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SUMMARY
I’ve reviewed more than 500,000 resumes during my career and have developed an optimal resume format that works for 95% of the workforce. Below are the How To Build The Ultimate Professional Resume video and podcast highlights!
Your resume has only one goal: To entice a prospective employer to speak with you!
Your resume does not: serve as a vehicle to ask for what you want or relay what you’ll do if the employer hires you. Use emails, cover letters, and the job interviews to convey those messages.
DOWNLOAD: Download Your Ultimate Professional Resume Template so you can follow along!
See the video, podcast, or transcript for greater explanation and rationale of all the following sections.
Contact Information
- Name: Use first and last name only.
- Address: Street Number, City, State, and Zip Code.
- Phone: Use your cell with a professional voicemail greeting. Do not use your home number with the kids yelling or dogs barking in the background.
- Email: Use a personal and polished email with your name (johnsmith@gmail.com). Do not use nondescript formats (ilovebirds@gmail.com).
Career Profile
In this section, include one or two very short paragraphs, which identify:
- Who you are
- What you’ve accomplished
- Summary of proficient skills
Don’t include what you want because you want to get them excited!
In the video and podcast, I provided two dissimilar examples of how to aggregate your careers (including a sales professional and hostess examples for illustrative diversity).
Career Highlights
In this section, include three to four significant accomplishments.
You’ll hit home runs if you focus on the three key areas companies care about:
- Generating revenue
- Saving costs
- Optimizing their infrastructure and processes to operate more effectively
In the video and podcast, I provided additional examples.
Work Experience
In this section, outline the following information. The video and podcast have substantially more insight to the rationale and details.
- List work history in reverse chronological order (never organize by functions performed across companies).
- Place company name on left side with one sentence description of company immediately underneath.
- Indent titles/roles underneath company and description with one or two sentences to aggregate accomplishments at the position.
- Detail accomplishments and responsibilities within each position.
Employers think in terms of time and chronology. They want to see career progression within and across companies.
Education
List your school(s), city, state, and date of degree or anticipated completion date.
Extracurricular and Volunteer Activities
Identify any relevant participation, activities, and experience.
Check the Tips for Work and Life Blog for additional articles on resume writing.
Giveaways
Download the FREE Your Ultimate Resume Template Professional Edition with instructions based on today’s episode!
You can also get the Interview Intervention Book Experience, which has much more and includes an eBook, audio, chapter note, guides, and many aids related to job interviewing!
Listen the rest of the podcast for complete instruction so you can build a killer resume!
See a complete transcript below.
Like this episode? Please share it via social media and review it on iTunes! I can keep this blog and all future podcasts and videos ad-free and sponsor-free ONLY because you share my work! Please share or subscribe to my podcast and YouTube channel too!
Want more advanced material? Join the milewalk Academy and grab some of the free offerings that support the instruction in this post!
TRANSCRIPT
COMING SOON!
That was an excellent presentation and it has really opened my eyes into doing better. Thank you a lot.
Do you have a presentation about crafting a cover letter as well if I may ask? I would need some help with that one as well.
Ezekiel, thanks so much for the remarks and glad you liked it. Interesting you should ask about the cover letter. I’m actually currently shooting all the videos and creating all the templates, guides, samples, and so forth for my new careers course that will coming out next month. I believe you’re on my email list so you should get notified when it’s available. I am going to have a friends and family opportunity for my blog subscribers!
Hi Andrew. I am a technology professional and I enjoyed watching your video. I tried several times to download your ultimate resume template, however, I never received it. Not in my SPAM folder nor in junk mail. Hoping it’s just a glitch in the system, but would like to give this a try.
I am looking seriously at moving up the ladder, instead of being in the trenches. I can explain more via email. I am also looking at relocation.
Thank you for your time.
Hi David, sorry you’re having trouble! I emailed you directly. If that doesn’t work, email me back and I’ll send it to you!
This was an excellent presentation. I downloaded the professional version of the ultimate template, but cannot seem to type in the areas provided, and cannot remove the instructions. I am a Nurse Practitioner and have difficulty quantifying my accomplishments, as they are most often personal to my patients, rather than to large groups of people or the corporation at large. Do you have any suggestions?
Hi Ilene, thanks for the nice words. Due to the nature of distributing documents via the Internet, we distribute them in the PDF format for safety and security reasons. You can find free software out there to convert them to word format. I would suggest Googling that!
Hi David,
Thank you for your excellent presentations and your advice. They are brilliant!!!
What about tips to write CVs/cover letters for stay at home mums wanting to return to the work place. After a promising but short career (5 years), I became a stay at home and apart from a bit of freelance & voluntary work, I have been very much in career hibernation (17 years!). Hence, I am struggling a bit with putting my CV together. Any tips on how to put together my CV/cover letter?
I’m not sure who David is Birgit, but check the blog for the stay-at-home parent (and mom) to professional articles and eBook. Just put that in the search bar and it’ll come up. –Andy
Hello Andrew,
I want to kindly inquire if your steps towards writing a professional CV was in accordance with the famous Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).
Is there any difference between your style and the ATS?
Thank you.
