UNITED STATES: Tech giant Google receives over a million job applications annually, making the competition fierce and the application process daunting.
Standing out from the crowd becomes crucial, but a former Google recruiter has shed light on the No. 1 red flag in resumes and provided valuable tips to help job seekers succeed.
Nolan Church, esteemed talent acquisition expert and CEO of talent marketplace Continuum, recently shared his insights on crafting the perfect resume from his time at Google and other prominent companies.
The major red flag that Church highlighted was what he calls “text bricks—excessively long blocks of text” without meaningful content or relevance.
“The No. 1 thing I don’t want to see on a resume is probably text bricks,” Church emphasized.
“It means writing a lot of text but without meaning and content. There’s zero chance you’re going to move forward with such a presentation,” he added.
Church stressed the significance of being concise and capturing the recruiter’s attention within the first few seconds of reviewing a resume.
To achieve this, he recommended using one-line bullet points to highlight accomplishments and responsibilities under each job title, instead of drowning the reader in a sea of paragraphs.
“When people describe what they’ve been doing, they often have a hard time being concise,” Church noted.
“Resumes should have a series of one-line bullets below each job title, rather than three to four sentences per bullet,” he added.
Recognizing the challenges job seekers face in being succinct, Church offered helpful tools to streamline resume content. He suggested utilizing ChatGPT and Grammarly, which can not only aid with punctuation and grammar but also assist in achieving brevity.
“It’s just too easy to use tools like ChatGPT or Grammarly to actually clean that up, to help you not only with punctuation, grammar, but also brevity,” Church explained. Both of these tools are easily accessible and even offer app versions, making it convenient for applicants to input sentences and receive prompts for creating shorter, more impactful statements.
Moreover, Church encouraged job seekers to seek feedback from multiple sources on their resumes.
He firmly believes that at least five to ten people should review and provide input on the document, as diverse perspectives can pinpoint areas for improvement and ensure the resume is optimized for a 10-second viewership.
“My advice would be to optimize a resume for 10-second viewership,” Church added. In a competitive job market, where recruiters often have limited time to review each application, grabbing their attention swiftly becomes paramount.
Job seekers aspiring to land a coveted position at Google or any other top-tier company can greatly benefit from Nolan Church’s invaluable tips. Avoiding the dreaded “text bricks” and embracing conciseness with the aid of tools like ChatGPT and Grammarly can elevate a resume and significantly improve one’s chances of success.
Remember, a well-crafted resume can be the key to unlocking exciting career opportunities in the tech industry and beyond.
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