I’ve had a few people come and ask me to review their resume recently and wanted to collect some of my thoughts.  Over the past ten years or so I’ve evaluated a LOT of resumes for positions (in the hundreds — I probably haven’t hit 1000 yet, although I might be getting close).  So the advice below is based on what I look for when I’m looking at a resume.  Others may look for other things.  In fact, I’m sure they do.

That’s because in my current role my boss has made clear that we should hire first for cultural fit, and second for technical skills.  This is because technical skills can be taught, but cultural fit is really hard to change.  I think this is a good way to go about hiring, but I recognize not everyone agrees with it.  So all my advice below is based around that philosophy.

How long should a resume be (and related questions)?

Easy answer: 1-2 pages.  Done!  Next section.

Alright, let me expand on it a little bit.  This is the section where I’m going to get a little hypothetical and talk, not just about what I look for, but what I believe plays well with other hiring managers.

I think a mistake a lot of job-hunters make is trying to get the job with the resume itself.  They have an introductory paragraph, a long list of skills, a picture, a bio, etc. etc.  When you put all of that in the resume I think that it allows hiring managers to make a decision before they even talk to you.  If you say “I’m an aspiring manager looking to build out my skills and have an impact blah blah blah…” the hiring manager will go “Huh, am I looking for an aspiring manager?  Not really.  I don’t want them going after MY job!”

A good resume will show that you are qualified for the job, and maybe that you have some impressive experience (more on that below), but it won’t say too much.  It will make the hiring manager want to TALK to you, and then, in the interview, THAT is when you get the job.  If you still want it.

I am not advocating for being coy, or playing hard to get, or doing mind-games or anything.  I know it sounds like that, so I’m clarifying.  That’s not what I’m saying!  I’m saying that a resume is only good at getting certain types of information across.  And when you try to get other kinds of information across, it doesn’t work as well as you may hope.  A resume is clinical.  The interview (and potentially a cover letter) is persuasive.

So if only some information comes across in the resume, what should you include?

The Big Things I Look For

When I’m looking at a resume I’m primarily trying to determine if the person has three things:

• Education
• Experience
• Passion

Education

I really hated college my first time around, so when I’m looking for education I’m not doing some weird “I had to come up that way and now so do you!” type thing.  A college education shows that someone can put up with garbage and navigate a bureaucracy.  That’s uh … more or less it, unless they have an advanced degree.  These are valuable skills!  Every workplace has bureaucracy.  Every job has garbage.

The exception to this are certifications.  Certifications generally show a basic mastery of a skill, and they also show a willingness to put in time and effort to learn on your own.  They demonstrate education AND passion, so I really like to see them on a resume.  More than the knowledge they represent, they demonstrate that someone knows how to learn and is willing to apply themselves.

Experience
If a job asks for “three years experience with X” a resume is a good place to demonstrate that you have that.  If you DON’T have it, you can make your case in the resume that the experience you have is, in fact, applicable.

That’s why I always do an “Experience and Selected Accomplishments” section.  I’ll outline what the company was, what my role was, how long I worked for, and then include a few bullet points with projects I worked on that apply to the job I’m currently applying for.

For example, let’s say you’re trying to break into cyber security and you previously worked at a grocery store training baggers.  You can include that in a line that says “Trained other employees in key procedures, leading to an increase in performance of X percent on average.”  When I see that I go “Ah, end user training.  That’s a big deal in cybersecurity!  I should ask about that in the interview …”

And then, in the interview, tell the truth about it!  “I was recognized as one of the fastest baggers in the store and they asked me to train the other baggers.  I actually put together a little document with best practices and gave a fifteen minute in-person training to the other employees.  The manager liked it so much they asked me to talk to the other stores.”  That’s impressive!  It shows initiative, public speaking, and the desire to improve the place you work.  Those are great qualities!

I am not saying to lie about your experience to make it appear applicable.  I’m saying that you can usually find experience that is, in real life, some way applicable to the job you want!  Do that!

