Hi friends! Welcome back to our Hart Center blog, where we’re keeping you in the loop on how to find your perfect career. Check out our last post to read our interviews with two seniors who landed their dream jobs.
According to a Glassdoor report (s/o to numbers people like me, the report is actually really interesting and you can read it here), the average job attracts 250 resumes and only 2% of people are interviewed. With odds like these, you need to be prepared to nail your job search. To help you prepare, we’re looking at some of the job market’s toughest statistics and responding with detailed tips to help you put your best foot forward.
Today, we’re focusing on resumes. As always, email us with questions and schedule an appointment with the career advisors at the Hart Center when you’re ready to get help on your resume.
Tough Statistic: Recruiters take an average of 6 seconds to scan a resume (Glassdoor).
Our Response: We read some resumes in 6 seconds. Turns out, it’s tough. You need to hand everything to the recruiter so that they can see why you’re the perfect candidate in under six seconds. By “everything”, here’s what we mean. Every entry, bullet point, and word needs to serve a purpose: why is your education/job experience/project/leadership position valuable and how did you fill that role perfectly?
Start with a Hart Center, Cox, or Hegi resume template. Choose the best template according to the industry you want to enter, e.g., use the Hart template if you’re pursuing an engineering role or see the Hegi link for a pre-health example. If you’re open to multiple industries, consider creating multiple resumes.
Craft every line on your resume. This is the most important step. Start every bullet with a descriptive action word (check out this list for ideas). Include data points, like dollars, statistics, etc., whenever possible (preferably in every line) to describe your role precisely. To see how these tips work, check out these examples from my resume.
Old: Work on team with an additional mechanical engineer to create user-friendly kidney stone prevention device
New: Headed development of at-home kidney stone prevention device to save $17,000+ in medical expenses per user
Old: Own and manage personal business and related activities
New: Coached children ages 3+ at various swimming skill levels, working with more than 200 families across 5 years
Ask people you trust to review your resume. Nothing is worse than looking back at a job application and seeing that you submitted your resume with a grammatical error (unfortunately, I know from experience). Run your resume by friends and parents or schedule an appointment at the Hart Center to have your resume reviewed. You need a second set of eyes to ensure your document flows well and is free of grammatical errors.
Ask someone in your desired industry to review your resume. When you’re sure your resume is (almost) perfect, connect with someone in your desired industry and ask them to review your resume. They’ll be able to provide specific feedback on how to best present yourself to recruiters in that industry.
In my experience, there’s no silver bullet to finding your perfect job match. However, there are a few ways to jumpstart your career search: build a killer resume, solidify your online presence, figure out how you add value to a company, and get good at networking. Over the summer, dedicate some extra time to refining your career search processes, and schedule an appointment at the Hart Center for resume reviews, mock interviews, and offer negotiations.