Boost Your Confidence with a Powerful Resume

It is important to navigate a journey with confidence and a strong foundation. I n your job search, the best way to ensure a solid foundation is to build a strong resume that reflects your unique strengths and the meaningful contributions you’ve made.

Packing the Essentials

Showcase Your Authentic Self. It can be easy to fall into the trap of trying to mold yourself into the perfect candidate for each role, but that is exhausting and unsustainable as you are essentially trying to mindread what a hiring manager wants from a generic job posting. Times how many roles?

Remember, the job search is about finding a good fit. You are a unique piece looking for your puzzle. Spend time thinking about the top three characteristics that uniquely represent your strengths and impact. For each of these, create a statement that boosts your confidence and reminds you of your incredible qualities.

Some great examples include:

• Engineer Whisperer

• Builder of Collaborative Teams

• Strategic Marketer

• Scrappy Innovator

• Empowering Leader

Sometimes people perceive such statements as extreme or boastful, but you are not bragging, you are promoting yourself. Place these statements at the top of your resume and embed the themes throughout your resume.

Resumes don’t necessarily leave lasting impressions, but people do. Ensure the person reading the resume sees and remembers you.

Lightening the Load

Short and Sweet. As a hiring manager, I rarely read any resume over 2 pages. I tune out with long paragraphs and get annoyed with half a page of keywords. If you list tasks that I can assume you did just by your title, I feel I have learned nothing. If you are unable to state something simply, I imagine that our 1on1s will be painfully long and you will host meetings that do not accomplish anything other than use up time. 

Assume the hiring manager will spend 5 minutes AT MOST looking at your resume, probably while they are distracted in a meeting or rushing to get it done by some annoying deadline. Make it easy for them to read and capture the key highlights with powerful words, numbers, and formatting. 

Focus on carrying the themes from above and highlighting positive impact and wins.

Examples:

• Efficient Project Leader

• Instead of: Managed 10 cross-functional projects

• Use: Delivered 10 projects ahead of schedule and under budget, achieving department objectives to enable on time launch for all new products in 2023

• Strategic Sales Leader

• Instead of: Led sales team to meet revenue targets 3 quarters in a row

• Use: Boosted market share by 20% by accessing previously unidentified target segment

Make sure you draw attention quickly and easily and remove anything that feels like filler or fluff.

Enjoying the View

Celebrate your Accomplishments. Your resume should not be the only place where you capture your wins. Maintain a list of early accomplishments that have been bumped from your resume, personally satisfying moments that do not belong on a resume, and feedback others have given you. 

If you do not have created this list, spend time reflecting. What big moments do you recall? What compliments have others given you about your work and what it is like working with you? Recognize growth over time and consistent patterns.

Update the list real time as you achieve new goals and receive positive feedback. Use this to update your resume annually.

By maintaining connection with your successes, you will consistently utilize your strengths and be confident in how you present yourself in your resume.

Building Momentum

Perfection is the Enemy of Progress. As a resume coach, people want to put a lot of effort in their resume before I even look at it. If you are hesitant to share it with someone you are paying to help you, how much will you hold back when it comes time to submit your resume to a recruiter? 

Are you avoiding possible criticism? Share it with everyone you know and ask for feedback. Practice receiving the feedback as data and not judgement. Hear the positive reviews and build on those. Listen to how your resume lands on people, not their personal preferences.

Are you afraid of being rejected? Even perfect resumes do not guarantee even a first call. Waiting just means missed opportunities as other applicants apply or roles close. It is better to put something good out there and continue iterating than to wait for perceived perfection.

Build confidence by actively sharing your resume, embracing each opportunity as an opportunity to learn, and focus on growth over outcomes.