Resumes · 5 min read
Write a resume that gets read, not skimmed
A resume gets two readings. The first is a fast scan, often just a few seconds, that decides whether it is worth a slower, proper read. Most resumes never earn the second one. The difference is rarely talent or experience. It is a handful of deliberate choices about what goes where, what you can prove, and what gets left out.
Win the top third
A reader looks at the top of the first page first, and that is where the decision to keep reading is made. Treat that space as the most valuable on the page, because it is.
Use it for your most relevant and most impressive work: a short summary that is genuinely about this role, then your strongest recent experience. A generic objective, a list of soft skills, or a job from a decade ago all waste the one piece of space you cannot afford to waste.
Show outcomes, not duties
Almost everyone lists what they were responsible for. Far fewer show what changed because they were there, and that is the part a reader remembers.
Compare "responsible for monthly reporting" with "cut the monthly close from ten days to four". The first describes a task anyone in the seat would have. The second shows the difference you made.
- Led the rollout of a new system used by 200 staff
- Grew the account from one product to four
- Reduced support tickets by a third in six months
You do not need a number on every line, but a few concrete results lift the whole resume from a job description into a track record.
Turn a weak line into a strong one
It is worth seeing how this works on a single line. Start with a typical one: "Handled customer enquiries and complaints".
Now add what happened: "Handled customer enquiries and resolved complaints, lifting satisfaction scores from 78 to 91 per cent in a year". Same job, but the second version proves you were good at it.
Where you have no number, fall back on scope or outcome: what you owned, who relied on it, what changed because you did it well. Almost anything is better than a flat list of duties.
Make it easy to scan
Clear headings, consistent formatting, real white space and a logical order let a reader find what they need in seconds. A cramped, over-designed layout fights them at exactly the moment you need them on your side. When in doubt, choose plain and well organised over clever.
Columns, tables and graphics can also confuse the software many employers use to read resumes, sometimes badly enough that your details come out scrambled. A simple, single-column layout is the safe choice unless you know a person is the only one who will ever open it.
Cut what is not earning its place
Length is not strength. A four-page resume does not read as more impressive, it reads as unedited. Every generic, unproven or irrelevant line dilutes the lines that matter.
- Summaries that could describe anyone in your field
- Long skill lists with no evidence behind them
- Old or unrelated roles kept only out of habit
- Hobbies and clichés that add nothing
Tighten the language
Strong resumes are written in plain, active language. Start each bullet with a verb, say things once, and trim the filler that creeps in. "Successfully delivered" is just "delivered". "Responsible for managing" is just "managed".
Read each line and ask whether it earns its place. If it does not, cut it. A shorter, sharper resume almost always beats a longer, softer one.
Tune the top for each role
You do not need to rewrite the whole resume for every application, but the top should change. Adjust your summary and the order of your bullets so the first thing a reader sees is the experience that matches this job. The same strong resume, pointed at the right things, reads as if it were made for the role.
Proof it like it matters
A single typo in your name, your title or your contact details undoes a lot of good work, because it suggests carelessness at the exact moment you are claiming to be reliable. Read it twice, then have someone else read it once. We all miss our own mistakes.
The short version
Earn the second read by making the first few seconds count: your best work at the top, outcomes over duties, plain language, and nothing in the way.