Thank you again to those who attended our January 2021 Résumé Writing Workshop. I’ve included my presentation notes, links, and examples below, along with a recording of the video for those that couldn’t make it.

This workshop was held in partnership with the San Francisco Unique Venue Alliance and Bay Area Hospitality Group. A current hospitality job listing board from the community can be found here, hosted and organized by Joe Curran:

We also discussed grants available for venues. More information can be found here:

If you’d like to hire me to help you with your job search, résumé writing, and interview preparation, send me an email:

mvk@hey.com

I’m also available to speak to you and your team on a range of topics, including sales training, leadership coaching, team culture, and effective customer service.

Here’s a recording of the workshop, and related notes:

Goal of Your Résumé

  • Tell a story of your career

  • Outline your achievements

  • Get an interview

Your résumé is like a movie trailer. If you're applying on a company’s website, it'll likely be seen by a recruiter who will look at it quickly to see if it meets the needs of a role. Your goal is to land an interview, not share your life story. A reader should learn enough to know whether or not they want to learn more about you for the job you're applying to.

Remember to think about your audience, and what you're trying to achieve with your résumé.

What Your Résumé is Not

  • A biography

  • A job description

  • A one-time project

Your résumé tells a reader things about you they don't already know, and only the things they need to know. It should highlight what makes you stand out, not just list the expectations that your former employers had of you.

Start a relationship with your résumé: check in at least twice a year. If you're at a big company, this could coincide with a mid-year and end-of-year review. If thinking about your résumé creates anxiety, you aren't spending enough time with it.

Tell a Story

  • Show growth

  • Make it an outline for your interview

  • Summarize your time at companies rather than list each position

  • Be prepared to speak to everything you write

  • Have an objective / summary

Your résumé's story should flow. Someone who doesn't know you is going to be looking at this! It should show growth from your early days to where you are now: more responsibilities, more leadership, bigger teams, etc. A reader wants to see that you can learn and improve over time. If you changed direction, make sure to position the parts of your work that are related to the position you're applying for.

A résumé is not just a piece of paper for someone else, it's also can help shape how you view yourself. It reinforces your self-image and can creat confidence in how you sell yourself externally.

Length

  • Make it concise

  • Keep it one page

Every multi-page résumé I've seen (outside of engineering, academia, and hard sciences), has benefit from being one page. If you have a lot you think you need to say, try to group related parts of your career.

Remember, your résumé is for your audience. One amazing page is going to stand out more than two great pages.

What to Cover

  • List your accomplishments, not a job description

  • Be specific, be a bit selfish

  • Be relevant, not comprehensive

  • Review your calendar / email for content, make an outline, then cull it down

Here's something on a résumé that reads like a job description:

Coordinated day-to-day scheduling for the team

Instead, try focusing on what was accomplished. Not only will it imply that you did the above, but it will highlight a valuable achievement at the same time:

Reduced staffing overtime by 15 percent

Instead of:

Supported the sales team

Consider:

Negotiated six-figure sales contracts with Salesforce, Google, and Wells Fargo

Your résumé should focus on your accomplishments, not your team's.

A best practice is to look through your calendar and emails from the past year to list achievements. Draft a very long résumé, then spend time cutting things down as you see all the pieces next to each other.

If you want to share a more comprehensive overview of your work, add a link to your portfolio or LinkedIn. If you're in marketing and have a strong Instagram network, put that down. You only have to share what you want people to look at.

Technical Bits

  • Keep the layout simple

  • Past tense, implied first-person (wtf?)

  • Avoid acronyms / industry-specific terms

  • Show don't tell

  • Work on your résumé for every application

Here's a link to an article covering first-person in résumés:

Introduction to "resume speak"

Acronyms and industry-specific terms can be distracting or difficult to parse, especially for someone who didn't work at your company. I recently worked with someone who's résumé listed this:

Reduced company calendar and PLC by 23 weeks by eliminating redundancies

I have no idea what this means. I worked with the candidate to rework it to this:

Shortened annual product development cycle by 23 weeks

I would expect an interviewer would want to learn more about this in an interview.

When I say “show don't tell", résumés should convey more than what you were supposed to do. Share what you accomplished, and focus on the measurable things you achieved.

Format

  • Reverse-chronological (most common)

    Content:

    • Contact Info

    • Objective

    • Experience

    • Education

    • Skills

    • Accomplishments

The Internet has some great examples you can reference:

Résumé Formats

I'm not a stickler on having these things ordered a certain way. I'm a fan of using an order that makes sense, that puts the most important things toward the top and fills in a bit more of the details down below.

Since résumés are short, there isn't always a lot of room for personality (your cover letter is good for that). For my résumé, I like adding a single line of something personal at the end, which can help create follow up conversations with my audience:

Interests

Avid cyclist, sailor, globetrotter, cooking enthusiast, and currently has 1,094 apps installed on his phone.

When an interview brings something up from this part, it can give me an excuse to get excited about something a bit less formal, or talk about ways I've applied skills and talent outside of my professional life.

Cover Letter

  • Keep it short (5 – 8 sentences)

  • Share what didn't fit in your résumé, if it's relevant

  • Look at examples

  • Come to the next workshop

None of These Are Rules

The résumé is one of many tools you have to work with. It's not going to make or break your chances of getting a job. At best, it'll help you get your fit in the door and organize your thoughts going into an interview. At worst, somebody might spend thirty seconds glancing over it, if at all. Make sure to spend time on it equally with your other tools: writing your cover letter, networking to get an introduction, and rehearsing your interview skills to make a killer impression.

What Else …

  • Have others read your résumé

  • Be honest with yourself

  • Focus on getting interviews—practice!

  • Check in on your résumé twice a year

  • A good résumé is not going to get you a job, but it can help

  • Reach out to folks on LinkedIn, email people, ask for introductions

  • Email me with questions, hire me to be your coach: mvk@hey.com