- Jobseeking is Hard
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- #163 - Rethinking Resume Presentation
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Hey There!
Welcome to Issue #163 of Jobseeking is Hard!
Today's issue is brought to you by The Code! If you're a free subscriber and value our content, it costs $0 to support us by clicking the ad and checking out the service. Show our sponsor some love for supporting Jobseeking is Hard! Thanks!
This week we’re talking about:
Stupid interview questions
A jobseeking horror story about being told you “check all the boxes” until you don’t
Why your resume’s presentation matters
The best (worst?) job posting of the week
And a scam involving “recruiters” using fear to sell resume services
And for Premium subscribers I’m:
Debunking a recruiter’s claim about how “serious” candidates should behave
Answering a Premium subscriber’s question about balancing older jobs on a resume. I’ll explain how to keep the story focused on who you are now.
Let’s get to it!
STUPID INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
“If you cut a worm in half, will the two parts be friends?”
“Imagine you find a crying child alone in a restroom. How would you respond?”
“Would you rather swim with sharks or walk through a lion’s den?”
The lion doesn’t concern themselves with stupid interview questions.
Now I’m curious…
Would you rather swim with sharks or walk through a lion’s den? |
Want to share your stupid interview questions? Reply or email [email protected]
SPEAKING OF POLLS
Last issue, I asked you, “Would you rather have a 9am meeting every morning or a 5pm meeting every afternoon?” A resounding 89% of you said morning, not afternoons, are for meetings.
Some of the best responses:
“No way could I hold in my rage until the end of the day every day.”
“How audacious of you to think I'm sticking around until 5...”
“The 5pm meeting is like a Russian roulette of when it's gonna end…no way!”
But my favorite was:
“Do you think there would be a song called ‘It’s 5 o’clock somewhere’ if the norm were to have a 5 pm meeting?”
I’ll drink to that.
COMMUNITY CATHARSIS
Yesterday, a recruiter contacted me about a job opportunity, saying I "checked all the boxes." He set up a Teams meeting with a supervisor, who immediately said that my "lack of longevity" (a couple of years at the jobs I've worked at recently) meant that "this wasn't the opportunity" for me. The recruiter was present at the meeting and said absolutely nothing, not even an apology for wasting my time.
Most jobs just don't last that long, so what are all these recruiters and employers expecting? It seems like none of them work in the real world.
You were told you “checked all the boxes,” then walked into a meeting where a brand-new box suddenly mattered more than everything else. Nice.
The longevity excuse is tired. Companies churn through people constantly, then act shocked when candidates have shorter stints on their resumes. It’s disconnected from reality.
Subscribers…
Has anything like this ever happened to you? |
If there's a jobseeking horror story *you’d* like to share, reply or email [email protected]
SHAMELESS PLUG
If your job search needs a little more help, Karpiak Consulting offers resume and LinkedIn services, as well as job search strategy coaching.
Who knows…maybe it’ll help you land a new role like this client 🤷♂️
So how did I help this Resume Edit client get their foot in the door?
By making sure their resume didn’t just show they were qualified…but made that qualification impossible to miss.
If you’re reading this, I’m sure that you are familiar with this concept: most people are qualified for way more roles than they’re getting interviews for. The problem isn’t the experience. It’s the way that experience is being presented…usually in a way that forces the recruiter to interpret, infer, or connect dots that were never made explicit.
In this market, nobody has time for dot-connecting.
And none of this works if the layout makes your resume hard to read. Presentation isn’t just the order of information…it’s the spacing, the structure, the sections, and the readability. If everything is dense, cramped, or formatted inconsistently, the recruiter’s eye has nowhere to land. Clean layout, clear section breaks, and easy-to-skim bullets make the content actually visible.
If the resume isn’t visually inviting, even strong experience gets overlooked. When you’re competing against unprecedented applicant volume, your resume has to communicate relevance immediately. Recruiters are quickly scanning for relevance and value, not studying your whole history. They’re not printing out your resume and sitting by the fire, leisurely reading your story. They’re trying to understand your fit as quickly and cleanly as possible. If that fit isn’t obvious in a few seconds, they move on.
That’s where context matters. A resume can’t just show what you touched…it has to show how you worked, why it mattered, and how it maps directly to the role you want. It’s especially important for fields like product, UX, operations...anything cross-functional really. The value isn’t in the task…it’s in the execution of the task. And if the resume doesn’t communicate that, the reader has no idea how strong you actually are or how well your experience matches.
A lot of jobseekers end up saying, “I’m qualified but not getting interviews.” And they’re right. They are qualified. But the recruiter couldn’t see it quickly enough to act on it. “Being qualified” and the recruiter actually seeing that are 2 very different things. That’s why the structure matters. Your most relevant skills and accomplishments need to lead every job. Your summary needs to frame the narrative so the story makes sense. And your bullets need to show the “how”, not just list responsibilities.
Don’t just list your experience...demonstrate it. Once this client’s resume reframed their experience with clarity, context, and relevance at the forefront, everything shifted. Recruiters finally understood their value instead of ignoring it.
If you’re feeling like your resume isn’t telling your story the way it should and don’t know how to frame your experience, our services can help.
BEST (WORST?) JOB POST
OF THE WEEK
Here’s the job post that got the most people talking on my Instagram this week!
typical social media marketing job description
If you come across an irritating job posting, email it to the newsletter or DM me on Instagram and I’ll add it to the list to post!
