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Why adding numbers to your resume isn't enough to prove your value. One of the laziest pieces of resume advice I see is telling people to "put metrics on your resume." Okay. Which metrics? And what are they supposed to prove? I see resumes all the time with numbers that look impressive at first glance. Revenue increased 12%. Customer retention improved 8%. Managed a $15 million budget. Great. Were those good results? If your goal was to increase revenue by 5% and you delivere

I spent a good part of September sharing job search advice on LinkedIn, mostly based on things I've been seeing in recruiting and conversations with my resume and coaching clients. Some posts were about resumes. Others covered interviews, career changes, and why qualified people aren't getting the response they'd expect. Since LinkedIn has a way of burying posts after a few days, I thought I'd pull together some of the advice I shared throughout the month. If you missed some

If you spend enough time looking for a job, you’re going to run into questions that don’t have obvious answers. How much should you really tailor your resume? Is there any point in applying to a job that’s been posted for a few weeks? And should your LinkedIn profile basically be an online version of your resume? These are also questions that come up pretty regularly in my resume work, LinkedIn work, and job search coaching, so let’s get into them. How much should I tailor my

Inspired by a client success story shared in Jobseeking is Hard, Issue #205 One of the hardest resumes to evaluate objectively is your own. You know what every job involved. You remember the difficult clients, the projects that took months to complete, the problems you solved, and the work that was technically outside your job description. When you read a bullet on your resume, all of that context is already in your head. The recruiter reading it doesn’t have any of that. I r

Inspired by a client success story shared in Jobseeking is Hard, Issue #204 A resume should obviously help with the job search happening right now. But ideally, it should also make future updates easier because you understand why the document is structured the way it is. A former Resume Rewrite client recently left a comment on one of my LinkedIn posts saying they still follow the same format we built years ago and that the work “set me up for future success.” That’s exactly

Inspired by a client success story shared in Jobseeking is Hard, Issue #203 One of the most useful things you can do during a job search is pay attention to which applications are actually generating a response. A recent Basic Resume Review client sent me a dashboard showing 92 applications, 4 interviews, and a 4.3% interview rate. At first glance, the obvious takeaway might be that the resume wasn’t working particularly well. But the overall response rate wasn’t the most int

Inspired by a client success story shared in Jobseeking is Hard, Issue #202 A strong resume can do more than help you get an interview. It can also tell you what to prepare for once you get one. That came up again this weekend when a former Resume Rewrite client commented on someone else’s LinkedIn post about job search struggles. They shared that the resume work we did had helped them start getting the interviews they wanted. Then they added something important: interviewing

Inspired by a client success story shared in Jobseeking is Hard, Issue #201 A resume can have plenty of good experience on it and still make the wrong impression. That came up with a Rewrite Bundle client who purchased the service on July 20. They sent me several examples of the jobs they wanted to pursue, which gave me a chance to compare what those employers were looking for with what the resume was actually emphasizing. The client had relevant experience. They’d built prog

Inspired by a client success story shared in Jobseeking is Hard, Issue #200 One of the harder resume problems is having plenty of experience but no obvious story connecting it. That came up with a Comprehensive Resume Review client I worked with a few years ago. They were finishing school and had a background that included several different types of experience. There was good material on the resume, but the reader had to work too hard to understand what connected it all and w

Inspired by a client success story shared in Jobseeking is Hard, Issue #199 It’s frustrating when you know you’re already operating at a higher level, but your resume still makes you look like you’re one step behind. That came up recently with a Premium Rewrite Bundle client who felt ready for more senior roles, but their resume wasn’t helping recruiters see the scope, ownership, and leadership already in the work. Their responsibilities had expanded quite a bit, but the resu

Inspired by a client success story shared in Jobseeking is Hard, Issue #197 A resume can include strong experience and still make someone look less senior than they really are. That usually happens when everything is given the same amount of space and attention. Routine responsibilities sit next to strategic work. Day-to-day tasks get as much emphasis as decisions that influenced the organization. By the time a recruiter reaches the strongest example, they may have already fo

We help people at every level and at very different points in their job search. Some need a complete rewrite. Some need help figuring out why a resume that used to work isn’t getting results anymore. Others are qualified for the jobs they want but aren’t presenting their experience in a way recruiters can quickly understand. This summer, we’ve given paying clients a lot of practical advice to fix those problems. Here’s an actionable breakdown of the guidance that keeps coming

Inspired by a client success story shared in Jobseeking is Hard, Issue #193 One of the easiest mistakes to make when writing a resume is assuming recruiters will interpret it the same way you do. They won't. You know the context behind every promotion, career move, consulting engagement, and side project because you lived it. Recruiters only have what's on the page. They're filling in the blanks with their own experience, assumptions, and biases. That's why it's so important

Inspired by a client success story shared in Jobseeking is Hard, Issue #192 One of the biggest misconceptions about resumes is that once you have a good one, you're set for years. Sometimes that's true. More often, the hiring market changes before your experience does. Recently, we worked with a client who had used one of my resume services a few years ago. That resume helped open doors to senior leadership opportunities and continued performing well for quite some time. But

Inspired by a client success story shared in Jobseeking is Hard, Issue #191 One of the more surprising challenges in a job search is that the experiences that helped someone become successful can sometimes make it harder for recruiters to understand where they fit. Most careers don't develop in a straight line. Over time, people take on new responsibilities, learn new skills, work across different functions, and become valuable in multiple ways. Organizations often reward tha

Inspired by a client sucdess story shared in Jobseeking is Hard, Issue #190 One of the biggest challenges in a job search is that candidates and recruiters rarely read resumes the same way. Candidates see years of experience, context, accomplishments, and career progression. They know why projects mattered, which achievements were the most difficult, and how one role prepared them for the next. Recruiters don't have access to any of that background. They have a resume. That d

Inspired by a client success story shared in Jobseeking is Hard, Issue #189 One of the more frustrating parts of a job search is knowing you can do the job and never getting the chance to prove it. Most candidates assume that if they're qualified, hiring teams will eventually figure that out. The reality is that qualifications aren't always the first thing being evaluated. Recruiters and hiring managers serve different purposes in the hiring process. Hiring managers are often

Inspired by a client success story shared in Jobseeking is Hard, Issue #188 One of the more common frustrations in a job search is feeling qualified for a role while hearing absolutely nothing back. Candidates often assume the problem is that they don't meet enough of the requirements. Sometimes that's true. But a lot of the time, the issue starts much earlier with how the job description is being interpreted. Most jobseekers read job postings as qualification checklists. The

Over the past few months, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about resume positioning, recruiter interpretation, hiring psychology, and why strong candidates often struggle to gain traction despite having objectively good experience. One of the biggest patterns across those conversations has been this: most resume problems are about how that experience is being interpreted during a quick screening process. If you have a free moment today and plan on applying to jobs soon, it m

Inspired by a client success story shared in Jobseeking is Hard, Issue #186 One of the more frustrating realities of modern hiring is that a resume can be perfectly clear and still fail. A lot of professionals eventually reach the point where recruiters understand what they do, but the resume still doesn’t generate much traction. The experience makes sense. The titles line up. The responsibilities sound relevant. But something still feels off because the experience is being c