Linkedin Product manager, Diego Granados recently shared the Resume he used to get a job at Microsoft and highlighted a few things that helped him fit the process.
below are the explanations using colors 👇
[1] Format
Don’t worry about searching for fancy, colorful, complex templates. A black and white plain old boring template works.
Recruiters and hiring managers care about your accomplishments and about you, not about the colors you chose for your resume (unless you are a designer or something similar).
[2] Write accomplishments with X-Y-Z
Most of my accomplishments written using as a base the X-Y-Z formula (shared by Google recruiters)
“Accomplished [X], as measured by [Y], by doing [Z]”
Follow it as close as possible, but don’t be afraid to put your own style into it (as long as you share your X,Y & Z)
[3] Use strong verbs (red 🔴)
Start every accomplishment with a verb in past tense.
– Strong Verbs (Led) >>>> Soft Verbs (Assisted)
– Try to use verbs relevant to the role. For PM I used: Led, Designed, Researched, Prioritized, etc.
[4] Relevant Skills (blue 🔵)
Notice how I don’t have a “skills section” full of Product Manager keywords like “cross-functional”, “leadership”, “prioritization”, “Roadmap”?
The keywords in blue are embedded in my accomplishments. I’m showing the context of how I used those skills to help customers, my team, and/or the organization.
I took these keywords from job descriptions I wanted to apply to.
[5] Show your impact (yellow 🟡)
Not every accomplishment has to have impact, but try to add as many as you can. Impact shows that:
– You can do the job
– You can do it well
– You can make a difference
Anyone can “complete a project in time”, but not everyone can “complete a project in time by doing xxxxx, and having an impact of yyyyy”
If you struggle to find the impact, think about this:
– What is it that without YOU it wouldn’t have been possible? What did it cause (impact)? How did you measure what happened?
[6] Technical Skills (green 🟢)
I write down all the technical skills that I know and can show some ‘proof’ (a test, a score, etc.). Many of these are taken from the job descriptions I was applying to.
A few things to remember:
– ‘sprinkle’ tech(hard) skills here and there
– don’t throw all of them in a giant skills section
– don’t have 🟢 > 🔵 (unless you go for Software Engineer roles)
[7] Other stuff to keep in mind
Length? 1, 2, 3 pages are ok. You may have a lot of experience. Make it RELEVANT, that’s what matters.
Tailoring your resume to the job >>>> almost everything else.
Don’t submit the same resume to every job.
Triple-check for grammar/spelling mistakes.
BONUS: While I worked on my resume for a while (and there’s still A LOT of room for improvement), what got me my recent jobs was the fact that I networked a lot.
Don’t underestimate the power of networking.
✌️ Hope this helps!
You can follow him on Linkedin at Diego Granados