Sprint to a New Job in 2025: Week 3

Starting 2025 off strong!

In the last two issues, we covered finding jobs and networking. And this week, we’re tackling what’s probably the hardest part of landing a new job is - getting that first interview! And that means a stellar resume and application.

Here’s what’s ahead for the rest of the year:

Week 4: Interviews

Week 5: Compensation and Offers

Week 6: A final wrap-up/remaining questions that have emerged from you all!

Make sure to submit your questions as well - I’m going to cover at least 2 per week!

If you think this sprint will be helpful to your network, invite them!

But first, some resources

Before we jump into advice, let me highlight a few resources:

1. Tejal Rives owns a resume company - I have not used it myself, but she’s a well known recruiter for Amazon and shared some great examples so if you need a resume service, you may want to check them out. They conduct an interview so you’ll work with a live person with experience in your area.
   For an even less expensive option, you can try Resumeble. They employ resume-writers mostly in Europe and do a really solid job.

2. For AI resume tools, Teal is probably the most well known (I do create promotional content for them so I’m biased here but they have a ton of free resources so I think everyone should have an account even if you don’t use their AI tool).
   Earn Better is 100% free. Their AI tool isn’t as robust, but given that it’s free, it may be worth a try, and they will send you jobs via email that match your background!

3. Here’s a basic template (made by me!) that you can edit totally for free.

4. And here’s a playlist of resume tips courtesy of me.

What are recruiters looking for in an application?

I’ve worked in recruiting for a decade, and I can tell you that the first pass a recruiter does is gonna be under 30 seconds. In that time, they are checking your application/resume for:

1. Job titles/functional alignment: have you help either the exact job title, or a related job title to the one you’re applying for?

2. Company/industry alignment: all things being equal, many companies would prefer that you’ve worked in a companies similar to theirs. This could be about industry, scale, etc. A tech start-up may not be interested in someone with experience at tech giants like Apple and Google.

3. Any other minimum requirements: this could be education requirements, certifications, location, etc.

If they have a large applicant pool, any misalignment on these two areas may be a dealbreaker. If they have a narrow pool, they are more likely to have some flexibility.

After this first pass, if they see alignment, then they’re going to read further and focus in on things like projects you’ve worked on, outcomes you’ve achieved, etc. Ideally, they’re looking for evidence that aligns with what they expect someone to deliver in the role.

So for example, for sales, they may be looking for what kind of quota someone carried and their deal sizes. For a marketing role, they may be looking for who your target audience was. In a social media role, they may look for the platforms you worked on and what kind of growth you saw.

You DO NOT need to customize your resume for every role, but you SHOULD make sure your resume highlights these areas and perhaps have a few versions if you’re applying for a range or roles.

So what if I want to make a career pivot or grow in my role?

In full transparency, I think this is a really tough time to do that - especially if you’re currently unemployed. I would focus on laterals moves and then look to grow internally once you’re in a new role. That doesn’t mean you can’t shoot your shot on a few applications, but I’d probably do something like:

• 10% of my apps on reach/promotion/career change roles

• 70% of my apps on lateral moves within my industry/similar companies

• 20% of my apps on roles that might be a step back or a bit less desirable

You can also use your summary section to explain anything that might come up as a question (for example, why you’re applying for roles that are a lower level, or a career gap, or your willingness to relocate).

What should my resume include?

2 pages is standard for a resume, no need to squish down to 1, but anything beyond 2 is unlikely to get read.

Must Haves

1. Contact info: name, metro area, phone, email, Linkedin profile. There’s no need to include a full address these days!

2. Experience: your last 10ish years of experience, with a focus on the most relevant jobs, along with 3-5 bullet points of your greatest achievements following the “action verb + strategy/how + outcome” structure (ex. Streamlined the onboarding process by implementing a Enboarder to manage the workflow for new hires and creating a repository of onboarding plans for managers, reducing new hire processing time by 25% and increase new hire and manager satisfaction with the onboarding process from 64% to 97%.)

3. Education: include degrees, certifications, etc.

Optional:

1. Summary or career achievements: I think this makes a lot of sense when you want to explain unique circumstances, highlight experiences from an earlier point in your career, etc.

2. Hard/Technical Skills section: if you’re more technical, a hard skills section is super helpful.

3. Hobbies: Some people like to include these but they really won’t have a huge impact either way.

Leave out:

1. Headshots: this takes up space and really adds no value

2. Soft skills: These should be embedded within your resume and do not need to be pulled out into their own section

3. References: They’ll request them when it’s time, no need to add them to a resume

4. Graphics/pictures: These can be distracting, and can also negatively impact how your resume parses into the ATS

What else should I include to stand out with my application?

1. DO THE APPLICATION: I’m sorry but a great resume with a blank application is unlikely to move forward. And you’d be surprised how many people skip some or all of the application so simply taking this seriously can give you a big advantage.

2. Send those intro messages. Particularly with smaller companies, these can really stand out when a hiring manager hears directly from an applicant. Adding a portfolio, work sample, an intro video - these are all small differentiators that very few people do.

So, by the time you receive next week’s issue, I would encourage you to:

1. Get your resume polished up and ready to apply for your next role!

2. Submit 10 apps following the advice above (1 reach, 7 right size, 2 that you’re overqualified for). Focus on only the 10 but do them really really well - let’s see if this can increase your rate of landing interviews!

🙋Answering Your Questions🙋

Each week, I’ll answer one (or more!) of your questions in this section. You can submit your questions here.

This is a tough situation. Some of these companies will share roles with multiple agencies and if someone else gets to the finish line first, then the others may simply move on.

If the company and individuals are legitimate, I doubt it’s something fishy, but more like a lack of professionalism and a focus on getting placements over candidate experience.

One thing you could do is check reddit for people’s experiences with the company to see if folks are having a positive experience. For example, here’s a thread that popped up on “Jobot” which is an agency I’ve heard complaints about.

As long as it’s a government organization or a 501c3, you should be good! Job boards like Idealist can be good on this front. Any federal government job (try www.usajobs.gov to find these) or state job should qualify. There’s also an employer check on studentaid.gov that should be helpful!

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