robinson.leo•25d agoTop Commenter

Pro tip: I stopped listing every single skill on my resume and got way more callbacks

I used to cram my resume with every tool I'd ever touched (like, I listed Excel twice). Then a recruiter friend in Chicago told me my resume looked like a shopping list, not a story. So I cut it down to just the 3-4 skills that actually matter for the job I'm applying for. Since I did that about 4 months ago, I've gotten interviews for 2 out of every 5 jobs I apply to, compared to maybe 1 in 10 before. Has anyone else tried trimming their skills section or am I just weird?

2 comments

2 Comments

ellis.rose25d ago

Wait, isn't this basically the same problem we have with everything now? Like how I used to keep every single kitchen gadget in my cupboards just in case, but then I realized I only use like 4 things. Same with my phone apps - I had 80 apps but really only opened 5. We're so scared of missing out on something that we just HOARD everything, whether it's skills or spatulas. It's like we need to learn that less really does work better, but our brains fight it every step of the way.

fiona_clark25d agoMost Upvoted

Funny you mention that, I actually just read a blog post from a recruiter who said the same thing. They called it "keyword puking" which is gross but accurate. The person wrote that recruiters spend like 6 seconds scanning a resume and they're looking for specific matches, not a library of every program you've opened. I tried trimming mine down to just the top 4 skills per job description and my callback rate went up too.