Lisa Virtue:

Welcome to Her Career Studio. I'm your host and career coach Lisa Virtue. Here we live by the mantra Thrive at work so you can thrive in life because we know you are more than your day job.

Each episode includes actionable tips and often mentor stories to not only boost your professional success, but also enhance your personal well being. Join me as we explore ways to ensure your career uplifts your life as you strive to achieve work life harmony. Head to hercareerstudio.com for free resources and coaching services to help support you during career transitions and challenges such as when you are looking to find and land that next ideal job or promotion or are leading a new team. We're here to support you. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button and please hit the thumbs up or leave a five star review if you are finding the content useful. This helps us keep going in our mission to help women in their careers. Thank you so much for your support.

Lisa Virtue:

Hi there and welcome back to Her Career Studio. I'm Lisa Virtue and I'm so glad you're tuning in for episode four of this very special and focused season of the podcast. I'm dishing out all the career coach and resume writing secrets for your job search. It's like having me in your pocket on the go as your career coach and guide. This was inspired by one of my clients who said they wish they had me in their pocket on the way to an interview away from our sessions. So here I am making this happen and here it is. So put me in your pocket and let's go. If you're ready to make your resume stand out, cut through the noise and land interviews, you're in the right place.

This episode can easily save you hundreds of dollars in resume writing if you have the time to go step by step and learn resume writing best practices with me. Of course I believe that resume writers do have a place in this world, but not everyone can afford one or would rather invest in things like interview coaching and spend the time themselves on writing their resume. This episode is for you. It will also save you tons of time. If you already have been doing your own resumes and wondering why you're not giving those interviews before proceeding with this episode. A quick note. My assumption is that you have done the clarity work we discussed in the past two episodes and you now know which jobs you qualify for and will be applying to. It is very important that you stay focused here.

Everything we will talk about in subsequent episodes of this season is only effective if you have stayed focused on your goals. This advice only works in this way, so go back to the previous episodes and follow along to find clarity in your search and commit to one or two types of jobs before proceeding. This will save you time and energy and will produce results. If you are still having trouble finding that clarity or you keep flip flopping, this is when hiring a coach to talk through your goals is a great idea, jump on a discovery call with me and let's see if I can help you get unblocked. The link to my calendar is in the description. Quick reminder before we dive in, head over to hercareerstudio.com for some incredible free tools to support your job search. One of my Favorites is the ChatGPT resume brainstorming partner that I created specifically for you. This custom tool helps you craft powerful resume bullet points and summary statements by guiding you through the process step by step.

It's like having a career coach and resume writer right at your fingertips, so be sure to check it out after this episode. We also provide a free resume template so you don't have to stress about what is modern and which resume format is most effective and paying for all those different templates. Stop scrolling Etsy and just go snag ours. This episode aligns perfectly with our template, so I highly recommend going and swiping a copy right now. The link is in the description all right, today we're talking about writing a stellar resume that cracks the recruiter code. Some people say that a resume is the least of your worries in a job search and that you should be networking and getting referrals first and foremost. While I agree that this is the most effective way to get interviews, and we will address this in future episodes. Even then, you have to have a resume to turn in before they can hire you, and more often than not, before they can even interview you.

A resume is a required legal document for HR teams, so let's get your resume ready. So while you're networking and getting your name out there, you you have one to send quickly upon request. Now, recruiters look for specific things in a resume, and once you understand what they're scanning for, you can make your resume impossible to ignore. Plus, I'll share how you can use AI tools like ChatGPT to level up your resume writing and brainstorm your accomplishments, even if you're feeling stuck. If you've ever wondered how to tailor your resume without starting from scratch every time, or how to make your experience resonate with recruiters, this episode is for you. So let's start with the big question what does it mean to crack the recruiter code? Here's the deal. Recruiters spend an average of six to seven seconds scanning a resume before deciding if it's worth a deeper look. That means your resume needs to grab their attention immediately by being clear, concise, and focused on results.

Lisa Virtue:

Now, before we dig into the meat of this episode, I want to provide you with some recruiter secrets. These come from eye scans that have been conducted of recruiters. The eye scanners on the computer cameras tracked what recruiters typically scan first on resumes so we know what they're looking for in those six to seven seconds of their initial screening. Here it is. First, the recruiter checks out your header and more specifically, your location. They have to answer yes to the question can they legally hire you? So always include at least a city and state here. Do you have questions about this for jobs outside the area that you live, or for remote opportunities? Stick around to the end of the episode where I address common questions about this topic in the faq. Second, the recruiter scans your education section, especially if they have an educational requirement for the job they are sourcing.

