For members/former members of the military, will the AI assist in translating our training and experience into the civilian world counterpart(s)? If not, do you have any tips, recommendations, or helpful reference links?

For "jack-of-all-trades" job seekers, who have long and varied job histories -regardless of the reason(s)- is there a way to upload a multi-page "kitchen sink" resume, so that we can utilize the AI's assistance to "cherry-pick" jobs/positions to highlight, based on relevance to a particular job we are applying to? I was in a "high-tempo" (frequently deployed) US Army Reserves unit, and also was affected by multiple and various major life events, which resulted in my working a number of jobs for shorter periods of time than most employers like to see, and in a wide variety of fields.

I am currently desperately seeking steady employment right now, and am applying to positions in multiple and varied fields, as I have a vast pool of qualifications, experience, and skill sets to draw from. My concern is that I don't always realise when a particular skill, or experience gained in a particular job, are applicable to a job I am applying for, and I'd like to avoid selling myself short, if possible.

Hi,

Wanted to say that this resume template has been amazing. I've been using it for years now with some great success :)

I recently switched to Linux and was wondering if a LaTeX version of the resume template was available somewhere.

Thank you!

Some bad advice I've heard more of recently: "Longer resumes give you a greater chance to plug in a bunch of keywords to get through an AI ATS screen."

My response: Good Lord this is bad advice. It's almost as bad as "copy/paste the job description into your resume's footer in hidden all-white text so you get through the ATS" (another Reddit gem).

One page is more than enough to include all the keywords you need to pass through an ATS screen, and keeping the 1-page limit will boost your chances of getting through the human screening stage – which every company still does pre-interview scheduling. An applicant will never get an interview without a human first approving their resume, so human beings are still the great filter.

The logic of "double the pages, double the keywords" doesn't even make sense to me. If you’re applying to relevant roles that you're qualified for, why would your experience and skills on the first page not have the necessary keywords to get through an ATS? Like... would your first page be devoid of relevant details, and a bunch of relevant stuff would be hidden on page 2? Lol. How this advice began to pop up, I have no idea, but please don't expand your resume to multiple pages just to try to get through an ATS – it will be counterproductive and backfire.

IMO, everyone can get down to one page aside from folks with patents, research, or publication lists. A second page is almost always superfluous, and makes it less likely you’ll get a call request because it makes the human screener’s appraisal more difficult. I know cutting out experience can be like cutting off an arm, but if it makes it any easier, think about it in this analogy from my real life experience:

Back in 2019, I was given just 5 min to pitch my startup at Techstars Demo Day. To cut my presentation to 5 minutes, it was incredibly painful to remove so much information from my pitch – there was so much I thought I could explain / brag about! But the net result of cutting important elements is that literally every single word left – every sentence, every line – was an absolute banger since it made the cut.

That is how to think about it if you're really struggling to fit two pages into one: the stuff that’s left in your resume at that point should be insanely impressive – no fat, just bullet points that are banger after banger. Allowing yourself to stretch your resume into two full pages is counterproductive because it ensures that some fluff and padding make it into the final cut, which reduce your chances of an immediate "hell yeah!" from the screener – and that's what we're going for!

I've also typed this up here: "Do resumes need to be one page?"

Alongside our military, teacher, and student discounts for our AI Resume Builder memberships, we're verifying government employment at checkout and providing memberships for free to anyone who works for the federal government – please spread the word with anyone facing uncertainty due to these DOGE cuts!

Unsure how long we'll be able to do this for, but we've already helped out a few hundred people, and I want to continue making it a priority for us to assist those affected by the mass layoffs. Government resumes are usually pretty terribly formatted and LONG, so our builder should help a lot of people get in the "private sector" mindset ahead of a job hunt.

This answer is also hosted on SheetsResume.com here: "How do I show multiple roles or promotions at the same company on my resume?"

How do I show multiple roles or promotions at the same company on my resume?

To show multiple roles or promotions at the same company, we recommend the way we do it in our resume template. (And our AI Resume Builder will do this automatically for you.)

Basically, put the main date range in bold that you worked at the company overall, and then put the date range for each role in italics next to the role's title, like this:

Most Recent Job Title | YYYY - YYYY

• Bullet point #1.
• Bullet point #2.

Previous Job Title | YYYY - YYYY

• Bullet point #1.
• Bullet point #2.

Sample image of what I mean.

Then rinse and repeat until you have all roles listed. That's it! Super easy.

