Writing the Perfect Resume

As someone who has written hundreds of recruiting resumes and reviewed thousands more for companies like Uber, Bird Scooters, and venture firms like Insight Partners, I’ve learned what makes a resume stand out.

Here’s everything you need to know to craft the perfect resume.

Before You Get Started

Know Your Target: Before you start writing your resume, identify the job title, level of responsibilities, and competencies required for the position you want. The resume you write today should highlight your skills and experiences in a way that makes that job seem like the logical next step in your career.

Make it stand out What’s My Story?: How did you get to where you are now, and what prepares you for the next role?

What’s My Job Level?: The scope of responsibilities differs greatly between a recruiter at a 100-person company and a recruiter at a 10,000-person company. Your resume should help the reader understand if you can operate in the scale environment they are hiring for. If you're unfamiliar with job leveling, refer to frameworks like the Unicorn Talent Compensation Leveling Framework.
How Have My Experiences Prepared Me?: Demonstrate how your previous roles have prepared you for the job you are applying for.
Replicating Success: Show that you can replicate, execute, and scale the successes you’ve achieved in previous roles.
Interview-Ready Details: Highlight key successes that can be discussed in detail during an interview.

What’s My Job Level?: The scope of responsibilities differs greatly between a recruiter at a 100-person company and a recruiter at a 10,000-person company. Your resume should help the reader understand if you can operate in the scale environment they are hiring for. If you're unfamiliar with job leveling, refer to frameworks like the Unicorn Talent Compensation Leveling Framework.

How Have My Experiences Prepared Me?: Demonstrate how your previous roles have prepared you for the job you are applying for.

Replicating Success: Show that you can replicate, execute, and scale the successes you’ve achieved in previous roles.

Interview-Ready Details: Highlight key successes that can be discussed in detail during an interview.

The Goal of Your Resume

A resume’s job is to secure you an interview. To do so, you have to do more than just write down the things that you’ve done at your previous roles. We’ll cover the bullet structure in more detail below, but “starting at 30,000 feet” your resume needs to tell a story of why you, among all the other applicants, are the best for the role you’re applying for.

Theres a story to be told outside of the individual bullet points

Scope & Level: Clearly define the scope of your responsibilities, such as the difference between a recruiter for a 100-person company versus a 10,000-person company. (Check out our leveling framework here to see an example of how companies measure scope)
Impact of every action: State what you did and why it mattered, with results for every action.
Career Story: Tell a clear story of your career progression that translates well to an interview.
Why Interview You: Your resume should act as a highlight reel, enticing the reader to want to learn more about your impactful contributions.

Scope & Level: Clearly define the scope of your responsibilities, such as the difference between a recruiter for a 100-person company versus a 10,000-person company. (Check out our leveling framework here to see an example of how companies measure scope)

Impact of every action: State what you did and why it mattered, with results for every action.

Career Story: Tell a clear story of your career progression that translates well to an interview.

Why Interview You: Your resume should act as a highlight reel, enticing the reader to want to learn more about your impactful contributions.

The Format