And third, the recruiter skims your experience section to see if your experience and more specifically your past job titles align to the type of experience they need you to demonstrate having. At this point, their eyes bop back and forth between job titles and dates of employment. So after those top three areas of skimming, if the recruiter thinks you have potential for the role they are considering you for, they think yes, this person is worth a closer look. And they take more time, up to a couple minutes, to read through your experience and rank you as a candidate for a potential interview. So the takeaway here from this research is to be sure that your header is thorough, your education is included and easy to read, and your job titles align to the job posting. I will talk more about how you can address job titles later in the episode. If you've had strange job titles or are trying to transition to a new type of role and your past titles don't completely align to your current search. One question people often have is are recruiters actually scanning my documents or is.

It a computer or AI that's doing this?

Well, at the time of recording this episode in 2025, AI has still not advanced well along for most HR teams for this to be happening, and recruiters are still skimming resumes where you may get an automatic rejection. When you get that automatic email that says they've moved on with other candidates and you're thinking there's no way a person looked at my material. There could be a lot of things going on behind the scenes, such as they toggle that any new applications receive that email automatically, or there was a qualifier question on the application itself that ended up disqualifying you. So at the time of this recording, there are some major corporations starting to dabble in AI and using some computer screening tools. But even the information I'm going to give you in this episode will address those things. If you're following this information, any of those companies doing that, you should still pass through. But we're also going to align all of this information for human eyes. Okay, let's move on to the content and substance of your resume.

Recruiters are looking for three main things from candidates. First is relevance. Does your experience align with their needs as seen in the job description? Second is impact. Can they see the results and business impact of your work to show you are a good investment and will produce results for them? And third is clarity. Is the information easy to find and well organized on the document? When you write your resume with these priorities in mind, you make it easy for recruiters to say yes, this person is worth talking to. And then you go in that yes pile. That's when you've cracked the recruiter code. So how do you create a resume that checks all these boxes? Tailor your resume for every application I know tailoring your resume can feel time consuming, and it is, but trust me, it's worth it.

Recruiters want to see that you understand their specific needs, and tailoring your resume shows that you've taken the time to connect the dots. And you will get faster at this with the more practice you have and by following the following guidance. Here's a tip. Use the job description as your guide. Look for key skills or responsibilities that come up repeatedly and make sure your resume highlights those areas. For example, if a job posting emphasizes project management and cross functional collaboration, you want to ensure those phrases and similar ones show up in your resume as long as they accurately reflect your experience. And you want to show how you made meaningful contributions in these areas with your achievement bullets. So now let's break down how to quickly edit your resume content for each application with three key strategies.

Focus your job titles and experience to align with the role. The first step to tailoring your resume is ensuring that your job titles and experience align with the role you're applying for. Connect the dots quickly for the recruiter Start by reviewing the job posting. Identify the title they're hiring for and the key responsibilities they emphasize. If your actual Job title doesn't fully reflect the work you've done, consider using a functional title next to your official one. The way to do this is with a vertical bar, a V bar, or sometimes people call it a pipe. I think that's the official terminology. With all my tech clients, they tell me it's called a pipe.

So on your keyboard it's where the backward slash is and you do shift and that key and it will give you the straight up and down line. So you put your actual title first, the V bar or pipe, and then your functional title. What did you functionally do that is completely aligned with the title and the role you're going for? This bridges the gap and signals your relevant experience without misrepresenting your background. Remember, your resume is a legal document, so you need your actual title on there as well. So for instance, if you're going for a role that has Customer Support Specialist in the title, and your title was something like Client Success, Associate, or receptionist, you can put your actual title first. Let's say it was receptionist, and then do that vertical bar that pipe, and then put Customer Support Specialist next to it so the recruiter sees the direct correlation. Another tip here is if you are a VP or manager of a certain section and you're switching industries, or you're going for a VP role at a different organization, drop the section title if it's not relevant and move it to the description of the role beneath it. So for instance, VP of Sales is a great generic title that you technically had versus putting VP of Sales and then the division.

The more you can edit your resume and make it focused like this, the better. Edit, edit, edit, simplify, simplify. This small adjustment to your titles immediately helps recruiters connect your past roles to the one that they're hiring for in your experience. Section. Prioritize accomplishments and responsibilities that align most closely with the job description. Rearrange your bullet points to put the most relevant details first. Recruiters see them right away during their initial screen strategy 2. Change your header to Candidate for and then the Job Title.

