Resumes: That Get Read

Think your resume is “good enough”? Think again. In this episode of NET Collective, we break down what makes a resume stand out in today’s competitive job market—for college students, recent grads, and the parents supporting them.

We cover basic tips to get started and share what hiring managers are really looking for (and what causes resumes to get rejected in seconds). From understanding what an Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) is to learning how to showcase results instead of responsibilities, this conversation covers practical, actionable advice.

Whether you're building your first resume or helping your student refine theirs, you’ll walk away with strategies to move from overlooked to interview-ready.

In this episode, we cover:

• The 6-second resume scan (and how to pass it)
• The biggest mistakes candidates make
• How to turn experience into impact
• Simple ways to tailor your resume for each job
• Tips for parents supporting the process

Perfect for:
High school seniors, college students, recent grads, and parents navigating the transition into the working world.

Hashtags:
#NETCollective #ResumeTips #CareerAdvice #CollegeToCareer #JobSearch #CareerReadiness #Internships #RecentGrads #ParentingTeens #CareerCoaching #FirstJob #ProfessionalDevelopment #ATS #JobSearchTips

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Transcript

Kay 0:00

You wanna be judicious with what you put on your resume. You've only got roughly seven seconds, so use them wisely. You're gonna hand the resume to help get yourself in the door to get that actual interview.

Vinita 0:12

Welcome to Net Collective, where we navigate everything together, from classroom to college to careers and beyond. I'm Kay McBrudy, career coach and founder of Waterville Partners. I'm Vanita Patel, school psychologist in private practice.

Ruth 0:26

I'm Ruth Hayes, education professional and founder of Fulcero Pre.

Vinita 0:31

Net Collective. Navigating everything together. One conversation at a time. Welcome to another episode of Net Collective, where we navigate everything together. This is Vanita.

Ruth 0:44

Ruth here, and today we're going to be continuing our career series. So we've talked about networking, we've talked about the elevator pitch, we've got our foot in the door. Now we're going to hand someone what? Kay?

Kay 0:54

A resume. So it's Kay here to talk about resumes. And we've talked about how to interest people so that they want to talk more to you so you can actually get the interview. And you're going to hand the resume to help get yourself in the door to get that actual interview. And that's as many people as you talk to about resumes, that's how many different opinions you're going to get on this one. Yes. And I've seen thousands over the decades. And it's fascinating to see the evolution of the resume. So a couple fun facts. How long do you think people actually look at a resume, a hiring manager?

Vinita 1:33

90 seconds. I'm going to guess less than that. I think you're being way too generous. I'm going to say 10 to 15 seconds.

Kay 1:44

And it used to be, people said, oh no, they only look at them for 20 seconds. And now it's down to single digits. So it's six to eight seconds. So on average, seven seconds is all the eyeball time that you get from a hiring manager. And before the hiring manager even sees it, it goes through the applicant tracking system, which is AI. And it's the um, you know, it's going through and seeing not a human eyes. It's going to go through and get screened just based on the text on that piece of paper. So before it even gets there, it is it's being looked at. So you want to get through that filter. Um, so roughly 75 to 80% of resumes are seen by a machine before they're seen by a human. And probably 98% of Fortune 500 companies use these ATS systems, these applicant tracking systems. And the you know, biggest issue that resumes in general have is that people are talking about all their responsibilities versus their results. You really need to demonstrate results there. And 80% of the roles are filled through human connections. So even though you've got this piece of paper and you've got this great representation of yourself, what ends up happening is it's it doesn't matter how great your resume is, and you may be the best, most qualified person. But if you don't have a connection, someone's sort of pulling you from the inside, it's going to be really hard for that piece of paper to get you in the door.

Vinita 3:17

I have so many questions already. Okay, okay. I'll start with one. Yeah. Okay. I love how you said the biggest issue isn't, I mean, everyone puts their responsibilities, like things that they've done, what they've been responsible for in different roles. But I love the results part because we're so results oriented. How would you highlight your results on a resume? Like, are you putting like, you know, secured a five million dollar in sales? Like, what would that really look like?

