Thread by @jeanqasaur

Been going through a lot of resumes recently.

When I had been on the other side of the process, submitting resume and cover letters felt like lobbing random stuff over a fence.

Here's a quick thread that might be helpful to people applying to jobs. 1/

There are two main things I look for on resumes:
1. evidence that someone gets stuff done and
2. the ability to communicate this to me.

More so than what companies someone has worked at, I look for bullet points and results. What did this person do and what was the impact? 2/

Here's what separates a good resume from a "pass" for me:

✔️ Clearly states roles and impact
✔️ Past experience either shows a cohesive career arc, or there's a cover letter that explains it
❌ Lots of words ("collaborated cross-functionally"), but I can't tell what got done

3/

Something I didn't realize before was how much a good cover letter can make a difference.

I don't know how much recruiters a bigger companies read these, but I read every cover letter.

Cover letters highlighting relevant experience have led me to interview people. 4/

Related, something that's surprised me is how much I check supporting materials.

If someone includes a website, GitHub, and/or talks I always dig in if they're remotely a fit. It helps!

Interviewing takes time, so spending a few minutes to save 30+ minutes is worth it. 5/

This might go against advice for anyone applying to big companies, but school, current and past companies, and current title matter a lot less to me than what a person has actually done.

We're looking for scrappy builders and that's pretty much all we care about! 6/

I'm curious to hear from other people though!! How I've ended up evaluating resumes actually departs quite a bit from how other people trained me to look at resumes.

I'm sure it would be helpful to people watching this thread to hear a diversity of opinions on this! end/