Last week, I was helping a friend polish their resume when it hit me—after years of reviewing resumes from job seekers, I've seen the same mistakes over and over again. It's not that people don't care about their applications; it's that most resume advice online is either too generic or focuses on the wrong things entirely.
So I decided to sit down and think about what actually makes a difference when you're trying to write a resume that gets noticed. After looking at thousands of applications across different industries, here's what I've learned about what works—and what definitely doesn't.
The Foundation: Getting Your House in Order
Before we dive into the strategic stuff, let's talk about the basics that still trip people up. You'd be amazed how many otherwise qualified candidates sabotage themselves with simple oversights.
Your email address matters more than you think. I recently saw an application from someone with an email like "partygirl2000@hotmail.com" for a senior marketing position. Whatever your personal brand is, your professional email should be clean and straightforward. FirstnameLastname@gmail.com works perfectly fine.
Double-check everything. This sounds obvious, but typos in contact information are surprisingly common. I've seen promising candidates lose opportunities because they transposed numbers in their phone number or made a typo in their email. When someone wants to call you for an interview but can't reach you, that opportunity is gone.
Keep it to one page—seriously. Unless you're a senior executive with decades of experience, your resume should fit on one page. I know this advice gets repeated everywhere, but people still ignore it. Students are often the worst offenders here, cramming every college activity and part-time job onto two or three pages. Your resume isn't your autobiography; it's a highlight reel.
Content That Actually Moves the Needle
Here's where most people get resume writing completely backwards. They focus on listing their job responsibilities when they should be showcasing their impact.
Show outcomes, not duties. HR departments already know what a sales associate or marketing coordinator typically does. What they want to know is how you excelled in that role. Instead of "Managed social media accounts," try "Grew Instagram following by 150% over six months, leading to a 25% increase in website traffic." The difference is night and day.
Numbers are your best friend. Every accomplishment should include specific metrics when possible. "Increased customer satisfaction" is vague. "Improved customer satisfaction scores from 3.2 to 4.1 out of 5 based on quarterly surveys" tells a story. These details help recruiters understand the scale of your impact and make your achievements memorable.
Be strategic about relevance. If you're applying for a marketing role, your three years in restaurant management matter—but only if you frame them right. Focus on the transferable skills: managing teams, handling customer complaints, working under pressure. Your high school grocery store job from ten years ago? Probably not worth the space.
For students and recent graduates, this relevance rule is a bit different. You might not have extensive work experience, but you can still create a compelling narrative. That campus organization you led, the volunteer project you organized, the side business you started—these experiences show initiative and leadership. Even that summer restaurant job demonstrates work ethic and customer service skills.
The Art of Strategic Tailoring
This is where good resumes become great ones, but it requires more effort than most people want to invest.
One resume doesn't fit all jobs. I see so many people create a single resume and blast it out to dozens of positions. This spray-and-pray approach rarely works. Instead, I recommend applying to fewer jobs but investing more time in each application.
Read between the lines of job descriptions. When you're figuring out how to write a resume for a specific position, the job posting is your roadmap. Look for both explicit requirements and implied priorities. If they mention "cross-functional collaboration" multiple times, make sure your experience working across departments is prominent. If they emphasize "data-driven decision making," highlight projects where you used analytics.
Adjust your emphasis, not your history. Tailoring doesn't mean fabricating experience you don't have. It means highlighting the aspects of your background that most closely align with what they're looking for. You might emphasize your project management skills for one role and your technical expertise for another, even if both experiences happened in the same job.
Career changers need a clear narrative. If you're switching industries, your resume summary becomes crucial. Something like "Marketing professional with 5 years of experience transitioning to UX design, with completed coursework in user research and three freelance web projects" immediately explains your situation and shows you're serious about the change.
The Mistakes That Kill Your Chances
Some resume mistakes are more fatal than others. Here are the ones I see that almost always result in rejection.
Generic buzzwords are resume killers. "Strong communication skills," "detail-oriented," "team player"—these phrases appear on virtually every resume and say absolutely nothing. If you're a good communicator, show it through an example: "Presented quarterly results to C-suite executives, leading to approval of $2M budget increase." That's much more convincing than claiming you have "excellent presentation skills."
Don't include a photo. This isn't LinkedIn or a dating app. Your headshot takes up valuable space and can introduce unconscious bias. Focus that real estate on accomplishments instead.
Skip the irrelevant personal details. Once you have a bachelor's degree, your high school information should disappear. Your GPA from college can probably go too, unless you're a recent graduate or it's exceptionally high. The hobbies section is optional—include it only if you have extra space and your interests are genuinely relevant to the role or company culture.
Proofread like your career depends on it. Spelling and grammar mistakes signal carelessness. Use tools like Grammarly, but don't rely on them entirely. Read your resume out loud or ask someone else to review it. Fresh eyes catch errors you'll miss after staring at the same document for hours.
The Follow-Through That Sets You Apart
Your resume is just the beginning of the process, but how you handle the follow-up can make or break your chances.
Track your applications intelligently. Tools like DocSend let you see when and how long someone views your resume. If a recruiter opens it for less than five seconds, your resume isn't grabbing their attention quickly enough. If they spend several minutes reading it but don't respond, they might be interested but busy—that's when a follow-up email makes sense.
Master the follow-up timing. Most people either never follow up or do it too aggressively. A good rule of thumb: wait one week after submitting your application, then send a brief, polite email reiterating your interest. If you used email tracking and know they haven't opened your initial message, you can follow up sooner.
Personalize your outreach. Generic follow-up emails are easy to ignore. Reference something specific about the company or role that excites you. Show that you've done your homework and aren't just mass-applying.
The Reality Check
Here's something most resume advice doesn't tell you: there's no perfect formula. Different recruiters have different preferences. Some love a brief hobbies section because it sparks conversation; others think it's a waste of space. Some appreciate a well-written objective statement; others skip right to the experience section.
The key is understanding why certain advice exists and adapting it to your situation. The one-page rule exists because recruiters have limited time, but if you're a senior professional with truly impressive accomplishments, a well-organized two-page resume might be worth it. The "no photos" rule protects against bias, but if you're applying for a creative role where visual presentation matters, a thoughtfully designed resume might help you stand out.
Focus on what you can control. You can't predict every recruiter's preferences, but you can ensure your resume clearly communicates your value, contains no errors, and directly addresses the job requirements. You can research the company culture and adjust your tone accordingly. You can follow up professionally and persistently without being annoying.
Remember the bigger picture. Your resume is one piece of a larger puzzle that includes your cover letter, online presence, and interview performance. A great resume opens doors, but your skills and personality are what ultimately land you the job.
The Bottom Line
Learning how to write a resume that actually works isn't about following a rigid template or cramming in buzzwords. It's about understanding what recruiters and hiring managers are really looking for: evidence that you can solve their problems and add value to their team.
The best resumes tell a clear story about someone's career progression and potential impact. They're specific enough to be credible, relevant enough to be compelling, and concise enough to respect the reader's time.
Most importantly, they're honest. You don't need to be the perfect candidate to get the job—you just need to be the right fit. Your resume should position you as exactly that: the right person for this specific role at this specific company.
The job market is competitive, but it's not impossible to navigate. With a thoughtfully crafted resume and a strategic approach to your job search, you can stand out from the crowd and land the opportunities you're seeking. It just takes more effort than most people are willing to invest—which, ironically, is exactly why it works so well for those who do.
Take the time to get it right. Your future self will thank you.