Kay 3:50

Well, it depends on who you are. So if I'm thinking of our high school or college students, they may have um been a supervisor at the beach and they supervised 12 of their peers or 24 peers. So finding numbers that you can put in, or maybe it's um the safety, you know, they had they went the entire summer without a safety infraction, or you know, finding things numbers that will help tell your story. You don't want to just throw numbers in just so that there's numbers in there. You want them to tell your story. And if you if you if we zoom out a little bit, really the purpose of the resume is it's a marketing tool. It's you're trying to get your brand noticed by the hiring manager. And the goal isn't to get um hired per se. I mean, ultimately it is, but you're trying to get the interview. I mean, the resume is helping you get the interview, right? That's it, that's it's kind of the gatekeeper. So you're trying to put things in the resume from a results standpoint that will demonstrate what you have already accomplished, what you're capable of accomplishing.

Vinita 5:00

And the statistic with six to seven six to eight seconds uh is is spent on scanning. It's not even reading a resume at that point. You're just scanning the resume. Is that because there are so many resumes out there for someone or the hiring manager or the team to get through, or is it because our attentions are are are smaller, or is it because we have a really good tracking system that's doing most of the work beforehand?

Kay 5:25

Like the the volume that these hiring managers and HR teams are getting is crazy.

Speaker 3 5:32

Yes.

Kay 5:33

If you look on LinkedIn, for example, you can see when new positions get posted, they'll ask you, you can see how many people have applied. Over a hundred have applied, over and positions could be posted in, you know, one day or in an hour and have a a hundred or a thousand applications already. Um there is a ton of volume right now because it's so easy to apply. It's one click away, the same way college applications have skyrocketed because it's one click away. And even though you can get your application in, you've got to get it viewed. So there's an example where a friend of mine had somebody contact her and say, Hey, you know, would you talk to me about your company? And here's my resume, and I just applied for this job. Long story short, um, she didn't know the client but or this candidate, and she didn't know the hiring manager, but she sent the HR manager a note and said, Hey, you know, I've just talked to this candidate and he's interested in this job, and I think he should get a look. And the HR manager immediately called and said, Oh my gosh, did you actually talk to this person? Because I've got a stack of hundreds of resumes and I don't know where to start. So I'll start with this person. Fast forward, this is the person who got the job. So of the connection. And so that's why you can send in your resume and you can apply. But we talked about from a networking standpoint the importance of having a warm connection, somebody on the inside pulling you and supporting you as well. So the resume is a representative of you and it's your brand on paper, but it's just one piece of the puzzle.

Vinita 7:05

Right. Or one piece of the next step of getting that job. Right.

Kay 7:10

And it's telling your story, it's not telling your whole life story and every, you know, detail. You're really trying to do the highlights and the accomplishments. And again, if it's only being read for six seconds or eight seconds, or, you know, any single digit, even if you get up to nine, it's still just seconds. So you're leaving an impression. And basically, it's sort of like the elevator pitch where you're trying to share information, but you want them to want more. You want to be like the book jacket. So the resume is more detailed than your elevator pitch, but you want them to want to invite you in for an interview so they can really get to know you. Because they're like, wow, this is an interesting candidate, or I think this person would be great.

Ruth 7:54

And when go ahead, Ruth. We have so many questions. So many questions. Your turn, your turn. Um, and so if you're doing that to be read by a machine, right? They're using these ATS systems, what are they looking for? What's that process like?

Kay 8:08

Well, they're looking for there's a couple different um things that they're looking for. One is just the basics in terms of is it neat, is it orderly, are there typos, um, is the formatting correct, and is it uh orderly? You know, they'll notice if there's gaps in your resume from a timing perspective. So there's the the mechanical piece of it, but then they're also looking for match. They're looking for keywords that you where you've demonstrated um results in an area that they're wanting results. And so that's where they're gonna be looking at the job description compared to your actual um either positions that you've had or your summary. I I'm a big fan of, and again, I know that there's different formats out there and you can get any one of them, but I really like when you put a headline up top that tells the reader, what are you getting? You know, who is this person?