Your resume header is the first thing recruiters see, so it's a great opportunity to position yourself as the ideal candidate. Instead of the standard name and contact information on your header, customize it to include the title of the job you're applying for. For example, underneath your name, write in the header Candidate for and then the job title that is on the job posting, such as Candidate for Marketing Manager or Candidate for VP of Business Development. This small but impactful change immediately communicates your focus and intent helping recruiters see you as a strong match for the role from the start. Strategy 3 craft bullet points that highlight results. Your bullet points in your experience section are where the magic happens. This is your chance to show recruiters not just what you did, but the impact you had. So these should not just be a bunch of bullets explaining your responsibilities held and the things you did at work, but they should be considered achievement bullets, or things that illustrate size, scope and scale of the work that you did.

Here's an easy formula to write Impactful bullet points Start with a strong action verb such as built, collaborated with, developed, engineered, created, pioneered, led. Now describe what you did and then end with a result or measurable impact. For example, the before phrase on a resume was managed social media accounts. This is just a generic phrase describing a responsibility, but editing this with a new formula produces this bullet point. Developed and executed social media strategies that increased engagement by 40% and grew followers by 20k in six months. See the difference? Not only did you manage the social media accounts you developed and executed the strategy, and then you also had a true business impact that was measurable. That second version stands out because it's specific and results oriented. Now, if you're like a lot of my clients, you are struggling to brainstorm your accomplishments.

You probably haven't been tracking them along the way we which is very normal and of course is something I always remind people. When you first start a new job, make sure you start tracking those metrics and write things down as you go. And if you're in a current role looking to switch, make sure you go grab some of those metrics. Now start pulling out data and information such as how many clients you serve. At the end of the day, what kind of revenue does your work generate, et cetera, et cetera. It's really hard to get this information once you have left a job and you don't have access to the confidential records anymore. Okay, let's talk about using AI to brainstorm and refine your resume. Like I mentioned, one of the biggest challenges I hear from clients is figuring out how to articulate their accomplishments.

That's where AI can step in. At hercareerstudio.com, you'll find our free ChatGPT resume brainstorming partner. This custom tool is designed to ask the right questions to pull out your best stories and achievements. I am so proud of this tool because it's starting to iterate and learn how best to write these bullet points. So to begin, it's very simple. Click the Quick prompt button titled Improve this Resume Bullet Point. Once you click that Quick Prompt button within the tool, it will guide you through the steps to create an impactful bullet point. But remember to check the AI result before you simply copy and paste it into your resume.

If your original bullet point does not include metrics or data, it it may hallucinate and add that type of information in. What's great about this is that it can give you a starting point and you can add in your own metrics, but make sure you're being real and authentic and you're not just using the AI result to build out this bullet point for you. Make sure it's accurate because you'll need to speak to it later. And don't worry, AI isn't here to replace your voice either. It's a tool to help you brainstorm, refine, and save time. You bring the expertise in your experience and the AI helps you articulate it. In fact, if you use AI for more than this, for instance, you tell IT to write your entire resume from scratch according to the job posting, you are doing yourself a disservice in your job search. Recruiters will be turned off if they sense you've used AI to write your whole resume.

So do not rely on it, but use it to help you brainstorm proper resume writing best practices and to find different ways to articulate your personal experience. I collaborate and communicate with recruiters frequently in my coaching business as I have a powerful network of recruiting professionals. They have shared some terrible stories with me on how candidates have used AI recently to hack the application process and then they blow it in the interview because they can't back up their experience. For example, one candidate was asked to go over their experience by the hiring manager who said it was impressive. The candidate then said, oh, I didn't do any of that. AI wrote that for me. First of all, ballsy. Second of all, come on, you just wasted everyone's time and took a spot in the interview process.

That sucks. Someone else could have had poor form. Dude, that will not land you a job. It might land you an interview, but it will not land you the job at the end of the day. Another recruiter shared with me that they received three identical resumes for the same position on the same day and it was obvious that they all used AI to write those resumes. Needless to say, all three were disqualified immediately. So be careful as you draft your resume with the help of AI tools. Some job postings will even say specifically, if you are caught using AI to build out your resume, then you can get fired if they find out after you've been hired.

