How I write resumes that almost always get me an interview
Over the weekend, one of my best friends reached out to me about her resume.
She was frustrated, and has been on a job hunt for MONTHS to no avail.
I know that feeling. It sucks.
So of course, I offered to spruce things up for her and give her some resume advice.
The #1 thing I told her? The importance of using personality and entertainment to stand out in her resume.
She’s one of the most bubbly and exciting individuals I know, but none of that was being communicated in the doc she sent me.
Showing your personality in your resume helps you stand out.
And it also helps you attract the right type of people that you would actually enjoy working with.
Anyways, she loved the advice, and I figured you would enjoy it too if you’re also looking for a job.
Here are the 7 pieces of advice I gave her:
Personality is just as important as experience on your resume. The biggest hurdle is getting an interview. If you can communicate your personality to the hiring manager in your resume, you can almost certainly increase your rate of getting an interview.
People want to work with people they like. For the last writing role I hired for, I paid a lot of attention to the candidate’s energy. It’s one thing to have experience, it’s another to have experience and be terrible to work with. I prefer to work with people I like.
You should have a short, witty intro on your resume, and it should be fun to read! Include any weird, interesting, or fun quirks about yourself — especially if they relate to your skill set.
In my opinion, emojis are awesome. Use them. The hiring manager will be reading dozens or even hundreds of applications. Most will be boring. So anything you can do to make yours super fun will earn you points.
Instead of listing EVERY bit of experience you have in a role, I would give a brief overview of it, including your biggest accomplishment for the business while you were there.
Bonus points if you can tie your experience to a number, like “helped grow revenue by $100,000” or “managed up to 80 customer call per day.”
Anywhere you can, I’d bring in credentials from the businesses you worked for. Suddenly, you’re not just a copywriter for a company that sells dishwashers. You’re a copywriter for the #1 largest dishwasher distributor in the country, helping sell over $5,000,000 of product per quarter.
And one last bonus bit of advice: I cannot stress enough the importance of using a well-designed, fun, eye catching resume template. They’re so easy to use and are 100X better than a simple Word doc.
This Etsy page alone has a ton of them (I’m not an affiliate). I recommend choosing one that’s fun and exciting, but also easy to read.
I hope this helps you.
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David Patrick
