Having a good resume is crucial for getting a job. Below you’ll find many examples of good resumes to get traditional jobs, consulting jobs, side gigs, and more.
For 13 years, I was a hiring manager at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, two of the world’s largest financial firms. I’ve seen literally thousands of resumes during this time period. I’ve also hired or been involved in hiring dozens of people at these firms, where their acceptance rate is in the single digits.
An excellent resume should be standard, not the exception. Before I share some examples of good resumes, let’s do a quick review of the best time to get a job and some general resume tips.
The Best Time To Get A Job
In normal times, the first half of the year is when ideally all hiring shall be done. This is because:
1) The best available people are still available. There is a bias against people looking in the 3rd and 4th quarter because rightly or wrongly, companies may wonder what’s wrong with you for not having found something earlier.
2) Companies need to spend their budgets while they are still available. There’s no time like the present.
3) Hiring an employee at the start of the year gets the most out of the employee, especially if there is a guaranteed compensation package.
If you find yourself looking for a job in the second half of the year, it’s important to hustle a little more or prepare for activity to pick up in the spring.
Don’t give up hope. Use this time to plan more thoroughly. And utilize the examples of good resumes below to improve your own, especially as economies start opening up.
The Importance Of An Updated Resume
Just the other week, I had breakfast with an old boss of mine who moved on to do different things last year. What I thought was a friendly meet up turned out to be a soft sell on why I should join his firm.
“We should talk more next week Sam,” he concluded. “I think you’ll be amazed at what we’re doing here.”
I proceeded to discuss my meeting with another old colleague of mine who then said, “Sam, actually we also have a 5 year runway to build something great. You should send me your resume.“
“No problem“, I said. Truth be told, my resume was one year old and needed some updating. But, that’s OK, given the changes were quite minor.
Keep Employment Dialogues Open
It never hurts to keep employment dialogues open, even if you don’t currently plan on leaving your company. It’s a courtesy to them to have a discussion.
You never know when someone wants to pay you big bucks for a guaranteed length of time to join their organization!
Generally, I’m the one who is evaluating resumes, so it was kind of exciting to update my own to send to someone else.
Important Resume Tips To Know
There are many important tips to keep in mind when analyzing examples of good resumes. Read this section thoroughly before creating and editing your own resume. If you do, you’ll create the best resume possible.
The 7 Seconds Rule
The average amount of time a reviewer spends on your resume is 7 seconds and that’s it! It’s partly because hiring managers like myself have so many resumes to look at. And it’s partly because we’re lazy.
Make sure the top half of your resume pops and everything is clear. If your resume is too dense, it’s going to overwhelm anyone who reads it. You don’t want their eyes to glaze over. Practice scanning the examples of good resumes below for 7 seconds. Then, try the same exercise on your own.
One Page Resume Or Bust
If you have a resume longer than one page, you just quadrupled your chances of having your resume crumpled and tossed in the bin. More is much less in this situation.
Having a one page resume shows that you are concise, clear, and to the point. Again, hiring teams spend roughly 7 seconds on your resume, so don’t bore them with irrelevant details.
It’s all about what you’ve done lately, your education, and an interesting fact about you. Anything more can be covered during the interview.
Don’t Over Think Design For A Great Resume
Unless you are a graphic designer looking for a job, there’s no need to over think the design of your one-pager. Contact info, latest two or three jobs with responsibilities, education, and hobbies. Done.
Segment the page out in sections with clear, standard titles. Use bullet points if you will, and make that one page as simple to read as possible.
We really don’t care about what type of font you are using, whether the paper has a thicker weave, and all the nitty gritty details of your latest project. Like blogging, content is king!
Don’t Hide Obvious Things On A Resume
If you’ve never had a real job before or are still within 5 years out of undergrad, you better not hide your GPA. Hiding your bad GPA is a 90% guarantee of getting your resume tossed. It shows that you think reviewers are stupid enough to not realize your grades are missing.
We’ll start thinking the worst, so don’t hide your GPA! Don’t hide any of your contact details either. That will surely piss off the reviewer if she wants to contact you.
If you’re applying to jobs through a recruiter, however, it’s common for them to remove your contact info. Recruiters want employers to contact them directly first since they are your liaison.
A Good Resume Is Standard, Not Special
A good or great resume doesn’t make the person. You and your interview make the person. A good resume should be standard, which means it’s all the important not to have a bad resume.
A bad resume obliterates your chances, and a good resume is the absolute minimum. There is no one golden resume format. It just has to be easy on the eyes. From the examples of good resumes below, you’ll see that all are acceptable resumes.