So if this is said in the job posting, be really mindful and careful here. You can use AI again to brainstorm but not to write it for you. Make sure you write it yourself. Also, read the job posting thoroughly always, because there might be some sneaky things in there. I've seen in a couple different job postings recently where it said if you use AI to write your cover letter, include the word pineapple in the COVID letter. And if you're not using AI and you're writing this authentically, use the word avocado. So things like that are coming into play because recruitment teams are sick and tired of people using AI to bypass the application process and be untruthful and and dishonest throughout. So read the job posting thoroughly and be very careful and mindful here.

Never rely solely on AI and always use your own experience on your resume. Sometimes AI can have hallucinations and make up and insert data like I mentioned before and information that is not yours. So keep your eye out on this as well. The key is to take AI's suggestions and tweak them to sound authentic and specific to your experience. AI is a tool, but you are the expert on your story. All right, I've got one more strategy for you. It's optional strategy number four. If you have the space on your resume, this is to create a customized, clear and targeted summary at the top of your resume.

About three to five maximum sentences. If you want to go the extra mile, customize the summary section at the top of your resume. This is prime real estate to show recruiters who you are, what you bring to the table, and how you're uniquely qualified for the role. Take time to tailor this section for each application by incorporating keywords and responsibilities from the job description. This demonstrates that you've done your research and understand what the employer is looking for. So let me give you an example of what I've seen the types of phrasing used in these summary sections and how I would modify it to make it better. So here's an example. Before this client had a quick summary that said Experienced professional seeking opportunities in marketing.

Once we revised it, this was what the summary Dynamic marketing professional with 5 plus years of experience driving social media strategy, content creation and brand engagement Leveraging data driven insights to build impactful campaigns. See how the second version is more specific and also encompassing of multiple types of things within that position of social media and marketing. It highlights key strengths, results and a little bit about the personality even of this candidate. So use this space to immediately show recruiters who you are, what you bring to the table, and what you're looking for. Think of it like an executive summary kind of get into the good stuff and the end all up at the beginning so someone can glance at your resume later and remember who you are. Okay, let's recap the four strategies to customize your resume for each application. Number one Align your job titles and experience with the role by using functional titles if necessary and prioritizing relevant accomplishments. Number two Customize that header to include Candidate for in the job title to immediately position yourself as the ideal match.

Number three Craft bullet points that highlight business impact using tools like the ChatGPT HCS resume brainstorming partner to brainstorm and refine your ideas. And number four, this optional one is tailor your summary section to highlight your strengths and align with the job description. Customizing your resume may take a little extra effort, I know, but it's one of the most effective ways to boost your chances of landing an interview. With the right tools and strategies, it becomes a straightforward and empowering process. So you gotta practice it to make it efficient. Now for the frequently asked questions I often get about resumes. Should I include a headshot on my resume? No. It is very rare that this is ever needed and can be geographically dependent.

Here in the United States and most other developed countries, it is outdated to include a headshot. Many corporations, they actually will black out your headshot in order to eliminate bias on the interview panel. So don't stress on this point and don't waste the valuable real estate that a picture takes up. Leave it off.

The next question I often get is which skills should I include in my skills section?

So first off, always look back at.

That job posting to see which skills they're specifically calling out. And where I see a lot of candidates get confused is they try to throw everything into the skills section that they can do, mostly technical skills. Soft skills are not necessarily warranted to be put into a skills section instead. Instead, they should be demonstrated throughout your resume. But when it comes to things like technical skills, especially in the tech sector such as programming languages or types of programs that they need to have you be able to hit the ground running with and have experience using, recruiters will go straight to the skills section and any kind of AI screening tool will scour through and see if you have those skills listed and mentioned. What is most important here? A couple things to note is one. If recruiters are looking for candidates with specific skills, you may quickly get filtered out if you don't call them out specifically on your resume. So when it's on the job posting, make sure you have those key skills in your resume and do not do what is called keyword stuffing because that looks really bad and poor form on your resume when a recruiter sees that.

So even if you pass any kind of scanning tool they may be using or ATS that actually looks for those keywords, once you get in front of the recruiter's eyes and they want to call you for an interview, if they just see that a bunch of keywords were stuffed into like a skill section for instance, then they're going to disqualify you. So here you need to put the best aligned skills with the job posting and make sure you don't leave something off. I've had countless resume reviews when I've asked candidates, well, do you have this skill? Because it's mentioned in the job posting and they go, oh yeah, I've done that. And I said I don't see it anywhere in your resume. So don't overlook those basics. The other thing is, if you don't have the skills, they may discount you right away. Something that says like familiar with a certain skill and you've become familiar with that skill. Make sure you call that out and you put familiar with and then the technical skill skill.

