How to Write the Perfect Resume: Stand Out, Land Interviews, and Get the Job You Want

142 Pages·1.907 MB·English

by  Dan Clay

© 2018 Dan Clay. All Rights Reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any form without permission in writing
from the author.
Disclaimer
The information contained in this book is based on personal
experience and anecdotal evidence and is for educational
purposes only. Although the author has made every
reasonable attempt to achieve complete accuracy of the
content in this product, he assumes no responsibility for
errors or omissions.
You should use this information as you see fit and at your
own risk. Everyone’s situation is unique, and applying
the information found in this book in no way guarantees
employment or any other result desired from reading this
book. The author assumes no responsibility or liability
whatsoever on the behalf of the purchaser or reader
of these materials.
iii
About the Author
Dan Clay is a writer, author and sales
professional based in San Francisco, CA.
Over the past ten years, his resume has
landed him jobs across a broad spectrum
of companies, from a five-person
startup incubated by the prestigious
Y-Combinator to global powerhouses
such as Shell, LinkedIn, Google, and Gartner—the latter
two listed on Glassdoor’s Top 25 Companies That Give the
Toughest Job Interviews.
Through a series of strategic career moves, Dan grew his
income over sixfold in just four years, and soon after founded
The Conscious Career, a place where he writes about how
to approach your career in a more mindful, deliberate way.
He is the author of How to Write The Perfect Resume and has
become a sought-after resource for everything from resume
writing to interviewing and salary negotiation.
You can follow Dan on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/i n/
danclay and subscribe to The Conscious Career newsletter by
visiting www.danclay.com/s ignup.
Table of Contents
Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv
Free Bonus Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Sign Up For the Conscious Career Newsletter . . . . . . . 3
Resume Realities And Why I Wrote This Book . . . . . 4
Four Basic Resume Truths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Resume Truth #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Resume Truth #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Resume Truth #3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Resume Truth #4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Your Target Audience and the Four Tests
Your Resume Must Pass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Resume Golden Rule #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Should you write a cover letter?................... 23
Planning and Outlining Your Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Planning Your Resume .......................... 27
v
Resume Golden Rule #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Resume Formatting and Styling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Resume Golden Rule #3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
The cautionary tale of Nina and Airbnb ............ 37
Page Length.................................... 39
Resume Golden Rule #4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Content Density and Margins..................... 41
Layout ........................................ 44
Resume Golden Rule #5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Font Style ..................................... 45
A word of warning regarding light fonts ........... 49
Font Size and Emphasis.......................... 50
Section Heading Alignment ...................... 52
A Word About Underlines....................... 53
The vertical bar: Your best friend
for content layout............................... 54
Color ......................................... 55
Line Spacing ................................... 56
The Meat and Potatoes: Your Resume Content . . . . . . 57
Resume Golden Rule #6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
The “Hell Yea!” Test............................. 60
Key Resume Areas .............................. 62
Name and Contact Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
vi
How should you display your address if
you’re applying to a position that would
require relocating? .............................. 66
Profile/Executive Summary ...................... 68
Should you include an objective in your resume?..... 69
Professional Experience.......................... 69
Resume Golden Rule #7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Should you include a description of each
company under your professional experience?....... 76
Displaying multiple roles held
at the same company ............................ 77
Communicating Acquisitions..................... 78
Explaining Gaps In Your Resume.................. 79
Displaying Dates on Your Resume................. 82
Should you include jobs you only held for a
brief period of time?............................. 83
Professional Activities and Volunteer Work ........ 84
Resume Golden Rule #8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Should you include entry-level jobs unrelated
to the role you’re applying for?.................... 86
Skills & Certifications ........................... 87
Should you include a section just for
keywords to help pass the ATS test? ............... 93
Education...................................... 94
vii
If you graduated a long time ago, should you
include your graduation date?..................... 104
Consistency.................................... 105
Awards........................................ 106
Things Not to Include in Your Resume............. 108
The Finishing Touches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Resume Golden Rule #9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Consistency.................................... 114
Resume Golden Rule #10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Spelling ....................................... 117
Grammar...................................... 117
Tense ......................................... 118
Formatting .................................... 119
Common consistency mistakes.................... 120
Printing ....................................... 121
File Name and Type............................. 123
Bringing It All Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
In Closing ..................................... 128
Don’t Forget to Download Your
Free Bonus Materials! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
One Last Thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
viii
Free Bonus Materials
As my way of saying thanks for picking up this book, I’m
making several bonus materials available absolutely free
just for readers of How to Write the Perfect Resume that will
dramatically enhance your ability to execute the strategies
outlined in this book.
Here’s what I’m offering:
• Five customizable, fully editable resume
templates in Microsoft Word format that have
been tested and proven to land interviews at
world-class organizations
• 77 Hard-Hitting Resume Action Verbs and
Phrase Examples in PDF format to help you build
powerful resume bullets that will instantly grab
attention
• The 66-Point Perfect Resume Checklist in
PDF format to make sure your resume is
absolutely perfect before sending to recruiters
and hiring managers
1
2 | Free Bonus Materials
• A Before & After Resume Transformation example
to see the difference between a resume that
recruiters pass over versus one they can’t ignore
• To access these FREE bonus materials, simply visit
www.danclay.com/p erfectresume, enter your name
and email address, and click the button to submit.