Vinita 9:05

Do you mean like an objective or necessary?

Kay 9:08

No, it's not necessarily, it could be. I mean, a lot of people start their resumes out with, you know, if they have a summary, it'll be a seasoned, you know, um advertising specialist, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then that's something. But then instead of starting out a paragraph that way, think of things in terms of bullets or in terms of headlines, because again, it's being scanned. Think of it almost like a newspaper. I mean, if you had a printed newspaper in front of you, or even what's catching your attention on screen, it's it's either sound bites or it's visuals or it's something that is memorable. So you want that headline to leave an impression.

Vinita 9:47

And it sounds like this ATS system, it it it to me reminds me of SEO. You know, like if you know you're looking for something special, you know, there are certain articles that come up. So if there are some words that match the ATS system with your resume, that's gonna put your resume closer to the top.

Kay 10:07

Exactly.

Vinita 10:07

Kind of like that. Exactly. Okay.

Kay 10:09

So I think being aware that there's this whole other ATS element in resumes versus pre-ATS. So I think that's one nuance from today versus previously.

Vinita 10:20

And you said are a lot of companies using this ATS?

Kay 10:23

Like what if it's a smaller well, the Fortune 500s, yes. The bigger the company, I think typically bigger the amount of resumes that they're getting in in applications.

Ruth 10:34

Yeah.

Kay 10:34

And the smaller the company, perhaps smaller the amount of resumes, and they may be able to put some eyeballs on it. Um and maybe they're even allowed to get into double digits with their eyeballs. But it really is, again, they're gonna first read the resumes that have an employee referral attached to them most often.

Vinita 10:52

I've heard people say that, you know, oh, I'm sending my resume to this company, I'm sending my resume to this company, and I feel like it's going into the abyss because I don't hear back, and who knows where it's going to? It'll just say, upload your resume here with, you know, back in the olden days, you know, we'd have a number to call, or, you know, there was like more of a contact. And now it's like you're sending off all of your life's work on this digital, you know, form, and who knows? Who knows where it's going? You know, I wish there were a let's close the loop on that.

Kay 11:29

Well, hence that's why I suggest having a warm contact on the inside pulling it along.

Vinita 11:35

That's for the networking and yeah.

Kay 11:37

I mean, 80% of the jobs are still being filled because of those connections, because of the people. Yeah. And so, and it doesn't mean that you have to know everybody or you have to know the CEO of a company, just knowing somebody on the inside that can help guide you. And it may not be someone on, for example, LinkedIn that you're a first connection or even a second connection with. I've reached out to people that I've been a third connection to and said, Yeah, hey, I'm gonna apply for this job at your company. Would you be open to you know, five minutes in helping me understand the culture? And most of the time people are willing to give you five minutes. And then from there you can send your resume to them, and then they can take your resume and forward it to the right person. And having that resume as your digital representative, but also having somebody on the inside helping guide it through is helpful.

Vinita 12:28

Okay. So you know, for we have a lot of listeners that range in age from you know, teens to young adults or or you know, full-on adults. When's a good time to start a resume?

Kay 12:45

I suggest doing it in high school because you're going to want to be able to convey all of the activities and the things that you've done for your college application process. So I think starting a resume, even just a high-level resume in high school is great career hygiene. Then I think when you get to college, freshman, sophomore year, you need to have a solid resume because you're going to start applying for jobs, for internships. And I think that again, just practice and repetition. And it's an ongoing iterative process. The other thing I suggest to people is keep the versions. So, for example, for someone who has, you know, more experience, they may be concerned because um, you know, people they're there, they start to have so much information that they can't fit it all on one page. Right. And you don't want, you want to be judicious with what you put on your resume. And I remember the first time I had someone, a professional, take a look at my resume probably two decades ago. And um, she started redlining and just crossing stuff off. And I was like, wait, but that's so important. And she's like, No, it's not, not anymore. And so I think you can have these versions for nostalgia, but at some point it doesn't matter. No one cares what I did in high school or probably college now. But when I'm in high school and college, it matters.