I am assuming with all of this advice I'm giving you that you are qualified for these roles.

So if you don't have the skills in a job posting, this advice is not going to help you. All the previous advice in this episode is telling you for those roles that you are qualified and you have the skills for. How can you enhance and uplift your resume so that it gets noticed more quickly and gets in front of those recruiter eyeballs fast?

So you should have the skills that.

Are called in the job posting. Just make sure you actually put them on your resume. Don't forget that critical component. Like I said, lots of people miss this part. And then do not keyword stuff. Don't just put everything you've ever done, make sure it's relevant to that role.

Now the best advice I can give.

You about skills is show in those bullet points and those achievement bullets where you've actually applied those skills. So it's one thing to show a skill and a skill set section for instance, but then not have it listed out anywhere within your experience section.

Recruiters like to quickly see that you.

Have the skill and then they want to go into that experience section and see where you've actually applied the skill. So when you're doing all that resume bullet work, make sure you show where you've actually applied the skill and call it out there as well.

So this is not keyword stuffing, this is literally connecting the dots to show the recruiter, hey, I'm qualified, I got this skill. Quickly show it to them and then say and here's where I've applied it.

Throughout the resume how long should my resume be? The answer here is one to two pages. Now we're talking resumes, not CVs. CVs are a different document and should be long form, often several pages long. The rule of thumb is for new grads about less than 3 years of experience, individual contributor, tech candidates and CEO level candidates are a one page resume makes sense and is best practice for everyone else. A clean and balanced two page format is best. If I don't live in the city for which I'm applying, what should I put for location? Well, here you can simply put relocating to and then the city they are working from. For in person jobs and hybrid jobs. If you have a relative or friend that you can use the address of, use that for the application when you must enter all the relevant details including your full address.

We have seen a decline in how many businesses will relocate candidates in the past couple of years. This is often level dependent, so the higher the levels such as C suite or executives, the more chance they will pay to relocate you. Otherwise you need to demonstrate that you're willing to relocate yourself or you already live in the area, especially for large metropolitan and positions that are more broad in scope such as finance, accounting, hr. Those types of roles typically have enough local candidates, but if you are more niche, they may still relocate you. So using the method of writing that you're relocating to that area can help a recruiter not worry if you are willing to relocate. So there's a couple ways you can approach this. One is to write relocating to and the other would be to use someone's address in that area. If you want to take a risk and write the state that you're currently in, then go for it.

However, remember what I said about what the recruiters look at. If they look at your location and they can't legally hire you, let's say it's a remote role or hybrid and you're in a different state that they don't have jurisdiction over, then they will not be able to hire you from that state. They might need you to be a certain resident of a certain state. So pay attention to the job posting for those requirements as well. Do I need to include a summary statement or key achievements at the beginning of the resume? The answer to this is it depends. If your first page is cluttered with this section and your experience really gets to the crux on the second page, you're including too much information here. If you do decide to include a summary statement and key achievements, keep it concise, focused and relevant. End at the top about one third of the page.

Try not to go farther than that. Recruiters will skim past this when they're screening and they need to be able to see relevant experience quickly. Alright, that's it for Today's episode of HerCareer Studio. If you have more frequently asked questions and I didn't answer them thoroughly in this episode, please shoot me a message@supporthercareerstudio.com I would love to hear from you. I hope these tips give you the confidence to tailor your resume and make it stand out for each job application. Remember to visit hercareerstudio.com to access the ChatGPT resume, brainstorming partner and other resources. They are all free and designed to help you craft a resume that truly reflects your value included in those resources. There's also a cover letter, guide and video helping you to craft an impactful cover letter to accompany your resume and job applications.

This is so valuable because AI cannot help you do a good job with your cover letter and I don't want you to waste a lot of time on it. So go snag that video and that cover letter template at hercareerstudio.com. Thanks for tuning in today and remember, you've got this. I'll see you in the next episode of HerCareer Studio.

Lisa Virtue:

Are you currently in the job search or looking to make a career transition? Her Career Studio has you covered.

Hi, this is Lisa Virtue, the career coach and the founder of Her Career Studio that is dedicated to bringing you free resources.

So head to hercareerstudio.com and get your free cover letter template, the Guide to How to Write it and your free resume template. Keep it simple and use these tried and true resume templates that are also ATS friendly and in Google Docs so they're easy to edit and keep track of. This will build out your career story in writing so that you can get those interviews and ultimately land that ideal job. You got this.

Good luck and best wishes.