The Résumé Advice I Wish More Job Seekers Heard
How to Communicate Your True Value and Land the Interviews You Deserve
Job searching can make even a very qualified person start questioning themselves. You can have years of experience, strong skills, a solid work history, and still find yourself staring at your résumé, wondering why you are not getting interviews.
I understand that feeling more than I wish I did.
My full-time career is in healthcare revenue, where details matter, problem-solving is part of the job, and things can change quickly. Outside of that, I also run Purpose & Glow Career Solutions, where I review and revise résumés for people in different industries, career stages, and even different parts of the world.
I did not start my business because I believed everyone needed someone else to write their résumé for them. I started it because I kept seeing talented people struggle to explain what they actually bring to the table. Over time, that became one of the biggest things I noticed.
A résumé problem is not always an experience problem. Sometimes it is a communication problem.
One of the hardest parts of writing a résumé is deciding what actually belongs on it. People often feel like they need to include everything they have ever done so an employer can see how much experience they have, but that can make the most important information harder to find.
Your résumé should give someone a clear picture of where you have been professionally, what you are good at, and why your background makes sense for the type of role you are applying for. It does not need to explain every responsibility you have ever had. There is always more to your story than what fits on one or two pages, and that is okay.
The goal is to give an employer enough information to want to know more.
Job Duties Are Only Part of Your Experience
One of the first things I notice when I review a résumé is the professional experience section. A lot of people list exactly what someone would expect from their job title. Answered phones. Helped customers. Processed claims. Managed schedules. Created reports.
Those things may all be true, but they do not always show what made that person good at their job.
I usually encourage people to think a little deeper. What were you trusted with? What problems did you solve? Did you train anyone? Did you take on more responsibility over time? Did you improve a process, save time, reduce errors, help increase revenue, or make something easier for your team or customers?
Those details help someone reading your résumé understand what you actually contributed, not just what your job description said you were supposed to do.
You Do Not Have to Meet Every Qualification Before Applying
This is one I wish more job seekers believed.
A job posting is often describing the employer's ideal candidate. That does not always mean the person they eventually hire will check every single box. If you meet many of the qualifications and your experience can reasonably transfer into the role, it may still be worth applying.
I see people count themselves out before the employer even has the chance to consider them. There is a big difference between applying for something completely outside your experience and applying for a position where you meet most of the requirements but not every preferred qualification.
Sometimes we are much quicker to tell ourselves no than an employer would.
Career Changes Are Not Something You Need to Apologize For
People change careers for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes an industry changes. Sometimes a layoff forces someone to rethink what they want. Sometimes life changes. Sometimes you simply realize the career you chose years ago is no longer where you want to stay.
That does not mean everything you learned along the way suddenly stops being useful.
Communication, leadership, customer service, problem-solving, compliance, technology, training, organization, project coordination, and many other skills can transfer from one industry to another. The challenge is making those connections clear.
If an employer has to guess how your previous experience relates to the role you want now, they may not take the time to figure it out. Your résumé should help connect those dots for them.
Keywords Matter, but Your Résumé Still Needs to Sound Like You
There is a lot of discussion around applicant tracking systems and keywords, and they do matter. Using language that lines up with the job you are applying for can help make your experience easier to understand.
But that does not mean copying every word from a job description and forcing it into your résumé.
If a posting repeatedly mentions claims resolution and you actually have that experience, say so. If they are looking for leadership and you have trained, mentored, or guided coworkers, make that clear, too.
The point is not to cram as many keywords as possible onto the page. The point is to make it easy for both the system and the person reading your résumé to see why your experience matters.
Your Résumé Should Not Stay Exactly the Same for Every Job
You do not need to rewrite your entire résumé every time you apply for something, but you should still pay attention to what each employer is looking for.
If you are applying for two different types of positions, the experience you highlight may need to change. Something that is very important for one role might not matter nearly as much for another.
Your summary, skills, and the way you describe your experience can all help point the reader toward the parts of your background that are most relevant to them. Your résumé can have a strong foundation without being identical for every application.
Sometimes the Résumé Is Not the Whole Problem
This is something I think is really important to be honest about.
A strong résumé cannot fix everything.
If someone is applying for jobs that do not match their background, using the same strategy for months without getting results, skipping networking completely, or applying without really looking at what the employer is asking for, changing a few résumé bullets may not suddenly create interviews.
The résumé is one part of the job search. LinkedIn can matter. Networking can matter. Certifications can matter. The types of jobs you are targeting can matter. Even where and how you are applying can make a difference.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is stop sending out more applications for a moment and look at the bigger picture.
There Is a Person Behind Every Résumé
This is probably the part that matters most to me.
A résumé may only be a document, but the person behind it could be dealing with a layoff, a career change, financial stress, rejection, raising children, caring for family, or simply trying to figure out what comes next.
After enough rejection emails, it becomes very easy to start believing the problem is you.
Sometimes your résumé does need work. Sometimes your strategy needs work. Sometimes the job market is just difficult. Sometimes the right opportunity has not come along yet.
None of that means you have nothing to offer.
When I review someone's résumé through Purpose & Glow Career Solutions, I want them to understand what could be stronger, but I also want them to see what is already working. Most people have more experience, more transferable skills, and more value on that page than they realize.
Job seekers do not only need criticism. They need clarity. They need practical guidance. Sometimes they also need someone to remind them that they are not starting from zero.
A résumé should help make your experience easier to see.
It should never make you feel like your story is not worth telling. 🩷