Customize Your Resume As Much As Possible
Don’t use a generic resume for all your applications. It’s important to highlight specific skills, attributes, and experiences you have that would be an asset to your new employer.
Employers want to know why you’re the best fit for the specific job you’re applying to. Tailor your resume to each job. Just make sure you attach the right version before you hit the send button.
Use your resume as a way to shine the brightest spotlight on merit. Although there is a growing attack on merit, the best people with the most qualifications usually still win.
Optimize For Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)
Robots may not be running the world (yet), but they are busy doing a lot of things including resume screening. Roughly 90% of Fortune 500 companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to screen resumes. In addition, about 70% of larger companies and 20% of small businesses use ATS as well.
Humans will make the ultimate decision on whether or not to interview and hire you for a job. But, you should make your resume ATS friendly so it has the best chance to get seen by human eyes.
Use keywords from the job description and industry. Action words are important as well. Just be careful not to overdo it. Keyword stuffing and going crazy with buzzwords may fool a robot, but will get your resume tossed out by a person.
Spell out abbreviations, avoid using special characters like symbols or emojis, and use standard headings like “Education” and “Work Experience.”
In addition, stick with common fonts and simple formatting. Fancy formatting is bound to get removed by the ATS. Or worse, the ATS may not be able to read your resume at all.
Do The Not So Obvious To Make Your Resume Stand Out
If you’ve sent out hundreds of resumes already, and aren’t getting any responses, do something different. Put a picture of yourself up on the top right hand corner.
Again, do this if you haven’t been getting any love at all, especially if you’re more attractive than average. LinkedIn profiles with picture profiles get clicked on twice more often than those profiles that don’t have pictures.
Change your resume color to a green back ground. Make your objective statement a prediction on who will win the Super Bowl and why? Then parlay that with a follow up interview if your prediction holds true.
If you aren’t getting any call backs, you have nothing to lose. If you do any one of the following things above, you will stand out and get the recruiter’s attention.
Examples Of Good Resumes That Get Jobs
Now, let’s examine some examples of good resumes that get jobs. Below each one you’ll find a summary of my thoughts along with a resume rating.
Good Resume Example #1: Business Management Or Sales
Resume analysis: I like how Adam states right up front his objectives and qualifications. His resume is easy to read. Unfortunately, there is no GPA, and his work experience isn’t much to write home about, depending on what job he’s looking for. If he’s looking to apply as a restaurant manager, he looks like a perfect candidate. Resume Rating: 8/10.
Great Resume Example #2: Post MBA
Resume analysis: Edgar has a classically formatted resume, which I like. He must be just graduating from business school because he over emphasizes his education, and under emphasizes what makes Edgar the man.
We already know Edgar went to Darden b-school if I’m reading his resume, so putting his education at the very top is wasting valuable real estate. Also, I learn nothing about Edgar as a person, which doesn’t create any affinity. Resume Rating: 7/10.
Excellent Resume Example #3: Translator
Resume analysis: This is one of my favorite examples of good resumes. Pamela’s resume has almost everything I want to see. I like how she highlights a “Profile” portion up top, lists her experience, and then her education and activities.
I would love to know more about what makes Pamela tick. Also, I would consider removing her earliest work experience and expand a little more on her interests. Resume Rating: 8.5/10.
Fantastic Resume Example #4: Actress
Resume analysis: Lauren’s resume is unique because it is a classic example of an actor’s resume. The resume showcases her range as an actress in terms of tours, plays, commercials, and training.
Lauren is obviously an attractive woman who has used a professional headshot picture in the top left hand corner to attract the casting director’s attention. Lauren’s phone is probably ringing off the hook. Resume rating: 8/10
Solid Resume Example #5: Accounting
Resume analysis: James’ resume is poorly constructed because it looks like there’s a huge four year gap between when he graduated in 2001 and his current job as an accountant.
You have to look closely to see that he was an Accounting Intern from 2001-2005, which as an awfully long time. James should BOLD “Accounting Intern, 2001-2005” and “Accountant, 2006 to Present” to make the resume more clear. James’ resume is severely lacking in personality and does nothing to differentiate itself from other resumes. Resume rating: 6/10
Conclusion: A Good Resume Is Standard!
A good resume is standard, which also means good resumes are a dime a dozen. If you have a badly formatted resume with glaring holes, poor grammar, no personality, and lack of clarity, your job seeking life is over.
With a bad resume, you might as well become an entrepreneur or work a dead end job instead, because nobody will be willing to give you a chance since you can’t even present yourself properly on one sheet of paper. Beyond the basics of resume writing, it’s the resume’s content which really helps get you an interview and that job.
