Applying for jobs shouldn’t be a big mystery. There’s no big secret as to how to put together the perfect application.

So…to help out in this process…and to help my sanity in reviewing applications…here is how to put together the perfect application:

Thread:

Resumes should have four sections: Contact info, education, experience and skills. Anything else is just a distraction. I don’t need a “mission statement” or a “objective”. I know your objective is to get a job.

/1

Resume design should be simple and to the point. 10-12 point font, serif font, simple section headers, consistent justification, normal margins.

/2

If you’re applying for a creative job, then a designed/colorful resume is fine, but not required. The last thing you want is for the resume DESIGN to distract from the resume CONTENT. If I can’t immediately find what I’m looking for on your resume, that’s not a good thing.

/3

The education section can be at the top or the bottom. If you went to grad school, it should include grad school and college info. If you just went to college, college info will do. If you did not go to college, HS info is needed. You can add any relevant distinctions.

/4

Personally, I don’t need your GPA. I understand that some people struggle in college for different reasons, and I don’t want the official grades you got to weigh on my decision. I much more care about what you did during college than how you did in college.

/5

Experience is the most important part of the resume. It’s your way to tell me what you’ve accomplished so far in your career, and if you are capable of measuring your success.

Experience should be detailed in ACTIVE verbs about you, not PASSIVE verbs about the activity.

/6

Bad: Video editing was part of my job.

Good: Planned, filmed and edited X number of interview videos per year. Average viewership was Y, which was a Z% increase over last year.

/7

The experience section should talk about your accomplishments, not your responsibilities. If you were in charge of filming on sidelines, that’s great. Tell me what you accomplished. How many games did you film? How did you film? Did you also edit?

What was the result?

/8

To show results in accomplishments, use numbers and metrics. You edited videos. Great. HOW MANY videos? HOW MANY views? HOW MUCH engagement? Did your work result in increased attendance at games? Did your promotion idea result in increased SM followers?

/9

Show that you know that your work has consequences. That isn’t just about what you do, but how you follow up on your work.

Just listing your title and dates of employment is not enough.

/10

Make sure that work history is listed in reverse chronological order. Don’t make me look. Your most recent work should be at the top.

Eventually, you can start removing older not-so-relevant job experience.

/11

Your resume should NEVER be more than one page. There’s no reason to have a multi-page resume. If your resume is longer than one page, you’re telling me you’re incapable of filtering out less important experience you’ve had. That's not good.

/12

The final section of your resume should include any technical skills you have. You should only list things that are not “obvious”.

DO NOT list any Microsoft Office applications.
DO NOT list “social media” as a skill.

Do list specific gear you’ve worked with.

/13

Cover letters are just as important as resumes. A resume is there to provide facts. What you’ve done. What you’ve accomplished. A cover letter is your opportunity to add color. To tell a story. Tell me what you’re passionate about. Give examples.

/14

Resume: Filmed and edited videos, featuring stories about football and basketball student-athletes.

Cover letter: The video I'm most proud of involved me traveling with the football team to DC. I got a chance to go in depth and connect academics, athletics and history.

/15

Make sure that resumes and cover letters are specific to the job for which you are applying.

Resumes should be rearranged with the most relevant experience in each past job appearing at the top of that job listing.

/16

Cover letters should be addressed to the hiring manager, if possible.

Check, double check and triple check, that you are addressing your cover letter to the correct person and to the correct place of employment.

/17

I’ve received SO MANY cover letters with the wrong name and wrong university, it's not even funny.

It shows such a lack of attention to detail. It tells me more about you than the rest of the cover letter and resume.

/18

If you see a job you think you want – apply right away. Don’t wait. The best time to apply is right now.

You get 0 job offers while you’re “making final edits on my resume.

You get 0 job offers while you’re “just wrapping up my cover letter.”

/19

Demo reels – if you are applying to a creative job, you HAVE TO SHOW your past work. It’s your call as to how you want to do that.

You can send links to past work.
You can send a link to an edited demo reel.

/20

Either is fine. But waiting until I ask you for examples, and then saying “I’m working on it”, is not good. Your demo reel should always be ready to go whenever anyone asks for it.

Never qualify it with "It's not my best work". If it's not your best work, DON'T SHOW IT.

/21

Finally – make my job easier for me.

Send your resume and cover letters as PDFs, not Word docs.

Make sure they are named with your first name, last name and what they are: “Imry Halevi – Resume.pdf”.

Make sure that any old track changes or comments are hidden.

/22

That’s it.

A good resume is easy to scan, and simple to follow.
A good cover letter is interesting, to the point, and illuminating.

Make your application about YOU, not about your application materials.

I WANT to hire you. Don't distract me from that.

/23

Footnote – the above thread is what I AM looking for. I’ve reviewed many hundreds of applications over the years, and these are the things that I find helpful. But it’s 100% subjective. Others may disagree.

The best thing you can do is keep it simple and avoid mistakes.

/End