Resume Strategy

Being qualified and being easy to understand are two different things. Most resumes go unanswered not because the person isn't good enough, but because the resume makes the reader work too hard to see the value. Recruiters and hiring managers don't do that extra work — they move to the next resume. If you're applying a lot and hearing nothing back, your resume is almost always the first thing to fix.

For most people with real work experience, two pages is normal and expected. One page usually means you're early in your career, or you cut so much that your resume sounds too plain. The real rule isn't about page count — it's about every line earning its place. Cut a weak line before you cut a whole page. It's also about what you prioritize versus just a list of jobs you've had.

Not from scratch, but yes, you should adjust it each time. Keep one strong master resume with all your best work on it. Then, for each job, reorder it and highlight the parts that matter most to that role. Sending the same resume for two very different jobs is like using the same pitch on two people who want different things.

The idea that a computer "rejects" your resume like a guard at a door isn't quite true. What really happens: a badly formatted resume gets read wrong by the system, and the human recruiter sees a messy or missing version of you. It's less like a rejection machine and more like a translation problem — and it's fixable with the right formatting and the right words.

Be specific. That's it. "Managed a team" is forgettable. "Rebuilt a nine-person team after 40% turnover in six months, cutting onboarding time in half" is not. Most resumes are forgettable because they list duties instead of results. You don't need a fancy template. You need real numbers and real outcomes.

Usually 10 to 15 years of detail. Older jobs can be shortened to one line or left off, unless they matter for the job you want now. This isn't about hiding your age — it's about controlling the story. Recruiters focus on your most recent and most detailed work, so make sure that's the story you want them to see.

Gaps matter a lot less than people think, especially since 2020 made career breaks for caregiving, health, or layoffs common. What raises concern isn't the gap itself — it's an unexplained gap with vague or nervous wording around it. One simple, honest line (caregiving, school, job searching) usually settles the question.