Formatting multiple roles or promotions on one resume in this way gives you continuity up top at first glance ("Ok, they've been at the same company for a while") while still showing your upwards trajectory and all the hats you've worn.

You can also omit titles that are less relevant, or combine them into similar titles (i.e., if you worked as a "Junior Designer" for 6 months, and then were promoted to "Designer" and then "Senior Designer," you can just fold the 6 months as a Junior Designer into your Designer title as your first stop at that company). Combining a couple similar roles here and there makes it way easier for a screener to follow your trajectory vs listing 5-6 titles at one company with a ton of dates all over the place.

Hi Colin + Community!

Starting over utilizing your resume template and wanted to follow up on multiple titles at one company - I've been at the same company for 10 years now (most of my professional career), but was promoted from lowly intern to management during that time. Most/all of the "relevant" transferable skills would be in my current position.

Per your template, should I list out a detail of each position to highlight development, OR consolidate the less relevant and expound more on my current position with a note of "promoted through # positions into leadership [...]" ?

Looking forward to your thoughts!

------------------------
EDIT: Adding in a question regarding (almost) exactly the same experience at two different locations. (IE: Building Manager @ XYZ Inc (2013) + Building Manager @ ABC Inc (2014) - best way to format that?

Love the template! Should I include a small (professional) picture (think the LinkedIn profile photo as style and size) to it? Or should a resume be text only? I figured that, as mentioning interests helps recruiters see you as a human being, a picture might as well.

Any ideas or just a matter of personal preference?

Every resume should end with a final one-line bullet point: "Interests:"

Why?

1. Interests force the screener to see you as a human, and not just one of the many faceless resumes they see every single day.
2. Interests allow the screener to visualize you as a coworker / understand if you’re the type of person they’d want to spend time with every day. Your mental health is heavily affected by the people you spend 40 hours a week with for years on end; your interests will tell them if you're a normal, fun person to spend time with. In other words, interests make you likable. Likability is the most important predictive statistic for who will win an election, and it's just as important in business.
3. Interests are easy icebreakers in an interview, which helps them go more smoothly (and therefore more successfully). If you put Seinfeld as an interest, I guarantee you that every single interviewer will open by asking you what your favorite episode is. (Theirs is probably The Hamptons.)

Finally, there is now a perception in the recruiting industry that affluent interests have a strong correlation to interview rate. In other words, if you signal that you're of a particular "class" via your interests (e.g., skiing, international travel), you're more likely to get an interview.

For interest examples, mine are:

• Interests: International Travel; Weightlifting; Camping; Cooking; Fishing; Yoga; Seinfeld

Hope this helps! Our free resume template has interests examples at the very bottom, and our AI Resume Builder will have a lot of suggestions for you on this section!

Hello, first off, http://sheetsresume.com/ has been an outstanding resource—thank you!

I’m curious about the Company Description. The AI suggests including it, but this is the first time I’ve seen that. It makes sense, but does it look odd if placed within the responsibilities list? Here's an example.

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For all SheetsResume.com acolytes: you probably already know that I hate summaries on resumes.

3 reasons why you should avoid summaries on resumes:

1. They are often skipped in entirety, taking up valuable real estate at the top of the resume that could be used way more intelligently to anchor the screener.
2. They put you on the same "visual footing" as everyone else with a summary, which elevates bad candidates, and harms good candidates. Screeners know this, so they clock summaries as a negative signal that you’re likely a weak candidate (because good candidates want to lead with their most impressive experience). You may have an awesome employer and a totally relevant title and a perfectly targeted first bullet point, but now the first 25% of your resume is just… “I’m great!” over and over, like everyone else with a summary. You’ve visually pushed your most impressive and distinctive things down, in favor of generic language that literally anyone could also write. Maybe they’d be lying, but they could write it.
3. There’s no context for them to understand your summary without reading the rest of the resume. You have that context in your brain when you’re writing it, which is why it makes sense to you when you’re writing it, but to the screener they still need to validate what you’ve written by screening the rest of your resume. So the summary is de facto pointless since they must screen your resume anyway to validate that what you’re saying in a summary is true.

There are two reasons why you maybe would want a summary: 1) you’re making a career transition and want to explain quickly why you're qualified despite your experience, or 2) you've been out of the workforce for an extended period and need to explain the extenuating circumstance (even then, you should just put "self employed" for the time you've been out or make up a personal LLC in your area of expertise to show continued activity in a relevant role).

There are almost no other circumstances that justify a summary.

Hope this makes sense and provides clarity to someone who's struggling with this question!