Vinita 14:17

Right.

Kay 14:18

So I think having perspective from, you know, and not necessarily holding on to everything. And and making sure that your resume is matching not just your experience, but the job that you're applying for. Not everything that you've done is worth sharing as you're applying for a specific job.

Ruth 14:35

Yeah. So before we oh before we get into more specifics about how to streamline that, um, I had a question for both sides of that spectrum. So if you're just starting out, you're making your first resume, um, you haven't done much except model UN, what do you put on there? How do you make how do you fill that out? And then on the other end of it, if you've got a couple of decades of career under your belt, how do you decide when to drop things off? Okay.

Kay 14:56

So let's start with the rookies. The people that are just starting out with a resume, put everything down. Go back to Ruth's writing episode. It's really this is another writing activity. And don't, you know, you're starting with a blank piece of paper, so just put stuff down. Put everything down. And then you're gonna organize it. You know, uh for probably the first through college, your education is gonna be up on top, and then you're gonna put in your experiences. So it might be babysitting, it might be dog walking, it might be um helping people water their plants when they're on vacation. What are you doing to either generate income or to help others? And you know, you'll get all those experiences down, and and then maybe you have a section that talks about your hobbies or your interests. Um, you also have a section on activities at school. What kinds of activities are you doing in school? So if you don't have a lot of experience work-wise, you know, maybe you've only got one or two things, that's fine. It might be it might be that you did meal prep for your family because your parents were both working and you were the one that was responsible for meal meal prep. I mean, you you decide what, you know, to put in there.

Vinita 16:08

What about for the young, you know, because you're saying high school start as early as high school. What about chores that you do around the house? Is that appropriate?

Kay 16:17

I think I think chores maybe um uh it depends. I would I would see how you frame it, but I I would try and be very specific about um what was it that you did and why did you do it.

Vinita 16:29

I guess it would have to show responsibility, consistency, like you know, you took your dog out for a walk every day because that was your role or something like that.

Ruth 16:38

And still like gardening or something like that.

Vinita 16:40

Right.

Kay 16:40

I I mean I feel like those are for much younger folks. I feel like by the time you get to, you know, junior, senior year of high school, hopefully you're starting, you know, maybe you've had your first real job where you've, you know, scooped ice cream somewhere, or you've been a lifeguard, or you've um waited tables or something like that, and or worked retail. And then what have you done beyond that? Um and then for the other side, Ruth, you asked about, you know, someone's got lots of experience and how do you whittle that down? I think again, you need to be, you want things that are timely and relevant. So you want it to be, you don't want to go so far back in your um resume, you know, in your chronologically to pull something from, you know, 20 years ago, but it may be relevant for a specific job. And I would say, again, if you've got your kind of standard resume where you house your general things, then you can tweak the bullet points that are underneath it, or you can tweak the headline or what it is your goal is. But you want to really be intentional about your word choice, that it's matching the company's culture, it's matching the role that they're hiring for, and that you've done the due diligence to say, I think I'd be a great fit for this company and for this role and why. And you think about it, these people have hundreds of resumes they could be reading, and you want, you want to do make it easy for them to read it. So that's why I say that that like the top third is probably the most important because that's they'll scan it, but they're gonna, if they're gonna read anything or catch anything, it's gonna be in that top third of the resume.

Vinita 18:21

And what about word choice? You know, are we writing our resume with in an active voice, a passive voice with action words, verbs? Like, how would you describe the best way to go about the actual style? Um Does that matter? Yes.

