7 Tips For Writing An Eye Catching Resume | Ep #793

Key Points

• Recruiters use a "qualification scan," spending only seconds per resume to look for specific experience, skills, keywords, and outcomes.
• Maximize the top of your resume to immediately show recruiters the information they need to pass the scan.
• Avoid traditional resume objectives and summaries, which focus on what you want or use vague buzzwords without providing real value.
• Use a "highlight reel" at the top: a five-bullet section titled with your target job title, including a career summary, three case study bullets, and one extracurricular value bullet.
• The first bullet should follow a formula: adjective + job title + years of experience + value proposition with metrics (e.g., "innovative customer success manager with 7+ years driving seven-figure growth").
• Case study bullets should be personalized for each application, using about 35% hard/soft skills, 35% common words, 15% action words, and 15% measurable results, staying within 12-20 words.
• Customize the highlight reel for each job by swapping out the case study bullets based on the target job description, keeping the rest of the resume unchanged.

Summary

In this episode of the Dream Job System podcast, host Austin Bellsack outlines a seven-step strategy to optimize your resume so it grabs recruiters’ attention and leads to more interviews and job offers. He begins by explaining the psychology of attention: recruiters receive an average of 250 applications per role and cannot spend 10-20 minutes on each resume. Instead, they perform a "qualification scan," a quick review lasting only seconds, during which they look for specific experience, skills, keywords, and outcomes. Resumes that pass this scan are set aside for a deeper review, while those that don’t are rejected. Therefore, the primary goal is to ensure your resume passes this initial scan.

The first actionable step is to maximize the very top of your resume. Since recruiters read from top to bottom, you must pack the most relevant information early on. Bellsack advises against using traditional resume objectives or summaries. Objectives focus on what you want, which companies don’t care about, while summaries are often filled with fluffy buzzwords that fail to differentiate you from other candidates. Instead, he introduces a tool called the "highlight reel," a five-bullet section placed at the top of your resume, titled with your target job title (e.g., "Partner Management Summary").

The highlight reel consists of five bullets. The first bullet is an overarching career summary that follows a specific formula: an adjective (e.g., "innovative" or "award-winning"), your job title, years of experience, and a value proposition with metrics (e.g., "innovative customer success manager with 7+ years of experience driving seven-figure growth for health-focused SaaS companies"). This immediately gives recruiters a high-level view of your value. Bullets two through four are case study bullets that provide specific examples of projects, experience, or outcomes supporting the first bullet. Bellsack recommends using a tool like ResyBullet.io to optimize these bullets, ensuring they include about 35% hard and soft skills, 35% common words, 15% action words, and 15% measurable results, all within 12-20 words. For example, instead of saying "responsible for creating a new user interface," you might say "designed and developed a new UX/UI for a Fintech SaaS app with 20,000 monthly users and $5 million in ARR." The fifth bullet covers extracurricular value, such as languages, volunteer work, certifications, awards, or side projects, which round out your candidacy.

The key advantage of the highlight reel is its customizability. For each job application, you can adjust the case study bullets (often just bullets two through four) to align with the target job description, while leaving the rest of your resume unchanged. This saves time and ensures that when recruiters perform their qualification scan, they immediately see the exact skills, experience, and keywords they seek. By implementing this strategy, you significantly increase your chances of passing the scan, landing more interviews, and ultimately receiving more job offers. Bellsack concludes by encouraging listeners to use tools like ResyMatch.io to analyze job descriptions and tailor their highlight reels effectively.