Resume Mistakes: How to Land More Interviews

Jeff received five full-time job offers after networking and editing his resume based on feedback from alumni, recruiters, and hiring managers.

### Jeff's 5 Biggest Resume Mistakes and How to Fix Them
* 📝 Jeff sent out **367 cold emails**, received **21 first-round interviews**, and obtained **five full-time job offers**, mainly through **networking and resume editing**.
* 🎓 Mistake 1: Jeff put the education section above the work experience section, emphasizing the importance of **showcasing relevant work experience** on a resume.
* 💥 Mistake 2: Jeff failed to show **impact in his bullet points**, highlighting the significance of **communicating accomplishments** rather than using vague buzzwords.
* 📊 Mistake 3: Jeff didn't include meaningful metrics, but he emphasized that it's more about the **effort to quantify impact** rather than the numbers themselves.
* 🎯 Mistake 4: Jeff didn't tailor his resume for each job application, recommending focusing on **three to five roles** and using a **word cloud generator** to identify relevant skills.
* 🔍 Mistake 5: Jeff overlooked small details like formatting inconsistencies, stressing that **first impressions matter** and suggesting **getting feedback or using tools like Grammarly**.

- All right, so, when I was applying to my first full-time job, I sent out a total of 367 cold emails, received 21 first-round interviews, and ended up with five
full-time job offers. But what those numbers do not show is that most of those
interviews only came after I started doing two things. First, networking my butt off with alumni, recruiters,
and hiring managers, and second, editing my resume
based on their feedback. So, in this video, I'll first share the five
biggest resume mistakes I made back in the day, then go through the changes that landed me all those
first-round interviews. Let's get started. Hi, friends, welcome back to my channel. If you're new here, my name is Jeff. Come for the career tips and stay for the painfully
accurate job search memes. Mistake number one, putting
the education section above the work experience section. While I am still extremely
proud of my GPA and SAT score,

recruiters and hiring managers know that any sort of work experience, including internships and extracurricular activities, translate much better to on-the-job performance, and this is because, when written correctly, the bullet points on your resume help them visualize your ability to do the job they're hiring for. Let's imagine a hiring manager starts to scan down my bad resume. She sees my GPA, the classes that I took, my high school honor roll, realizes none of that is relevant. She just wasted 30 seconds of her life, and she moves on to the next applicant. Now, imagine she opens up a resume and sees, immediately, I've worked on finance transformation and supply chain projects. She thinks, Okay, this candidate has some industry knowledge and can probably present to clients. He actually might be a good fit for this project we're currently short-staffed on, and she reads on. Even if I only had my first summer internship available.

she would know, at least I have worked in a finance department before, and I have basic Excel skills. Oh, and I probably should
have mentioned this sooner, but I've linked the PDF
versions of the two resumes for free, down below. So, feel free to reference them when updating your own resume. Mistake number two: not showing impact. If you take a quick look at
my original KPMG example, assisted with project governance, presented to a banking client, helped with the project research. You'll notice something awkward. I use all these fancy,
overcomplicated words, but you still don't know the implication of those actions. Compared this with the updated version of the same bullet point. Even though I start off,
basically, the same way, you can clearly see the
result of my contributions: the banking client
successfully opened a branch in the local market. This is the difference between
just saying fluffy buzzwords and actually showing impact.

I can't stress this enough, and hey, don't just take my word for it. Big-name career coaches like Austin Belcak and Adam Broda reiterate this all the time. You need to communicate what you accomplished, and even Ali Abdaal, someone we don't normally associate with being professional or businessy, right? He says... - So this is a bunch of buzzwords and (bleep) that is not substantiated by anything at all. - And at this point, many of you might fall into the trap of mistake number three, failing to include meaningful metrics, and the reason I know is from all the comments in my original resume video. This one sums up what many of you might be thinking. How do you show metrics when you're new or you don't have impressive metrics from your internship, or this one, how do I quantify work achievements? I'm at a startup where data points are not established yet.

