As part of the Rock Your Resume project, we’re highlighting one resume each month as an example of how a resume can be transformed. So here’s the resume with suggested edits and below is a summary of the feedback offered by Paul:
Jacob, nice resume. You have a ton of great experience and I do think you will go far.
One thing I want you to think about when you apply for future positions is what it would be like to read through your resume as an HR professional. You have a TON of information in here that, while impressive, does not relate to the position you sent.
Also, the way you describe all your experiences and accomplishments is good, but it doesn’t directly relate to the position at hand (the one you gave as an example)…I want to emphasize how crucially important it is to write the descriptions of your experience to match exactly what the employer wants and to do it in such a way as to be brutally obvious.
Jacob responded:
Wow! Thank you for your thorough review and thoughtful advice.
You hit the nail on the head when you said I should customize my resume to each vacancy. It is a general resume, and I need to revise it on the fly to address the desired skills and experiences in the vacancy announcements. I haven’t, and it might explain why I make it onto the certificate of eligibles, but don’t get calls. (Although, I did recently land a phone interview!)
You gave me some great ideas for how to customize the resume for the vacancy announcement I included in my post. I really appreciate that help since my interest is transitioning into a position that has more direct involvement in programs, and I have been struggling with how to rework my resume for that purpose. Capturing the key words in announcements and reusing those as headings for relevant bullets in my resume will improve my success rate.
In addition, Jacob reported that he landed a second interview for a different vacancy!
Here’s his resume with all the suggested edits if you want to take a look:
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View Jacob’s Updated Resume Here
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