The economy is extremely unstable now due to so many people who are unemployed. Make a great resume using the examples of good resumes above as your guide. And keep developing important work skills so you may more easily be able to get a job. Don’t give up!
Recommendations For Work And Life
1) Negotiate A Severance
Never quit your job, negotiate a severance instead. If you quit your job, you walk away with nothing. If you negotiate a severance like I did back in 2012, you not only get a severance check, but potentially subsidized healthcare, deferred compensation, and worker training. Since you got laid off, you’re also eligible for unemployment benefits. Having a financial runway is huge during your transition period.
Check out, How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye, on how to negotiate a severance. I first published the book in 2012 and have since expanded it to over 200 pages thanks to tremendous reader feedback and successful case studies.
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You can buy a copy on Amazon today. The richest people in the world are always reading and always learning new things. Learn from those who are already where you want to go.
3) Start Your Own Website
There’s nothing better than starting your own website to own your brand online. Why should LinkedIn, FB, and Twitter pop up when someone Google’s your name? With your own website you can share your thoughts, sell a product, sell some else’s product, make passive income, connect with potentially millions of people online, and find a lot of new consulting and FT work opportunities.
Every year since 2012, I’ve found a new six figure consulting opportunity thanks to employers finding Financial Samurai online. Start your own WordPress website like mine today with Bluehost. You never know where the journey will take you! There’s not a week that goes by where I’m not thankful for starting my site back in 2009.
Check out the example below of a real blogger friend I know who built up his site after four years and now makes ~$150K a year online and another ~$180K from consulting! If you need help creating a website, here is my step-by-step guide for one. A website is the best type of resume in the modern era.
Examples Of Good Resumes That Get Jobs Is A Financial Samurai original post. Not only should you have a great resume that fits on one page, you need to have an online resume as well. Having a great website is by far the best type of resume to have to get hired.
For more nuanced personal finance content, join 60,000+ others and sign up for the free Financial Samurai newsletter. Financial Samurai is one of the largest independently-owned personal finance sites that started in 2009.
I would recommend to customise the skills section of your resume, and ensure that it matches the job posting. The higher the number of phrases within the resume matching the job requirements the more are the chances that the recruiter will pick you for the job.
Resumes for federal jobs like court officer demands a lot more information as compared to private sector, therefore a typical federal job might use more than 5,000 characters for describing the relevant academic achievements, skills, experience and accomplishments. In some jobs you might also be required to describe your past years of employment, in order to highlight your past experiences. You might also utilised numbers and statistics more often in order to highlight your academic and professional experience/
It looks like you’re not just an experienced professional but an expert and you know what you’re looking for. Thank you very much for your awesome advice and other resume tips! I think what you just said here would be very helpful for me. I’m hoping to find more of your suggestions and tips regarding resume and how it’s going to be effective so I can find the future job that I need.
Cheers!
-Emily
These helpful resume examples are great thank you! I’m helping my former colleague update her resume and am going to use a lot of the resume tips in this post. Being able to see free example resumes that get jobs is priceless in this time of economic and occupational uncertainty. Thank you!
I would recommend to customise the skills section of your resume, and ensure that it matches the job posting. The higher the number of phrases within the resume matching the job requirements the more are the chances that the recruiter will pick you for the job.
Hi Sam!
Just stumbled on your site and absolutely LOVE IT! Forgive me if this has been answered in a similar post, but I haven’t come across it. As a bit of background, in March 2015, I was laid-off. In January of the same year, it became necessary for me to leave the corporate world completely to care for an elderly parent that lived 400 miles away while maintaining my immediate family in a different city. My immediate family consisted of my husband who was 14 years my senior and retired at the time. Two years before the exit, I had been through 6 Sr. Managers in the span of 6 weeks and finally aligned to an Executive that was very different than I in personality. The role I had in the corporate world as a Manager was stressful, required 60-80 hours a week, 6-7 days/week with travel. At the time the layoff was finally executed in March 2015, I turned 50 and ready to go. My husband returned to work so that I could focus my time on my parent. Full-time, long-distance caregiving and a full-time job such as what I had were just not realistic. I have been away from the corporate world for 5 years now. Many things have changed for my husband and I. My priorities, attitude about work, and of course my age.
LinkedIn continuously connects me to my old corporation and role because I was there for 10 years before the layoff. I have not updated it yet because I’m looking for a better way to address the changes I noted and would actually like to focus my return in a different direction/fashion. I’m currently in the process of taking software classes to ensure my general software skills are fresh and will also sit for a professional certification exam in October. The certification exam actually incorporates my old skills with a new role in a different direction. It is not a totally career change but different enough to be significant. I loved the suggestion of creating your own blog that you’ve provided. Are there other suggestions you might have to address a time gap in one’s resume appropriately for reasons such as mine? Is it addressed in the Summary? What is appropriate to say in this case? I’m not hiding it I just don’t know how to wordsmith it.