I'm not sure how to state metrics while staying authentic, and the short answer is that recruiters and hiring managers care much more about the effort you put into quantifying your impact, rather than the actual numbers themselves. For example, when I apply to my first ever internship, I literally wrote, my presentation scored 23% higher than the class average. That seems insignificant, right? Yes, but it also shows I knew the success metric of the presentation, the score, and I took the extra step to benchmark my performance to that of my peers. Pro tip, a fool-proof way to quantify your impact is to keep asking yourself, so what? Taking my SAT tutoring experience as an example, I might have started off with, Taught SAT during my summer break in college. Okay, so what? The average increase in my student's SAT scores was 280 points. So what? Seven out of the eight seniors got accepted

into their first-choice colleges. Impact, to really drive this point home because it's so important, here's an extreme example. It's much better to write delivered on average nine coffees a day with 100% accuracy on all
orders for three months, than, I fetched coffee
for senior associates during my summer internship. Mistake number four is a
tough one for me to admit because I remember being very defensive when I got this feedback, and that is not tailoring my resume for each job application. I mean, back then, I applied
to over 50 jobs and I was lazy. I wasn't gonna create 50
versions of the same resume but the present, more mature
me will tell you two things. First, the workload isn't that bad if you focus your attention
on three to five roles, which you should be doing anyways because the apply it
to everything approach doesn't work well in today's job market.

So, why not invest more time in the quality of your application
rather than the quantity? Second, for a similar set of roles, you can copy and paste
those job descriptions into a word cloud generator to easily identify relevant skills. The recruiter might be looking for and add those keywords into your resume. This is a very easy way
to tailor your resume for different roles, and I go through step-by-step instructions in my original resume video. So, I'll link that down below. Pro tip, this is the biggest difference between your LinkedIn
profile and your resume. Your LinkedIn should give
a more general overview of who you are professionally, and it shouldn't change all that much, whereas your resume should
be more hyper-targeted for each application. Mistake number five is
overlooking the small things, and to show you what I mean take a look at this part
of my original resume. Pause the video and see if
you can spot the mistake. These two hyphens are
formatted differently.

Did you notice? Some of you might already be
rolling your eyes right now, but believe me when I tell
you, first impressions matter, and while perfect formatting won't guarantee you the interview, easily avoidable errors
like this can be a red flag. Again, don't just take my word for it or the word of those corporate
LinkedIn career gurus. Here's Ali Abdaal again. - A bunch of spelling
and grammar issues there. Like, this is really obvious stuff. - So, whether you're applying for a role in a traditional corporation
or a fun and chill startup, small things matter. That's what he said. Nope, that was inappropriate. Sorry about that. A simple way to catch these mistakes is to send your resume to 10 people you know and get their feedback, or at the very least use
a tool like Grammarly or even auto-correct in Google Docs. All right, once you've
updated that resume,

make sure to check out this video on how to write an effective cover letter to maximize your chances
for a first-round interview. See you in the next video. In the meantime, have a great one!

5 Resume Mistakes You MUST Avoid (with real examples)!

🌟 This is the channel I wish I could have subscribed when I first entered the workforce

I'm Jeff, a full time Product Marketer. In my spare time I like to tinker with tools and create systems that help me get things done faster - or as one of my friends puts it: "Get better at being lazy" 😏

I make videos on practical career and productivity tips without all the "fluff"

So if you're a college student, working professional, or super ambitious high schooler, make sure to subscribe to my channel 💡


Jeff Su

Improving Job Search Results: Resume Mistakes and Networking

Sending out 367 cold emails led to 21 first-round interviews and 5 job offers.

The key to increasing interview opportunities was intensive networking and resume editing based on feedback.

One major resume mistake was prioritizing education over work experience, which was less relevant to potential employers.

Effective resume writing, focusing on work experience, proved crucial in capturing the attention of hiring managers and recruiters.

Common Resume Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Focusing on fancy words rather than showing impact is a common resume mistake.

It's important to communicate the actual results and accomplishments of your actions.

Another common mistake is failing to include meaningful metrics, but there are ways to quantify achievements even in roles without established data points.

The Importance of Quantifying Impact on a Resume

Recruiters prioritize the effort put into quantifying impact over the actual numbers themselves.

Using specific metrics, such as percentage increases or specific achievements, is more effective in showcasing one's value.

Tailoring a resume for each job application, focusing on three to five roles, is more impactful than using a one-size-fits-all approach.

Improving Your Resume: Quality Over Quantity

Invest time in improving the quality of your application rather than focusing on quantity.

Use a word cloud generator to identify relevant skills from job descriptions and tailor your resume for each role.

Pay attention to small details and formatting, as they can make a difference in making a good impression.

Tips for Writing an Effective Cover Letter

The video provides guidance on writing a cover letter for a first-round interview.

It offers valuable tips for maximizing the chances of success.

Viewers are encouraged to watch the video for more in-depth information.