Hi Akim, you can use my style and extract particular sections as needed to fill into the ATS!
Hi Andrew, I love all your presentations, tips and tricks. My question is how do I structure my professional experience when the longest job that I have had was 9 months. I am mostly hired on a contract basis. Sometimes more than once for the same organization. I feel that employers are thinking that I can’t keep a job when they see how long I was with each organization.
Hi Sylvie, the most effective way is to GROUP all your contract work together. You can title it how you prefer (Consulting, Sylvie Inc., etc.) and then collect them under one “company.”
Hi Andrew
Thank you for making all your experience available on the internet. Your work has encouraged me on days when, job hunting again after a very long break, seemed completely overwhelming. Your kindness and passion for people is evident when you speak. Thank you so much. God Bless you
Thank you so much! You just made my day!!!
Hi Andrew,
I am really inspired by your videos and webinars, they are very helpful and clear. Now I know how I should outline my resume. However, I have very hard time to write my career profile because my situation is exceptional. I have more than 13 years experience in the food service industry in various positions as waitress, bartender, supervisor, and general manager (8+ years). In 2012 I decided to change my career to the financial industry and I went back to school and in meanwhile I worked as an admin. assistant in a small glass company (2011-2012) and as set up coordinator in a big mortgage company (2012-2013) then I get laid off. For family reason, as a single mother with a special need kid, I stayed home to take care for my 2 kids. In February 2014, I earned my master’s degree major in Finance with GPA 4. So I have a big work gap between 2013-2016 and I don’t have the required experience. Now I am working as Part-time Mathematics instructor in a learning center and I am interesting to work in the financial sector where I can apply my financial and accounting skills. I am looking for an entry level financial analyst position or financial adviser assistant. I am confused how to write my achievement under my career profile. Many people advised me to write an objective summary which you don’t recommend it. Please any tips, I already spent 3 days trying to figure it out, but I am keeping changing my mind and I found it very confusing situation. I know you have a great payable program that will make my life easier but I wish I can afford it. I am very sorry for the long email. I am looking forward to hearing from you as soon as you get chance. Thank you very much for your help and time.
Hajer, first of all, welcome to my community. The fact you have a diverse and interesting history is not a rare issue. Whenever people have varied backgrounds, I recommend focusing the career profile and career highlights in a manner that’s slanted toward the direction they want to go (not necessary have been). Play up the abilities and experiences related to your next step. One other thing, in my resume program, I literally give the paragraph structure and sentence structure (fill in the blank so to speak) for the career profile and highlights. I realize it’s a paid course. I simply provide more detail and more coaching in those environments. It’s something to think about if you’re really struggling. You can find the resume workshop as well as my FREE resume webinar (3 secrets to get your resume noticed) on the milewalkacademy.com!
Hey Andrew, I was working as Piping design engineer for 2 years, i have realised that there isn’t much growth in this sector. So have switched my career and have decided to become an Occupational Health and safety Engineer, i have also done the diploma for it. But no one wants to hire a fresher in Health and safety. Please give me some suggestions on how i should make a resume and get hired.
Thanks
Andy do you have the complete transcript for this? It says coming soon and has that been finished? That’s so much,.
Hi Nelson, I don’t have one handy, but the youtube video is completely captioned if that helps!
Hey Andrew;
After watching your video I have to say you explained the process very well. It actually matches to how my resume is currently formatted so that is a relief to know I did it right lol. I was curious though; per different IT recruiters that I go through; I’ve been told some rather contrasting opinions on how long the resume should be. Originally I had it nicely formatted to 1 page; but alternating recruiters are telling me no it needs ot be at least 2 or 3 pages.
So on that note; I reformated it; added more detail etc.. and now it is exactly 3 pages balanced. Is this too long for an IT resume? I have a lot of technical/specific roles-functions on there that I listed (thus why its 3 pages).. was curious on your point of view with that.
To me.. 3 seems a bit too long.. but it does outline everything better.. (confused)
Corey, thanks for the questions. 2 pages. No more. Never. As in never ever should it be longer than 2 pages!! 🙂
Hi Andrew LaCivita,
First of all, thanks a lot for your helpful video regarding writing resume.
I am really struggling with my very long resume ( 5 pages) and cover letter, hence I am in need of your kind suggestion. I am an IT professional and over 14 years experienced. I have started my career as a programmer hence developed software as a freelance software developer, later switched to the system, network support, and administration.
The issue is when I try to articulate skills and job responsibilities my resume gets longer. As I am totally away from software development now these days, I think it’s better not to mention that software I once developed over a decade ago and those tools are obsolete as of now. But on the other hand, my mind forces to mention those as I have to put huge time and effort to develop software.
BTW, I am bit confused regarding what to mention for system and Network support-administration, for an example, if I mention CCNP route ( it covers all the routing protocols) but I find it in many job listings they mention the routing protocols by name, hence if I omit to mention the name of those protocols and where I used them in detail, chances are that the hiring manager may think I do not know those protocols and same goes for most other tools, say Administrating Windows network, it means one has to configure, troubleshoot all the essential services in Windows. However, in job listings, I find that employer mentions many of those services by name. If I mention those services in detail the resume gets bigger.
