
Landing a job at a company like Google seems to be a dream for many. A former Googler Nolan Church, who recruited for the company, revealed the most common resume blunders that can ruin the chances of even getting a response from recruiters. He also listed some tips and tricks to take advantage of while looking for jobs at big companies.
In a recent LinkedIn post, Church shared his unfiltered thoughts on the matter saying: "Most resumes suck." But he's not just doling out criticism; he's also got some advice to help potential Googlers navigate the treacherous waters of job applications.
In a conversation with CNBC, Church claimed that the number one red flag that will make him hit the "delete" button faster than you can say "algorithm" is what he calls "text bricks." These are those endless, mind-numbing streams of text that might have a lot of words but lack any real substance. According to Church, if your resume looks like a novel, there's "zero chance you're going to move forward."
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So, what's the secret to catching the attention of recruiters? According to Church, one should keep the resume concise and to the point. Church suggests using short, one-line bullets under each job description. Don't go overboard with "three to four sentences per bullet" because, let's face it, ain't nobody got time for that in today's fast-paced, emoji-driven world of communication.
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Church also recommends using tools like ChatGPT and Grammarly to help you trim down your language. He said that it's "just too easy" to use these tools to tidy up your resume.
For further refinement, Church believes the candidate should enlist the help of five to ten people in their network to review and edit the resume.
Church goes on to ask candidates to optimize their resume for "10-second viewership." Why? Because sometimes that's all the time you've got to make an impression on an HR rep.
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