Kay 18:42

Yes, absolutely. Because you you definitely want to show that you're action-oriented. I mean, unless you're I'm trying to think off the top of my head of a passive role that you'd want to have this passive voice. It's like uh you want people on your team that are gonna get stuff done. If I'm a hiring manager, I'm gonna want people on my team to get stuff done. And so I'm gonna hire people who are able to use strong verbs and they're gonna they're gonna be action verbs, not not passive verbs. I mean, you led something, you delivered something. You I mean, but you're gonna use strong words and you're gonna use numbers and deliverables, things that you actually did. The other thing is um, I mean, you in addition to the quantifiable results and the action verbs, you're gonna want to tailor it so that it really does fit the job description that we talked about earlier.

Vinita 19:33

So you can have different versions if you're applying to a number of different jobs, especially for our older folks, right?

Kay 19:39

Yep, absolutely. Okay. And then do you want to? I mean, you had mentioned the ATS stuff. Do you want a couple, a couple tips for the ATS for the applicant tracking system? Absolutely. Is use the job description language. So again, we've mentioned that before. Um, keep the formatting simple and avoid a lot of heavy graphics. And you're gonna get conflicting feedback from people. Some people say, you know, fill every, you know, white space with something important, some words, and even if it's not important, just still put fill it all up. I personally feel like white space is your friend. Um, you want to make it so that somebody besides an applicant tracking system can read it, a human can read it. And maybe an ATS, for an ATS to get through that first screen, it might help to have a few more words on the page, targeted words on the page. But again, ultimately you're gonna want a human to read it. And so you want it to be bullet points, not paragraphs, and not a lot of density. I also have a personal hang-up about a single one or two words on a line. I'm like, oh, that's a lot of real estate there that's wasted. You know, I'm trying to keep it to one line or two lines as opposed to spilling over. Um, the other thing is uh what one of the first things I look at on a resume when they put their contact information up top, people will put their mailing address, their home mailing address. Why? Nobody's gonna mail them something there. Everything's gonna be done with email. Back in the day it was important, right? Because that's how you got, you know, if you needed information about a company and you needed your their annual report sent to you, you know, you would put your res you put your address on there. But now your email is your address. That's your mailing address, is your email. And so I feel like you can put your email and your LinkedIn and your cell phone all on one line instead of stacking them and taking up more space. And then use the space to tell your story. It's this is really this is really about telling a really succinct story about yourself.

Vinita 21:49

In a different format. In a door in a different format. In a professional format. And speaking of that, what's going on with the cover letter? Are we doing that anymore? Is that still a thing?

Kay 22:00

They do we do do cover letters. And I can cover that in a whole nother episode. But high level, um you will attach your resume to something. You're not going to just send it with nothing. So you your cover letter actually becomes more electronic. And you want to be specific and succinct with that too. And there's I've got a recipe for cover letters I'll cover in another episode.

Vinita 22:24

Okay.

Ruth 22:25

And speaking of succinct, one thing that was really drilled into me in school, along with the address thing, which I never knew what that was for. I just always threw it up there. Um we're always told to keep it to one page. Is that, especially now that things are digital, is that o is that still the thing? Is two pages okay?

Kay 22:40

Well, as we know, you can't read two pages in seven seconds. True. So if you have less than maybe ten years experience, give or take, depending on what you've crammed into that first decade of work, one page will likely suffice. If you have more than that, you will need more than a page, is my guess. But I would not go over two pages. I would keep it tight because again, you want to get at the interview. And if you get the interview, then you can tell your stories. And that will take more than two pages, right? Very cool.

Vinita 23:20

And is there a formula to follow in terms of just the timeline of all the things that you've done? Is it most recent stuff first, or are you telling a story sequentially chronologically?

Kay 23:32

Uh your reverse chronology. So it's it's currently to prior, because the most recent experience will hopefully tie to where it is you're wanting to go next. And things that people will look for um in resumes, they'll look for gaps. If there's a gap in your um work history, be able to explain that. And it may be that you cared for a sick parent. It may be there there may be a very intentional reason why you have that gap, but you need to be ready to explain that because that may trip up an an ATS system, for example, that may pop up.

