

Step 1: Read the entire job description

Before you start picking out keywords, read the entire job posting to get a general understanding of the role's responsibilities and requirements.

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Step 2. Highlight action verbs

Identify action verbs that describe responsibilities. Words like "manage," "coordinate," "develop," or "design."

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Step 3: Spot technical skills / hard skills and jargon

For jobs requiring specific tech knowledge, industry-specific terms, tools, or software will likely be mentioned—e.g., "Python," "SEO optimization," "financial forecasting," etc.

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Step 4: Identify soft skills

Look for descriptors that pertain to interpersonal or organizational abilities, like "team player," "leadership," "excellent communication," or "problem-solving."

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Step 5: Focus on qualifications and certifications

Note any specific degrees, licenses, or certifications mentioned, such as "MBA required," "Certified Public Accountant," or "PMP certification."

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Step 6: List repeated terms

If a word or skill is mentioned multiple times throughout the description, it's likely a crucial requirement for the role.

Now that you’ve identified the relevant keywords from the job description, all you need to do is include these keywords throughout your resume at relevant places.

Here's how you can do that:

Strategically place keywords throughout various resume sections:

Starting with your target job title and professional resume summary, introduce some of the more frequently used keywords from the job description. As these sections sit at the top of your resume, they're one of the first things hiring professionals see. After that, continue incorporating keywords as skills and other important language in your "Work Experience," "Education," "Certifications," "Skills" sections, and more.

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Quantify using metrics alongside keywords:

Rather than just listing skills, use them in context. Numbers like KPIs, metrics, and data showcase impact. Including them alongside specific keywords highlights how you achieved that impact. These tasks can seem daunting. But these days, there are tons of AI tools that will help you with this entire process. 

Now, we move to one of the most important parts of this video. 

How to address a career break in your Resume?

If you’re someone who has had a career break and are finding it difficult to address that in your Resume, then don’t worry. I’ve got you. 

A lot of you may have a career break because you moved to the US on an H4 or F2 visa, or because you were laid off or maybe you had to tend to your family during a difficult time. It could also be because of facing burnout after working extremely hard for a few years. The point is, career breaks are a part of life, and they shouldn’t define you. 

And we're sure even when you were on a career break you did a lot of things. So, in your resume, it’s best to showcase what you did or what you learnt during that period. In fact, even LinkedIn introduced a feature in March 2022, allowing us to spotlight career breaks in the “Experience” section of our profiles. Users can indicate they took a career break and select a reason from a dropdown menu, including relocation, retirement, travel, volunteer work, bereavement, career transition, caregiving, full-time parenting, gap year, layoff/position eliminated, and professional development. Users can also add details such as responsibilities, achievements, and skills developed, much like they would provide for any other work experience.

The point is, it’s acceptable. 

But how to strategically showcase that in your Resume?

Career Break | April 2019 – March 2021Relocation

• Intentionally relocated my family from India to the U.S., purchasing and settling into our home, taking maternity leave, and enrolling the children in school.

• Earned AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner qualification.

Self-Employed Part-Time, January 2022 – June 2022 

Planned Career Break

• Took an intentional pause to focus on caregiving for my infant.

• Recruited notable guests and recorded episodes for my Podcast

Professionally Active Career BreakJune 2020–December 2020

• Member of a 50-person division laid off during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

• Stayed professionally active by attending weekly webinars and training to gain new skills.

• Joined Toastmasters (in a remote format) and improved professional speaking skills.

• Earned PMP certification.

DadIntentional Career Break, Jan 2019 – Dec 2020

• Resigned from my fulfilling role to spend quality time with my family as a stay-at-home dad, allowing my wife to pursue her career goals.

• Grew my planning, management, multi-tasking and troubleshooting skills and developed patience and gratitude.

But here’s the thing. If you’re including this in your Resume, be prepared to speak about it too.

We think we’ve covered literally everything in great detail. we believe the only thing left is to list out a few common resume mistakes that you need to avoid. 

So here they are:

1. Spelling Mistakes or Typos: Please re-check your Resume multiple times before applying for a job

2. Using the same Resume for each application, we've explained the role of keywords and ATS in this blog post. Please don’t use the same resume everywhere. Make changes according to the job description. It may seem taxing, but once you’ve got a hang of it, you should be fine

3. Attaching a Photo

4. Including responsibilities instead of quantifying impact

5. Listing irrelevant skills

6. Going over 1-2 pages. 1 page is best. But if you have more than 10 years of experience, it is ok to go to the 2nd page

7. Using buzzwords or cliches: Don’t use words like team-player, hard worker, fast learner etc. 

8. Using an unprofessional email id: angelpriya95@yahoo.com or coolduderamesh@gmaill.com won’t get you a job

That’s it guys.

I’ve now shared everything that you need to create a great Resume. 

I hope this was helpful. 

And here’s a surprise gift for you. 

The first 5 people to comment Resume Review on this video will get a free Resume Review by a Career Coach. 

Next week, I will share the next blogpost in our series - How To Clear The Recruiter Round.