In so many ways, it feels like we’re starting from ground zero in 2021. Do we know what job we want? Do we even know how to write a resume anymore?
Lucky for us, Twitter user @slizagna has taken her knowledge as a recruiter for a Fortune 100 company and used it for good, to write a thread of resume tips that’ll have you taking notes.
Her recruiting is targeted at college (university) students, either still studying or recently graduated, so she knows exactly what she’s looking for in your CV and she’s basically giving us an in and we are so thankful.
Her thread was widely appreciated, with 801 Retweets and 20.7k likes at the time of writing. She has only 3.3k followers on Twitter, so safe to say that her tips went a little viral, with the Shit You Should Care About Instagram account even reposting her thread.
So, without further ado, here they are her viral resume tips:
- Don’t put your address or location on your resume. No one is sending you mail. The only thing it is used for, is to see if we have to pay to relocate you. If you are applying for roles out of your location, don’t put your address.
- Unless you have a unique objective statement, don’t include one. We know your objective is to get an internship or a job. That’s why you’re applying.
- Unless your GPA is 3.6+ (87-89 ATAR in Australia), don’t include it. The only thing it does is discount you and lower your chances of being selected over higher percentage candidates.
- Your resume should be saved in PDF FORMAT. I WILL SHOUT THIS FOR DAYS. If you submit in word format, it WILL get fucked up and be hard to read. Save it as a PDF or don’t waste your time formatting.
- Don’t put your job responsibilities, focus on what you have accomplished, and things you can quantify. If you worked in retail, don’t put “assisted customers,” instead say something like “assisted 60+ customers per day, praised by management for excellent service”
- For the love of GOD include your graduation date. If we have to guess when you graduate, you won’t get hired. Don’t put 2016-present. We don’t know how long you are going to take.
- ALSO, save your resume as your first and last name, not resume. When it’s saved on your computer, it’s the only resume. When it is saved on mine, it is Resume (47) and I will never be able to find it.
- My final tip. You should tailor your resume to the job you are applying to, and change key words to match those you see in the job description to assist AI in searching. Jobs get over a thousand applications most of the time, and AI is used to pare down.
Bonus tip: Don’t waste your time on a cover letter unless you have the name and email of the hiring manager/recruiter, and can send it to them directly. Cover letters should be unique to each position, so don’t waste your time unless you are CERTAIN someone will read it.
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Slizagna also impressed the importance of keeping a resume to one page in length. The exception being if you have over 10 years of experience.
Lastly, she reiterates the fact that a resume is designed to get you in the door for an interview, not the job. “Think about what info you need to include to get them interested enough to give you a call.”