Think of your resume as a pitch to an investor or just a general sales pitch. You are selling something (yourself) so figure out what the buyer wants/needs and then relentlessly show how you fit their wants/needs.
General Resume Tips:
The guy that has mentored me and helped with my resume a lot got me to start thinking about these general resume building tips. They really help.
- The BIGGEST thing that helps your resume get noticed is catering it to the individual job listing. Go through each job you're going to apply to and make a custom resume for that job. Sit down and read the listing multiple times, highlighting the key words and concepts you see reappear as important themes. Then make sure you resume uses some of the same key words and highlights the same things.
- Start all bullet points with a strong verb, eg: managed, executed, modeled, developed, structured ("Managed junior talent on all deal aspects including...", "Conceptualized and produced marketing materials for investor pitches..." )
- Put the strongest content first! With the exception being sometimes you want to keep things chronological, but the strongest bullets beneath a header should come first. Rank how strong they are based on the job description's key words/themes.
- Quantify everything you possibly can. Did you make a change at work that saved time or money? Quantify how much time/money you saved and cite that. It's OK if you don't know down to the minute or dollar, people get that.
- White space and readability are more important than you think.
Cover Letter Tips:
- Structure like this:
- Paragraph 1 - Introduction of who you are, where you came from and why you are of value.
- Paragraph 2 - Bullet point out why you can add value to the role using past experiences. Quantify things as much as posisble.
- Paragraph 3 - Thank you, contact info, looking forward to hearing back
Interview Tips:
- Try and turn it into a conversation as soon as possible
- Ask what their ideal candidate looks like and then fit yourself into whatever they say back to you. Use specific examples of prior things you've done to exemplify why you fit what they want. You can probably get a decent sense from the job description of what they want so come loaded with examples to use as to why you fit. This is a super simple but very effective tactic.
- Do something that differentiates yourself - the last two interviews I have gone into I have taken something to show them that I really wanted the job and that I was better than the other candidates. This turns the interview into something cool where you are kind of presenting and showing a candid interest and ability to perform.
- At the product development job I learned from the initial recruiter/HR person they were doing a project that involved 3D modeling of public spaces and something to do with radio communications. Thus, I went to the Walgreens by my house, took measurements of the inside, 3D modeled the interior and then came loaded to the interview with the interior 3D model drawings as well as case studies that I had put together of radio communications being used for tracking people.
- At Finance company I found out what they did from the HR person and reading online. Then I created a model in excel and free MATLAB that emulated what the company does based on how I understood it.