(and yes, I do advocate for changing your resume to make it maximally applicable to a job you are trying to get.  Don’t just send out 100 of the exact same resumes)

Passion
By this I mean I am much more likely to want to hire someone who actually wants to do the job they applied for.  I know that’s not always the case — some people are just trying to pay their way through college, or they’re trying to do something for a year or two to figure out what they really want to do, or whatever.  That’s fine.

I’m saying what I look for is passion.  I work in cybersecurity, and have hired lots of people for general IT related jobs.  Passion generally means that someone will do activities outside of work to improve their skills.  They want to build their abilities long term.  They are eager to learn and grow.

Passion doesn’t come across super well in a resume, except through certifications, and through personal projects and work projects that were tangentially related to the actual role you had.  For example, if someone works at a machine shop, maybe they also set up the machine shop’s wireless network (I did that), or maybe they built a website for the machine shop in question (I also did that).

Passion is revealed through the education and experiences that you highlight.  If you have done some personal projects like set up a server or website, include it!  When I was trying to get my current role (in cybersecurity) I got my CISSP and CISM, and then I created a youtube channel where I talked about cyber security risk.  I made maybe half a dozen episodes in the lead-up to the interview and I really liked the experience and you KNOW I included a link to my youtube channel on my resume!  Even if they didn’t watch any videos, they surely went “Huh, a video series about cyber security?  This guy really cares about this stuff!”

The actual structure of the resume

To summarize, here are the sections I include in a resume:

• My name, phone number, email, LinkedIn, and online portfolio (if applicable) up top
• Education, with my degree(s) and applicable certifications (with links and/or ID numbers to confirm)
  • I don’t think it’s necessary to include coursework you did, GPA you achieved, etc.  MAYBE include something you published in a peer reviewed journal IF it’s related to the job you’re trying to get, otherwise skip it.
  • If you volunteer in a capacity related to the job you want, I might include that under “education” or “experience”, or in its own section depending on if it’s closely associated with a school, a job, or neither
• “Experience and Selected Accomplishments”
  • An entry for each major role going back either 10 years or 3 organizations, whichever is shorter
  • Beneath that entry, a bulleted list of projects you worked on that you think apply to the role you’re trying to get — especially those that demonstrate passion for the subject matter
• A brief (one or two line) personal note — this is the only thing on here that I don’t think is super important, but sometimes it helps.  I usually say something like “I like to read, play guitar and drums, go on hikes with my kids and read them Harry Potter before bed.”  Basically, if your interviewer runs out of questions it gives them something else to chat with you about, and it’s a chance to make a little connection.  I don’t know if it helps, but I don’t think it hurts.  Just keep it short.

What I DON’T Include in a resume (and would encourage you to exclude):

• An introductory paragraph (explained above)
• A picture
• A section titled “Skills” with a list of Skills (or whatever)
  • Seriously, either it’s included in your selected accomplishments, or it’s implied by your education.  Nobody reads the whole list, it makes it longer, and then you have to spend an hour going “Hmmmm, I know some CSS.  I took a class in college.  Should I put CSS under my skills?”

A final thought

I used “Passion” a lot, and I just barely wrote about “So Good they Can’t Ignore You” which decries the passion hypothesis for work, so I want to clarify what I mean by passion.

I mean you should want a job!  I don’t mean you feel a calling, or an inescapable desire in your soul, or whatever.  I mean you should look into the role and the company and say to yourself “Yeah, I think this job would be a good step for me.  I can see myself spending 40 hours a week doing this, with these people, for this organization.”  Don’t romanticize it, but don’t cynicize it either (is that a word?).

So find jobs you actually want, modify your resume to make it maximally applicable.  If you REALLY want the job, add a cover letter indicating to them that you’ve done some research and have a strong desire to work specifically with them.  In the interview, be yourself.  Be honest about what you do and don’t know.  Be honest about what you bring, and what you hope to receive.  If it works out you’ll be working with these people, and you don’t want to start out on the wrong foot.