Apart from that, I have to list the professional online certifications that I have done. To me, those are key highlights as those certifications are good enough to indicate that I got somewhat necessary skill for a particular post and those certifications match with my previous jobs profile. Many people told me to start with work history, then to mention the professional certifications after that to list skills. In this circumstance, if I pay much value to hiring manager I can not mention much about those skills to convince the employer. As I have to push the recruiter to go through my CV, I am in doubt what to mention and on which part of my CV to mention those.
I having the same issue with cover letter as well. What I do is, in my email to hiring manager I write 5/6 sentences mentioning in brief regarding why I am contacting him and why I am fit for the position. But I doubt whether I am to able draw the same attention of the hiring manager to go through my long cover letter and resume.
BTW, it’s gonna be great if you please upload a template for IT posts.
That’s all. Thanks Again!
nice blog post! it opens my eyes to the resume writing. thank you for sharing such an important knowledge with us.
You’re so welcome Cody!
As a recent graduate i want to create resume/CV for myself as i am going to start looking for job but didn’t know how and what should i include on resume so started searching over net and found out this article which i think is great help for students like us. Thank You.
Dear sir,
As a recently graduated student, I would like to create a wonderful resume. Please help me.
Bachelor of Engineering in mechanical
Mitesh, I do have programs you can enroll in on the milewalk Academy, but I would start with the 3 Secrets to Get Your Resume Noticed free webinar and also check out my video on the blog or YouTube Channel titled This One Trick will Make Your College Resume Stand Out!
This tips will help every job seeker as well as freshers to make the perfect resume. It’s actually a great and helpful piece of information.
Glad you liked them Shamim!
Hi Andrew, Your tips are valuable and appreciate that you are doing it.
If I need your direct consultation on Career and Resume. How can I do it? I am in germany. I am moving to Toronto in Jan coming Year.
Hey there, just email me at support@milewalk.com!
Hi Andrew.
Thank you so so much for your hard work and amazing articles. I was following you for a while and can’t appreciate enough how knowledgeable and useful your articles and service are.
I have few questions.
I moved here from Europe and I am having a bit troubles to make perfect Resume specifically for US market. I am TV/Film Producer and Journalist. I worked in big Television Networks in my home country (Estonia). I produced and created numerous TV shows and films. Also presented and delivered TV News from a studio and the field.
TV industry is very private, so to write “killer” Resume is always challenging especially when you come to US from another country.
What Resume template should I use for my background Resume? It’s very creative industry and I find is challenging to put all my 10 years experience in one page. I have been asked to make one page Resume. Could you please help me with some ideas? Also I am finding very challenging to write a “killer” profile particularly for US market. Basically they don’t care about my 10 years experience in TV/Film in my home country, because it is very small country. But I still want to make my Resume “shine” even I am from a small country.
Thank you so much.
Regards,
Bimas
Having trouble on how to list employers..I worked for the same company for 20 years. We were acquired multiple Times during this period…My title remained the same throughout all this…
Hello Andrew I recently graduated from college and have been having trouble with finding a job. Would you be willing to help me?
Of course!
Had a job interview today for a role I’m over qualified for but I really liked the company. I got the job.
I put it down to being prepared and Andrew’s videos and book were a huge help to me.
Thank you
hello Andrew I’m unable to download the Ultimate Resume Template Professional Edition can you assist to download it ?
Basel, head to the milewalkacademy.com and click on that download. Then, it emails you with a download button!
Hi Andrew,
I have been trying to follow your instruction and advise regarding building a proper and notable resume and cover letter. And l can’t seem to manage it. I also searched for your free resume and cover letter templates on google but can’t find any.
As a Namibian, l follow your blog and try to learn as much as l can on interview tips and so on.
I really want to have a good stand resume that will make me break into the market of my field.
Any help, please..
Lawrence, head to the milewalkacademy.com and check the page for the downloads and so forth!
I also wanted to know if you can help me find a job, please.
I sure can Lawrence. Stop by my Live Office Hours on my Youtube Channel on Thursdays and also check out the tons of videos on job searching there as well!
Hi Andrew
I think your presentations and videos are really good.
I moved countries and was a maths teacher before I left. I, however do not have any degrees or diplomas, etc. I only finished my IGCSE. I want to apply for a vacancy in a cake/dessert shop, as I’m passionate about it. How would I write my personal statement when the jobs are different, as in my case?
Also if I was to apply for a sales assistant or assistance manager, how would the personal statements as well the overall CV layout look like?
Is there an app that you created for us to easily access it and build our own resume based on the instructions?
I’ve found this video really helpful and informative. However, I’ve tried to download the resume template but the file being sent to my email is the catalog. I’ve looked through and can’t seem to find it in there. Am I doing something wrong or is there somewhere else I can access this template?
Hello, Andrew.
Thanks for your suggestions.
I was trying to download your free resume template but could not do it! It has not reached me yet!
Could you look into the matter, please?
I’m so sorry this is so late. Head over to the milewalkacademy.com and you can access the download from the front page!
thank you so much for sharing your knowledge in this kind of thing.. it helps a lot..