Most people write their resume as if it were a record of their whole career. Every job, every duty, every course, every tool they ever touched. It feels safer that way. Nothing is left out.
But nobody gets hired from a resume. People get hired from interviews, and the resume is what gets them the first one. Its only job is to make someone think, "I should talk to this person."
Once you accept that, a lot of decisions get easier. You stop asking "is this true?" and start asking "does this make a call more likely?" Plenty of true things on your resume fail that test.
A resume that gets conversations does three things. It is easy to use, it is readable by both people and systems, and it is worth a call. Here is how to check each one.
Start from the reader, not from your history
Picture who opens your resume. Usually a recruiter or hiring manager with a list of open roles and a pile of applications for each. Before they talk to anyone, they want answers to a few questions:
- What job is this person aiming for?
- What level are they, really?
- Have they done the main things this role needs?
- Is there any quick reason to say no?
Your resume should answer the first three fast and give no easy answer to the fourth. Anything that does not help with those questions is weight the reader has to carry.
Easy: put the answers where they look first
Most readers start at the top and decide there whether to keep going. So the top third of the first page has to do the heavy lifting.
- A clear target line. Under your name, a title that matches the role you are applying for, written the way the ad writes it, as long as it is honest.
- A short summary. Two or three lines: what you do, the level you do it at, and the result you are known for. No lists of adjectives.
- Your strongest skills for this role. A short list, in the words the job ad uses, for things you really have.
- Contact details that work. Phone, email, city and country, and your LinkedIn URL. No full street address, no photo unless the country expects one.
Then keep every job entry in the same shape: title, employer, location, dates, all on the same lines each time. A reader should never have to hunt for when you worked somewhere.
Readable: for the person and for the system
Many companies run applications through an applicant tracking system before a person sees them. The system pulls your text into fields. If it cannot read your layout, the person who later searches that system may not find you, or may see a scrambled version.
To stay readable for both:
- Use one column. Two-column designs often get read left to right across both columns and come out jumbled.
- Use standard headings: Summary, Experience, Education, Skills.
- Keep important text out of tables, text boxes, headers and footers, and images.
- Use a plain font at a normal size, with enough white space between sections.
- Send the file type the employer asks for. When they do not say, a clean Word file or a text-based PDF is usually safe.
For the person, keep bullets short. One idea per bullet, ideally one or two lines. A dense paragraph under each job tells the reader you have not decided what matters.
Worth it: give them a reason to call
Easy and readable get you read. This part gets you the call.
A reader calls when they see proof you can do what this role needs. Proof means results, not duties. "Responsible for vendor management" describes the job. "Moved our main suppliers onto quarterly reviews, which cut late deliveries" describes what you did in it. If you have a number you can defend, add it.
Put your most relevant result first in each job. Readers skim the first bullet or two and move on. If your best proof sits fifth, it may never be read.
And make the resume clearly about this kind of role. A resume that tries to fit every job reads like it fits none.
How long should it be?
There is no single right length. It depends on your experience and your level. A graduate usually needs one page, because there is only so much proof to show so far. Someone mid-career often needs two. A senior leader with a long record may need a little more.
The test is the same at every level: does each line help the reader decide to call you? A short resume with gaps in the proof is too short. A long one full of old duties is too long. Put your strongest, most recent and most relevant proof on the first page, because some readers never turn it.
What to cut
Cutting is where most resumes improve fastest. Go through yours and remove:
- an "objective" statement about what you are looking for;
- "references available on request";
- duties that every person in your role would have, with no result attached;
- old jobs that have nothing to do with your target, beyond a single line;
- long lists of software you used once;
- every training course since school, unless the role asks for it;
- personal details the country you are applying in does not expect, such as age or marital status.
None of this is wrong to include. It just does not help anyone decide to call you, and it pushes the useful parts further down.
A short example
Here is a made-up top third, before and after.
Before:
Dedicated and hardworking professional with extensive experience in a range of industries, seeking a challenging role where I can use my skills and grow.
After:
Procurement Specialist
Procurement specialist for manufacturing companies. I run supplier sourcing and contracts for raw materials, and I am known for bringing late deliveries under control.
Skills: strategic sourcing, supplier evaluation, contract negotiation, SAP Ariba, spend analysis.
The first version could belong to anyone. The second tells the reader the target, the setting and the strength in a few lines. It is shorter, and it says far more.
The handover test
When you think your resume is ready, try this. Give it to a friend who does not know your work. Let them look for about as long as a busy recruiter would, then take it back. Ask them two questions:
- What job do I want?
- Why would I be good at it?
If they can answer both in their own words, your resume is doing its job. If they hesitate, go back to the top third. The answer is almost always there.
Make every line earn its place
A resume that gets conversations is not the longest or the most designed one. It is the one where every line makes the reader more likely to pick up the phone. Read yours one more time with that single question in mind, and be willing to cut.
If you want help with this
In career and job search coaching, I show people how to build this kind of resume themselves and adjust it for each role, so the skill stays with them. If you would rather have one piece fixed, a LinkedIn and resume rebuild does exactly that, written for the roles you are targeting.
Dr. Hosney Adel