Resume Observations

Patrick Newman (patorick002@gmail.com) | 2024-Februrary

The best resumes I've read give me a good sense of who the candidate is and what they offer after I've read through the first two jobs or so. I think this is a good goal as a resume writer, to convey to your audience who you are as a candidate within your first half-page of text. The rest of the resume can serve to demonstrate your longer track record or trajectory.

Beyond that, I've accumulated a number of observations on what works. Here are some dos and don'ts:

Do:

• Put your name and date in the file name, something like LastName_FirstName-resume-YYYYmmDD.pdf. The date is helpful in case I wind up with multiple revisions of your resume.
• Use appropriate spacing and font sizing.
• Remember your audience is sourcers, recruiters, and hiring managers. Make it as easy as possible for them to get a sense of what you can offer with a quick glance.
• Include measurable results in your feedback where possible.
• Focus on your most recent roles. For more experienced candidates, it's fine to have an "earlier experience summary" section that lists job titles and dates.
• Go ahead and use a second page if you need to, but make sure what you put in there gives the audience a better sense of who you are.
• Ask for feedback.

Do Not:

• Don't use a gray font on a white background. Low contrast is harder to read.
• Don't use excessive formatting such as bolded or underlined text. This actually distracts from what you want to communicate.
• Actually, don't use underlined text at all.
• Don't overload your resume with too much detail, either by having too many pages, or too much content on one page. Your audience won't spend much time reading those resumes.
• Don't use a multi-column layout unless it's incredibly excellent for what you want to communicate. I think I've seen one resume in my career where it really worked.
• Don't include links to your blog or Github or whatever if they are inactive.

If you'd like me to review your resume, I'm happy to do it, please email me at patorick002@gmail.com.