Vinita 24:12

What are some highlights that you really look for in a resume? I I mean, is it anything that stands out where in a two-part question? What are some things that you should definitely uh, you know, that will grab people's attention right away? Because we're talking about six, seven seconds. And what are some things to really stay away from?

Kay 24:32

I think a couple of sort of high-level tips to keep it to one page, I think focus on the top third and your headline. I use uh capitals, bolds, use the fonts, don't get crazy with it. I'm not saying change fonts or anything like that, but use um the bolds and the bullets to help tell your story succinctly and to help the reader's eyes follow your story.

Vinita 24:58

Okay.

Kay 24:59

Um, and then make sure that your resume does match your LinkedIn. I we haven't touched on that yet, but make sure your resume, whatever you do in the resume, is gonna then be mirrored on the LinkedIn because some people may use LinkedIn to check you out. So you want to make sure that there's consistency there. Right. Um and with the resume, make sure that whenever you send it electronically, you send it in a PDF file because it can morph. And I've had received crazy resumes because the system when it went through cyber, you know, space, it came to me in a very discombobulated format. So you must PDF it before you send it.

Vinita 25:41

Okay.

Kay 25:41

Um, and then keep track of your versions. I've mentioned that before. Um, so you know, by date, you know, by company, if you want to put a dot, you know, ABC company on the end of it so you know whose resume you're sending. Just make sure the other thing is too, with that, I mentioned the 80-20 rule. Like if 80% of it is roughly staying the same and you're customizing 20% of it, I tend to go in and either highlight in a different color on my template or something so that I know I have to change that. So I can't possibly, and I would do that for a cover letter too. Um, I can't possibly mistakenly send company, you know, ABC the letter that was supposed to go to, you know, EFG. Right. That would be terrible. Right. So, and and it happens. You'd be surprised how often it happens. So I can't wait to be part of your company and they name it and it's the wrong name.

Vinita 26:36

So you won't be part of our company. Exactly.

Kay 26:39

Exactly. So those are I I think, you know, being succinct, being, you know, again, thinking of it as a story that you're telling. And so does this belong on my resume? Is this helping support my story? I think is important.

Ruth 26:54

So speaking of belonging on the resume, we've talked about, you know, starting off in your career and being later in the career. Um, especially as you do start to have some years under your belt, how much work history are they looking for? So if you're 45, do they want to know what you did in the two years after you graduated college? Or where's the cutoff?

Kay 27:10

I think if again, as many people as you ask, that's how many pennies you're gonna get. And everybody's situation is different. So I I don't give hard and fast, like, here's the guideline, it should be this or it should be that. I don't like to show down people. I think that it's what's reasonable. And so you can start out with everything on your resume and keep that as, you know, maybe have one that's a master resume that you have everything on, but then pull out what you need for each job that you're applying for. But you don't want to pick and choose the jobs so that there's gaps. So maybe what you do is you downplay those, you still put them on there, but you don't highlight them. You know, you only put one one bullet point, for example, or two bullet points. I mean, most jobs are only gonna have no more than like three bullet points anyway. Um, because sometimes people will have like six or ten bullet points under one. I'm like, no, no, no, no. I can't read that much. Do you? I mean, leave them wanting more. What are the highlights? What's gonna hook them and engage them to say, oh, this sounds really cool. I wonder what else they've done. Yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah.

Ruth 28:18

So follow up about the bullets, because you know how I love bullet points. Um, one would be, is it okay to just have one? Because I've never felt comfortable using a bullet point on its own. And then the other one would be um, should you be using complete sentences? How detailed is the actual description?

Kay 28:33

That's a great question. So I personally, while I don't like to have one or two words in a line, I am okay with one bullet point, me personally.

