With over 15 years of experience recruiting for tech giants such as Google, Apple, Samsung and Nvidia, Stefanie Fackrell knows it all about what makes a resume stand out. So what's her valuable advice to job seekers? Keep it simple.
In an interview with CNBC Make It, Fackrell stressed the importance of a classic resume format: "Make it boring," she advised, recommending against using "colours, charts, graphs or pictures". She says a clean and straightforward layout highlights the candidate's achievements.
"During my time at Google, many candidates would submit creative resumes with charts and Google-themed colours," Fackrell said. Instead of listing their titles and accomplishments in a traditional manner, they would divide their resume into columns and quadrants. She believes that these colourful resumes can come off as "a bit gimmicky" and are often "not easily readable".
According to Fackrell, an ideal resume should look like: "A resume is showcasing you in a 10-to-60-second format on paper." She emphasized that telling a compelling story in a clear and concise manner "is what's going to win you in a sea" of other applicants. Additionally, she mentioned that the resume should be no longer than two pages, even while listing powerful accomplishments.
Pointing out another common mistake that job-seekers make is simply listing daily tasks. "Where a lot of people make mistakes on their resume is they're listing out their daily job duties," she explained. Instead, a resume should highlight accomplishments and integrate relevant job duties.
