One honest comment from a stranger fixed my resume in 5 minutes

I was at a career fair in Austin last month, and a hiring manager looked at my resume and said "you buried the one thing that matters." He pointed at my summary section, which was three lines of fluff. I rewrote it on the spot to lead with my actual outcome, a $40k project I managed. He gave me his card and said "now that's a resume." Has anyone else had a random stranger give them feedback that was better than any paid service?

2 comments

2 Comments

jennifer96521d ago

Start with the part that shows a number or a result, even if it feels weird. I learned this the hard way after paying for a resume service that made mine sound like a robot wrote it. The real fix was a friend of a friend who just said "you talk about your duties, not what changed because of you." So I swapped out "responsible for team projects" for "cut delivery time by 30% with a new checklist system." That one switch got me three interviews in a week. People skim for proof, not adjectives.

jennysullivan18d ago

Paid services recycle the same template junk at everyone. A stranger has zero reason to kiss your butt, so they tell you the truth in one sentence. That's worth more than any 200 dollar package. The summary section is usually where resumes go to die, so yeah, he was right to call it out. Numbers talk, fluff walks.