Vinita 28:41

But the whole purpose of a bullet point is to alert you that there are more coming, right? Or no? Or is it more close?

Kay 28:47

But I'm less I mean and maybe it's two, but I think sometimes there's one bullet point that gives you the highlights for that. And I would say that typically the one bullet point is going to be something earlier in your career.

Ruth 28:58

Yeah. Yeah.

Kay 28:59

Right? It's less important. And you're just sort of giving a high level. Okay, that was the first part. What was the second part of the question? Should we be using complete sentences? What is this language like, especially since we need to be concise? I don't always use complete sentences. Um, and I sometimes will drop articles and things. So the thes and and and words that may not add a tremendous amount of value, if that's going to help me keep it to one line, for example. I get I get more succinct and less formal if I'm trying to and it's part of it depends on how does it read. And so I'm not using periods as though it's a complete sentence. I don't know.

Vinita 29:38

I've seen that in resumes. Now, I clearly haven't seen nearly as many as you have, Kay, but I feel like uh there's there's a formula, and I think you're gonna highlight a formula, right? It's like start with action verbs. Right. Right? Yeah and and and if you're starting with a verb, you're probably not have gonna have a full sentence. And I think that's okay. That would be my guess, right? Right.

Kay 30:00

Yeah. So I was gonna say the formula is start with an action verb. What did you actually do? And then what was the measurable result? If you can string those together in one sentence or one sound bite, that's that's gonna hit the mark.

Vinita 30:16

Yeah, I think that that's that seems to work. And yeah, would there be a place for a full sentence anywhere a f or a full sentence anywhere in the resume? Like I I remember um being taught having an objective at the top.

Ruth 30:31

Yes.

Vinita 30:31

Yes, look, I am looking for a position in the mental health field that will allow me to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know. Right.

Kay 30:40

And so, yes, you can use complete sentences there. I would really craft that thoughtfully and not say, I am looking for a blah, blah, blah. Because the I am looking for, they know you're looking for a job that you've just sent them your resume. Yeah, you just wasted. So think about how can you tell the story? How can you drop the reader into the action? Yep. Cut to the disposition. Yep. And and how can you get them engaged to say, oh, this is a, you know, this is a spark plug of a person that I really want on my team. Right? Mm-hmm. Okay. Cool. Um, one other area that I wanted to just touch base on is for the parents who are listening who have young adults who they want to help with their resumes. Um, part of it is finding out, does the kiddo want the help? You know, does your um and then finding a way to maybe approach that with them, but guide them and don't rewrite their resume. I just encourage them to get something done on the paper and get started. And then as I helped my kiddos with their resume, I said, take what you like and leave the rest. And I say that to every client on every resume I've ever edited because I may think it's best because I don't like that one word sitting on a line, but they may, they may want it. And so I really respect people's individuality there, but I also know that I've seen thousands of resumes and I do have opinions that are based in, you know, some research and some reality, because not only has I have I seen the resumes, but I've also been on the hiring side where I'm hiring people and I'm looking at resumes. I've done college recruiting for years where I would go and look at these college campuses and I would see 10 or 12 students in a day and have to decide which one gets to come back. So I I get I've seen it from a lot of different perspectives. So I think from a parent perspective, guide, you know, don't rewrite, help them identify their accomplishments. They may forget things that you've seen that they just don't remember. Um, and then just encourage internships, leadership, volunteering. It doesn't have to be a paid position. It can be, you know, that can be at any local municipality, park district, they're they're looking for volunteers to do things. So find something that's interesting for them and encourage them and help them maybe tease out some leads and actually actually go through an application process.

