Google receives more than two million job applications each year. Based on the number of applicants compared to hires, landing a job at Google is more competitive than getting into Harvard.
If you want to stand a chance at a company like Google, your resume must pass their hiring systems (Applicant Tracking System aka ATS).
That was the secret to my success. I am Jacob Jacquet, CEO at Rezi, and I’ve spent the last 4 years building a resume software to recreate that exact resume.
Before I explain the resume, let me explain how companies manage your resume – Applicant Tracking Systems manage the application process from the company side and they do a great job removing logistical frictions in the hiring process such as searching for resumes that are suitable to be interviewed. These systems search resume content for keywords such as job titles or skills that indicate a potential match for the job description.
Actually, making a resume to pass an ATS is easy when you have relevant accomplishments and experiences to the job description you’re applying to.
Yet, it is difficult to explain these experiences and recognize your achievements. Here is an actual bullet point from my resume:
Organized and implemented Google Analytics data tracking campaigns to maximize the effectiveness of email remarking initiatives that were deployed using Salesforce’s marketing cloud software.
Most job seekers would end the bullet at “Organized and implemented Google Analytics data tracking campaigns”. However, this leaves out hirable information which gives the hiring manager a complete picture – the key to writing winning resume content is simply adding detail.
If you’re struggling to add detail to your resume content – try to answer these questions.
- What did you do?
- Why did you do it?
- How did you do it?
A Practical Example of Great Resume Content
Let’s take a look at a common bullet point for a marketing resume. Here we have the “what” and “why”. Can you think how we can easily make it better?
Remember accomplishments? By simply adding metrics, we can give the hiring manager a complete idea of the scope of work. The difference between endless job seeking and your dream job could be as simple as including a few numbers.
The more details, the more competitive the bullet point becomes. Metrics don’t always have to be revenue figures or growth percentages. If you don’t remember, try to approximate. Something is better than nothing.
If we recall the three questions, “What” “Why” and “How” – the example was missing “How”. By including this, it will encourage you to include technical skills or transferrable abilities. Adding skills are critical for ATS optimization.
A Winning Resume
Before my applications, I knew two things
- All the companies I wanted to apply to use Applicant Tracking Systems
- ATS are sensitive to formatting and love relevant keywords
With this in mind, I set out to reformat my resume in a way that allows as much content on one page as possible (without going overboard). This is the exact formatting I used but the content has been updated to reflect current experience.
In a 2018 study by The Ladders, a career and job board website, they used eye-tracking technology to understand how recruiters read resumes – The results pointed to 5 sections that attract the most attention
- Name of job applicant
- Position titles
- Companies
- Position dates
- Education
Building Rezi to Replicate Success at Scale
Instead of working for any of the super competitive companies above – I started Rezi. Rezi is a resume technology company that creates a perfect resume based on the original format in 2014. When compared to other resume builders, Rezi is unique considering we offer one highly customizable format which is perfectly suitable for applications of any experience level at large companies.
If you’re ready to own your job search, get started for free with Rezi now.
