The Three Piece Resume

Why we write resumes 📝 #

A resume is a written pitch. It contains the most impressive accomplishments of your life and is often written to sell your services to someone else. Just like how the length of an elevator pitch¹ varies depending on whether you’re going to the top floor or the second floor, I think that a resume needs to cater to three different audiences as well.

The 10 second resume ⏱️ #

In a world where 1200 other people compete for eyes on their resume², you need your resume to stand out from others in a span of 10 seconds. This resume should be able to stand out even to a non-technical audience (like a recruiter or HR) who may not understand every nuance of your craft, but recognize certain keywords in your space. For Computer Scientists, this might mean highlighting your roles, companies, and key technologies used in your job³.

The 1 minute resume 🕑 #

Congrats, you passed the resume screen! After this stage, someone in your field will likely scrutinize your resume for about a minute. This is why you should structure your resume to have short and impactful bullet points, like the STAR method. It’s often helpful to quantify your impact, but make sure you can justify and defend the context of which the metrics were taken during a live interview.

The 10 minute resume (and beyond) 🐌 #

No one will read your resume for more than a couple minutes, aside from yourself. But I find that having a separate resume anthology that lists all of your single accomplishments is helpful for selectively preparing resumes for different jobs. It’s also nice to look at it when you need a boost to your own ego and to reflect on your achievements in life.

Finally, remember that the resume is only as good as the human behind it – write with honesty and conviction to paint a truly unique portrait of yourself 🎨.

Notes #