Vinita 33:04

And to your point about um, you know, kids that will forget some of the things that they do. They need to go to their parents and be like, oh, what did I do here? Did I win that competition? Or I can't remember, I want to put on my resume. Most high schools will have portals for the students to fill out um periodically throughout each one of their years in high school. It's called the ones that um I'm familiar with are it's called school links, and there's a section for each one of you know, academics, what classes you took, the your test scores, clubs that you've joined, um you know, what what you do outside of school, extracurriculars and things like awards that you've gotten. So that's just a nice outline that you've exactly the thing is you have to keep up with it. And yeah, you know, and so every few months I'm like, go update your school links, guys. And I think, you know, that there are different ways to do it or different um um portals. You know, this one that my kids use, it's called school links, but I know that there have been others in the past. So, you know, note to the parents out there have your kids fill out that online portal so that they can keep up with it.

Kay 34:15

And if there isn't an online portal, just do a Word doc. Yeah, or a Google Sheet and just and track it there. You know, have a notes app, have a shared notes app, you know, on your family phones or whatever. Document everything. Right. Document everything. And and I think in college, you will each semester you get different activities that you're involved in. So you want to update your resume every semester. Um, and then I encourage people, regardless of where they are in the career path, ever at least every six months, take a look at your resume. And whenever you update your resume, update your LinkedIn.

Vinita 34:51

Any thoughts or comments on video resumes?

Kay 34:57

Yes, they are happening, but I am seeing less of them right now. They may blow up and take off. I'm seeing a lot of video interviews where people might be um sent a number of questions and they have to reply. And some of them will be one take only, just like you were in an interview. Here's your question, and go ahead and give us your answer. And others will let you re-record until you feel like you're a professional. So so the interviewing piece, I've seen it, the resumes less so, but it's it's out there. Some people are doing it. And again, you're telling your story. And some people are going to you know really enjoy being in front of the camera, others are not. So there's it's a whole nother avenue of presenting because on paper with words, it tends to um kind of level the playing field. And when you start to get people's, you know, voices and pictures and other how they behave, and they might be a great candidate for the job, but they might not be a great like videographer or you know, candidate in front of the the screen, you know, in front of the camera. And so I think I I don't know. I I'm personally not a fan, but that's why the face-to-face when you meet somebody or you know, have a phone call with somebody or have a Zoom with somebody that works at that company and they become your advocate on the inside, that's sort of your video resume, if you will.

Vinita 36:28

I mean, right. And I think it depends on what job you're absolutely for as well. You know, a video resume may not lend itself to a job in, you know, an engineer, for example.

Kay 36:40

But yeah, if I'm if I'm if I'm trying to get a, you know, a gig as an actor in something or an extra in something, yeah.

Ruth 36:48

Even the client-facing job, you know, where they have to know how you're gonna interact with sales or something.

Vinita 36:52

Yeah, I would think that there's all different creative ways to represent who you are and your strengths, right? Yes.

Kay 36:58

Absolutely. Okay. All right. You want to wrap?

Vinita 37:02

Yes.

Kay 37:02

Or do you guys have more questions?

Vinita 37:04

I think that's all the questions. This was helpful. I don't have the only the only one comment, it's not a question, but as we're talking about like six, seven, you know, oh, six, seven. So didn't mean to go there, but the you know, if if our resumes are only getting six, seven, eight seconds of a look, it kind of reminds me of admissions officers when they read the um college essays, which yeah, we're gonna, you know, the episode that we just, you know, dropped uh a couple episodes ago on college essays, and it's like, what's gonna stand out right away? Yeah, you know, very similar task. So use your words on paper very carefully.

Ruth 37:43

Yes, make everyone justify its existence. Right.

Kay 37:47

All right, so a couple closing takeaways. One is you've only got roughly seven seconds, um, so use them wisely. Show results, not responsibilities, tailor your resume for the specific job, the specific company, uh, make it easy to read, and your goal is to get the interview. That's where you're gonna sell yourself, that's where you're gonna close the deal. And so a strong resume doesn't just tell your story, it makes someone want to learn more.

Vinita 38:16

It helps you get in the door.

Kay 38:17

Exactly.

Vinita 38:18

Okay.

Kay 38:19

All right, thank you.

Vinita 38:21

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