Andrew Yong told how his resume helped him get a position with a six-figure salary at Google and Meta. He also made it to the final rounds at tech companies like Amazon, Uber and Spotify by honing his resume, he said. Here’s what he recommends using.
Andrew Yong told how his resume helped him get a position with a six-figure salary at Google and Meta. He also made it to the final rounds at tech companies like Amazon, Uber and Spotify by honing his resume, he said. Here’s what he recommends using.
«A CV is often the first point of contact between a job candidate and a company — they usually look at it (on average six to seven seconds) before they talk to you, so it’s really important to get it right and avoid common mistakes that most people don’t realize what they’re doing», — Yong said in an article for Business Insider.
At Google, he received the position of global product manager, and at Meta — the head of business planning and operations.
Then his direct speech.
Make your resume a one-page black-and-white PDF file with a clear title (for example, «Andrew Yong’s Resume»). Use well-formatted bullet points, proofread it for errors, include contact information, a LinkedIn profile and personal website (if you have one), and make sure the layout is clean and visually appealing.
Nothing else matters if you haven’t prepared it all.
During my job search, I created three different resumes tailored to the roles I was applying for: strategy and analytics, product management, and sales. Each resume contained specific verbs, phrases, and concepts that related to the role I was applying for, often taken directly from job advertisements.
Most candidates send the same resume everywhere, but recruiters and managers can easily spot a spray-and-pray approach. Worse, applicant tracking systems may even flag your profile and automatically reject you if your resume isn’t relevant enough.
Don’t do what everyone else does on their resumes: list responsibilities. Instead, highlight the impact of your work using the following format:
«Achieved [insert impact] on [quantitative indicator] by carrying out [insert type of activity].»
Example:
HR and the recruiter frequently have much less context than you do regarding your past experience. They know much less about your specific projects and initiatives, which means you have to simplify concepts, explain technical jargon, and explain acronyms.
When in doubt, start by generalizing the concept to make it broadly applicable, then narrow it down if necessary.
Example:
The easiest way to distinguish a resume of a novice from an experienced one is to evaluate the number of numbers in it. Newbies ignore numbers. Professionals try to quantify the impact of each step because they understand the value of the P&L and know that this is how business decisions are made.
Quantifying your impact not only proves you’ve been successful, but also demonstrates good judgment and critical thinking. For each item on your resume, ask yourself, «How will this affect the company’s bottom line?»
Ask yourself: «What qualities do you want to demonstrate?». If you can work with clients, prove it by including items in your resume that relate to your client management and customer service skills, as well as your coaching ability.
If you’re a data whiz, include points about your analytical skills, Excel skills, and technical coding competence.
If you are the responsible operator, include items on project management, leadership, and communication skills.
Recruiters and hiring managers will form an impression of you based on your resume. Your task is to create this impression.
While your resume is an important piece of the puzzle, you can’t rely on it alone to land a successful job. You need to build your network, often before you need it (see: career cushion). Learn how to present yourself effectively, master the interview process and find sponsors at your target company.
Take the time to polish your resume and you’ll see a much higher response rate from hiring managers and recruiters at the companies you’re interested in.
The good news: Once you perfect your resume, you probably won’t have to do it again for a while.
We will remind you that earlier, 23-year-old Oleksandr Tulyuliuk told dev.ua how he got his dream job at Uber and now juggles huge volumes of data of the global transportation operator.
