resume-writing

Skill: writing — sections, summaries, and bullets

Objective: turn raw inventory into tight, outcome-first, parse-safe resume content.

Load these first:

• references/bullet-patterns.md — the formula, quantification ladder, worked pairs
• references/power-verbs.md — vocabulary, bans, upgrades
• references/ats-and-design-rules.md — structure, labels, header-line format

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Section order (core resume and tailored resume alike)

1  Name + contact block
2  Focus line (target title)
3  Professional summary      (3–5 lines)
4  Areas of expertise        (9–21 terms, 2–3 columns)
5  Experience                (RC)
6  Education / credentials

Education moves above Experience only for a true new graduate (under ~1 year of full-time professional experience) or when a new credential is the reason for the pivot. Done correctly, that is the only reordering ever permitted.

Optional, only when they earn the space: Certifications and Licenses (often folded into Education), Professional Development, Publications/Presentations, Activities and Affiliations, Honors and Awards, one Endorsement.

Never present: salary, references, date of birth, marital status, photo, SSN, high school.

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Section 1 — Contact block

FULL LEGAL NAME
City, ST · phone · email · linkedin.com/in/handle

• Name alone on the first line, bold, 14–26 pt. Everything else 10–12 pt.
• One professional email address, personal, not a work address.
• City and state — signals roots and avoids assuming relocation cost.
• LinkedIn or portfolio URL only if it strengthens the case; customise the LinkedIn handle.
• Optional: a shortened link to a portfolio/repo where the work must be seen.

Section 2 — Focus line

A title, not a sentence. Mirror the employer's exact wording when accurate.

Operations Manager — Multi-site Retail
Data Analyst (SQL, Python) — Healthcare Claims
Project Manager (PMP) — Infrastructure

Never Objective: followed by "Seeking a challenging position…".

Section 3 — Branding summary

3–5 tight lines. Either a short paragraph, 3–5 bullets, or a hybrid. Must state role, scope, and edge, and must argue return on investment.

Construction sequence:

1. Pull the 2–3 strongest CAR results from intake.
2. Find the pattern among them (money made, money saved, turnaround, reliability, scale).
3. Write the focus line + one sentence per pattern, each carrying its number.
4. Add the differentiator only if it is rare and relevant (a licence the role requires, a certification few hold, a publication, a scale few have operated at).
5. Cut to 5 lines and check every adjective: if it cannot be proven by a bullet below, delete it.

Reject: excellent communicator, works well with others, results-driven professional, passionate about, seeking to leverage. Prove the trait with a result instead.

An incidental MBA, a common certification, or a degree the posting never asked for belongs in Education — not in the summary.

Section 4 — Areas of expertise

The keyword block. 9–21 short terms, 2–3 columns, plain separated values (bullets or pipes).

Rules:

• Copy the posting's exact nouns wherever they are truthful.
• 6–9 terms should match the posting word-for-word in a tailored version.
• Hard skills and tools dominate; a couple of genuine competencies may appear.
• Every term must be provable somewhere in Experience.
• No soft-skill fluff, no rating scales, no "proficiency bars".
• Expand an acronym once, then use the short form.

Section 5 — Experience

For each role, most recent first:

Title – Employer, City, ST (Mon YYYY – Mon YYYY)
<scope line, optional: team of 12 · $4.2M P&L · 3 regions · 1.2M users>
<hook sentence: 1–3 sentences setting role, mandate, and challenge>
- <outcome-first bullet, 1–3 lines>
- ...

• Hook — the only prose allowed. What was the mandate, what was the challenge, why was it hard.
• Bullets — 4–8 for the most recent/relevant role, 2–4 for older roles, 1–2 for distant ones.
• Order bullets strongest-first.
• Group like items (all financial bullets together, all people bullets together).
• Past tense throughout, including the current role.
• No pronoun, no articles unless needed for clarity, one verb per bullet, no verb reused.
• Hard cap: four positions or 10–15 years detailed. Beyond that, Additional Experience with titles, employers, and locations — no dates.

Bullet rewrite loop (apply to every line)

1. Is this a duty? → find the change, or qualify with scope/frequency/quality.
2. Is the outcome first? → reorder.
3. Is there a number? → if true, add it with its scale.
4. Is the verb the most precise one? → upgrade; check it is not already used.
5. Is it under three lines? → cut the setup clause.
6. Is it free of pronouns, articles, and clichés?
7. Could the candidate defend it in an interview?

Show the candidate a before/after table for every rewrite. Let them reject any claim that is not theirs — especially numbers.

Section 6 — Education and credentials

Degree in Specialty — University, City, ST (honors)
Certification — Issuing Body, Year
License — Issuing Body, Year

• Degree bolded; the degree matters more than the institution for most roles.
• Omit graduation years. They date the candidate in both directions.
• Outline a degree in progress: Currently pursuing Degree in Specialty — University, City, ST.
• No high-school entries, no high-school achievements.
• No course lists under a degree — convert coursework into keyword skills or a project bullet.
• Name the section by what is in it: Education and Training, Education and Certifications, Training and Certification (when there is no degree), Education and Licensure.
• If a degree or credential over-qualifies or points at a different field, leave it off.
• Short of a requirement? Add Professional Development Highlights with relevant courses, seminars, workshops, and conferences.

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Style rules that apply everywhere

Rule	Detail
Tense	Past, always
Person	Third-person implied; no pronouns
Articles	Drop a, an, the unless needed
Length	Bullets 1–3 lines; paragraphs 2–4 sentences or 5 lines
Acronyms	Expand on first use
Consistency	Same term for the same thing throughout; same date pattern everywhere
Emphasis	Bold titles and key results; italic for supporting detail; never underline
Numbers	Always with scale and unit

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Quality gates

• Top third contains title, summary, 9–21 keywords, and one or two quantified wins
• Every bullet 1–3 lines, outcome-first, past tense, no pronoun, unique verb
• Most bullets quantified; the rest qualified by scope, frequency, speed, or reliability
• Every keyword in Areas of Expertise proven once in Experience
• Standard labels, RC order, header line format consistent
• No banned phrase, no personal data, no salary, no references
• Education positioned per the rules above; no graduation years
• tools/resume_lint.py returns zero ERRORs

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Anti-patterns

• Writing the summary first. Write it last, from the strongest bullets.
• A summary that lists everything — it must select.
• Bullets with three accomplishments crammed into one.
• Numbers without context ("saved $500K" — out of what budget?).
• Keyword lists of 30+ terms (stuffing) or 5 terms (invisible).
• Course lists under degrees.
• Profile-style third-person narration ("John is a seasoned leader…").
• Keeping a role because it was hard work rather than because it supports the target.