A Recruiter’s Tips for Writing a Resume That Gets Interviews

When I was in training to become a recruiter at my first agency, my managers made it clear, very quickly, that writing resumes for candidates was not part of our job. Recruiting is a sales role, with candidates being our product, and creating a resume from scratch is akin to spending time re-building a product to sell. For me, this became a frustration. I worked with labor candidates for a while, then administrative candidates, and finally made a niche of representing highly specialized law firm billing and accounting professionals. Many stellar candidates would come to my desk and there would be one obvious problem – they weren’t resume writers. 

I started LA Writings, in part, to help people with the very specific task of resume building. If you’re a job seeker, it’s a safe bet to assume you’ve seen the (many) LinkedIn posts complaining about the ATS (Applicant Tracking System) and the way it callously gatekeeps qualified candidates. The truth is that hiring managers would do the same. While I had the advantage of working within a niche and becoming intimately familiar with what my candidates’ roles would entail, most recruiters are generalists who source within all sorts of fields. Thus, they don’t have a full understanding of what truly makes a qualified candidate. If you decide to circumvent agency recruiters and apply directly to a large company (something I do not recommend for reasons I’ve discussed in a different article), your resume will most likely be reviewed by a busy HR person who doesn’t have the full picture of what your specific department does. 

So, how do you create a resume that can get through this initial stage and land you an interview? Well, I will give you the same advice I was given by one of the best, most successful law firm recruiters in LA: you must connect the dots. 

While that seems quite vague at first glance, it makes perfect sense. There is so much advice online encouraging candidates to complicate things on their resume. Things along the lines of, “don’t just tell them what you do; show them how you helped the company!” All fine and dandy, but also, TELL THEM WHAT YOU DO! 

Let me get more specific:

o   Don’t use your weird job title.

Your current company calls their IT Support Specialists “Genius Fixer Uppers” – amazing, but useless on a resume. Call your job what it is. Better yet, call it what you need to. If you’re applying for a Tech Support Coordinator job, use that title instead of IT Support Specialist. While the meaning is interchangeable, one makes it clearer you’re a match for the role to which you’re applying. 

o   Don’t use “assistant” in your titles…

… unless you’re truly an assistant. Firms of different sizes use different titles for the same roles. A “Billing Assistant” at a large law firm and a “Billing Coordinator” at a smaller one, are likely doing the same thing – billing out attorneys’ hours. If this applies to your type of role, lose the “Assistant” and replace it with a word that matches your level of responsibilities. 

o   Don’t waste bullet points on mundane duties.

List responsibilities you’ve had that match your target role’s description first. Try to phrase them similarly in your own words and avoid adding fluff. If you’re a nurse with experience administering injections, checking vitals, and keeping patient records, you don’t need to add that you’re in charge of changing out the lightbulbs at the clinic and going on coffee runs. At the very least, not up top. 

o   Don’t make your side hustle into a centerpiece. 

Although giving yourself an Entrepreneur/CEO of your own company title may be impressive, I’ve found it gravely detracts from your more relevant job experience. Remember – recruiters decide in mere seconds whether to continue reading through your resume. Your own business being at the very top of your resume can not only take attention away from the keywords a recruiter’s eyes are quickly scanning for, but also deter some employers from believing in your potential long-term commitment to being an employee at their company. 

o   List your roles in standardized reverse-chronological order. 

If you’ve had relevant job experience less consistently on an on-and-off basis, there are two ways to go about the order in which to list your previous roles. The first one is to go reverse chronological, listing all previous roles. The second one is to start with a section titled Relevant Experience, listing only closely related roles in reverse chronological order, and follow up with another section titled “Other Experience”. In both cases, it’s important to keep the less relevant ones brief with one or two bullet points describing somewhat related responsibilities.

o   Strategically include all relevant keywords.

This is an obvious one, but most candidates don’t know which keywords are most important. A lot of advice out there will emphasize using action words showing leadership: coordinated events, implemented a new system, ledmeetings, etc. This is important, but even more crucial is including specific systems you’ve utilized (especially if they may be similar to ones used at your target role), relevant certifications, and especially, particular skills. This is where my previous point of telling the recruiter exactly what you do comes into play. If you increased efficiency by 20%, it’s important to list the type of duties that resulted in this increase. Make it clear you have done exactly what the target job description calls for. It may seem obvious to you, but unless a hiring manager sees it, physically, on your resume, the assumption is that you don’t have experience with it. 

o   Match your verb tenses and punctuation. 

I’ve found that this matters most in higher level jobs. Under each job title, use the same verb tense and format to describe your responsibilities and choose ahead whether you will end each bullet point with a period, comma, semi-colon, or none of the above. Higher level hiring managers will notice the consistency, or lack thereof, much more often than you would think!

Follow LA Writings for more articles on resume tips and leave a comment if this article was helpful to you or if you have questions. Better yet, call us for a free consultation if you would like help with creating or editing your resume. 

Happy job hunting!