Today's issue is also brought to you by I Hate It Here! C’mon give it a click…it costs $0 and helps support your favorite job search newsletter 🙂
The best HR advice comes from those in the trenches. That’s what this is: real-world HR insights delivered in a newsletter from Hebba Youssef, a Chief People Officer who’s been there. Practical, real strategies with a dash of humor. Because HR shouldn’t be thankless—and you shouldn’t be alone in it.
JOB SCAMS!
Someone told me about this one last week, and I wanted to share it.
They replied to a LinkedIn post from someone claiming to be “selecting elite candidates” for a long list of $180K–$350K executive roles. The post used every attention-grabbing tactic possible…huge salary ranges, dozens of titles, “confidential openings,” and promises that the recruiter was “handpicking profiles personally.”
Once they commented, they got a message within 4 minutes asking for their resume. And right after they sent it, the recruiter came back with a dramatic, jargon-filled message insisting the resume had major problems that were blocking them from being considered for “high-level opportunities.”
I evaluated your resume, and it is not capturing your real value. It is slipping through automated screening systems, losing recruiter attention, misaligned with hiring expectations, and getting blocked across multiple internal review points. And that is inside one company. Multiply it across multi company pipelines with their own Al filters, resume rankers, recruiter triage, manager checks, HR risk reviews, and executive approvals. The high scrutiny hiring cycle is entering a hyper competitive phase where this gauntlet tightens and only precision positioning moves a candidate forward.
Modern hiring systems run multi level reviews automatically. Your resume is evaluated through entry, mid, senior, and executive lenses in a single workflow. If your document fails to match the level you belong to, the system reroutes you downward long before a human intervenes. If you would like, I can connect you to a proven expert. Once your resume is recalibrated, we step into the hiring pipeline with authority and momentum.
The whole point was to make the candidate feel like something was wrong so they’d be receptive to a fix. That’s the scam. These people aren’t evaluating anything. They’re trying to sell resume services by convincing you your resume is broken in ways only they can diagnose.
Stay safe out there!
Has this scam contacted you? |
If you come across a potential scam, send it to [email protected], and I’ll warn the community. And if you’ve been a victim of a job scam, the FTC has job scam reporting resources listed here.
“I’m trying to transition into a more specialized role, but I’m struggling with what to do about older jobs that feel completely unrelated. If I leave them on my resume, it feels unfocused. If I remove them, I look like I’m not experienced enough. How do I find the right balance without making the resume confusing or incomplete?”
Check out the Premium Section below for my answer! Not a Premium Subscriber? Upgrade here: www.JobseekingIsHard.com/upgrade
Why upgrade? For less than $0.63/day, you get:
Subscriber-Only Discounts: Get exclusive promo codes for Karpiak Consulting services, available only to Premium subscribers. Whether you're updating your resume, need a LinkedIn profile review, or want expert help tailoring your applications, these occasional discounts make expert support more accessible.
Extra Tips & Advice: Gain exclusive insights, strategies, and advice from a recruiter with over 20 years of experience in the field. Discover what hiring managers truly value and how to stand out at every step of your job search.
Access to Previous Issues: Explore a library of knowledge with all 100+ past issues of the newsletter. Each edition is packed with proven strategies, practical advice, and real-world jobseeking stories to give you an edge in today’s competitive job market. From resume tips to handling tough interview questions, you’ll find answers to every challenge.
Exclusive Q&A: Have questions about your job search? Premium subscribers can ask Adam directly! Questions will be featured in upcoming issues, with detailed answers tailored to real-world scenarios, ensuring you get the guidance you need.
Bonus Content: As part of your Premium subscription, you’ll receive 20 additional job search tips delivered to your inbox over the next 20 days. This includes advice on avoiding common mistakes and maximizing your job search strategy to land interviews faster.
Jobseekers, have a great rest of your week, and good luck with those applications!
-Adam
PS!! If you're enjoying the newsletter, let people know! Forward it, post it on social, tag me, whatever...the bigger the discussion, the better! The idea is to help as many people as possible!
About Adam- Recognized as a leading voice on hiring and workplace trends, Adam has been recruiting and providing career advice since 2003, developing high-trust relationships based on honesty with companies and jobseekers. A highly sought-after speaker, he has appeared in numerous outlets, including Bloomberg News, Business Insider, LinkedIn, and CNNMoney. You can find out more about Adam's resume and coaching services here.
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- • Extra Tips & Advice: Gain exclusive insights, strategies, and advice from a recruiter with over 20 years of experience in the field. Discover what hiring managers truly value and how to stand out at every step of your job search.
- • Access to Previous Issues: Explore a library of knowledge with all 100+ past issues of the newsletter. Each edition is packed with proven strategies, practical advice, and real-world jobseeking stories to give you an edge in today’s competitive job market. From resume tips to handling tough interview questions, you’ll find answers to every challenge.
- • Exclusive Q&A: Have questions about your job search? Premium subscribers can ask Adam directly! Questions will be featured in upcoming issues, with detailed answers tailored to real-world scenarios, ensuring you get the guidance you need.
- • Bonus Content: As part of your Premium subscription, you’ll receive 20 additional job search tips delivered to your inbox over the next 20 days. This includes advice on avoiding common mistakes and maximizing your job search strategy to land interviews faster.
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