In addition, do you have any suggestions for those of us over 50/55 :) trying to play catch-up or get ahead on the financial front???? The loss of my income for 5 years put our saving goals behind. My goal is not to permanently work for some one else but I need to start somewhere. My husband is now 70, good, health and plans to work for another 3 years and we have very little/no debt – just need to do a little reno work to our home. Our ultimate goal is to be financially free as soon as possible.
Interested to hear your thoughts,
T.M.
I recommend using your experience to consult! Use your experience to your advantage.
Yes, setting up your own website to brand yourself and attract clients is a no brainer. But it’s up to you to do it.
GL!
Hi Sam,
Absolutely love your site! I appreciate this is a very old post but this is clearly once again a challenging time for many so just thought I would add a few additional points if I may from having been in Executive recruitment for around 15 years:
– Numbers – Often people will write their intangible skills line by line, similar to your accountancy friend above. Instead of writing that you lead a project, cut a certain amount of cost or managed a particular business unit. Go into the numeric details for example “Upon joining General Electric my business unit generated $5million, with profit of $3million across a headcount of 40 with the key revenue channels being the automotive industry and top clients were companies X, Y and Z. After 3 years revenues were up to $10million, profits up to $6million and headcount up to 75 and I lead top-to-top sales and account management to support continued build out into a new revenue channel whilst broadening our key client base to also include companies A and B”
– Tell your story – Your career will most likely be going in an upward ark, is that clearly visible on your CV? Can someone with no knowledge of your job type or industry understand clearly see how you have progressed? Remember, often the first person to read your CV will be a HR professional who has to source for all job roles across the business. He or she may not understand the intricacies of your job function or company, also job responsibilities vary enormously company to company. Job titles can be misleading, there are a lot of “managers”, “Directors” or “Managing Directors” out there managing 1, 2 or no people altogether
– Process and Systems – How you grow, improve or innovate your business and team? What processes and systems you implemented that enabled you to have an impact. During the interview, its also fine to admit some that didn’t! Humility and resilience are core behaviours all employers look for
– People – Demonstrate how you improve your people’s performance, this can be carrot and stick. How did you support your top performers, get the most out of the mid range (typically through systems, motivation, culture and target setting) and take decisive action on the bottom performers (help them become high performers or move them on)
– What achievements are you most proud of in the last 3 years, again make these tangible
New business units, countries, offices started up, turned around or built further on. New clients you were able to win business with and how you were able to do this. Ensure you are able to demonstrate you are capable of both thorough strategy development with a Go-To-Market plan as well as effective execution. What exactly did you do to ensure revenues were increased whilst costs were controlled or minimised
– You! Make sure it is clear what YOU actually did on the CV. Don’t over exaggerate your role in a team’s success, similarly don’t leave ambiguity around your role in these cumulative successes.
– Don’t have an enormous summary, no one reads it, keep it simple. As Sam writes, no one is going to read a long summary, I literally never do, that won’t get you a job unless you are a graduate
– Two pages max, beyond and you will be overlooked as there is a high correlation between long CVs and “all talk no action” type of people. Fair or not.
– Keywords – Similar to the above which Sam mentioned regarding ATS. You need to ensure you have all keywords listed on your CV so you can be found by a recruiter once your CV is added onto a system (agency and in-house). If you want to get into a new type of role make sure you have the keyword on your CV you want so you can found. Even though you may not have the skillset. Fun fact, do this for LinkedIn too and you may get some interesting job opportunities sent your way. Pro tip – Did you know, a lot of top tech firms don’t have a way of tracking your application? They use excel! Make sure you have all keywords as Sam outlines so you can be found.
Thank you for pointing out that we shouldn’t be overdoing the design of our resume unless we plan to apply for jobs like a graphic designer. I am thinking that companies will want to look for an easy-to-read resume that gives the facts straight away. I would imagine that companies will also partner with staffing companies to recruit people they need and thus, it will be important for us to keep in contact with staffing companies to watch out for potential openings for our work.
As a business founder with two exits, and now working as a government recruiter I have assessed and interviewed a few hundred candidates over the last decade. This year should actually be my biggest, and by July 2021 I will have added another 400 candidates to that count. A few things:
We don’t care about your grades.
We don’t care that your resume is longer than one page. The old wisdom that a resume needs to be a page is dead.
Research the hell out of the job you are applying for. If you have the same resume and cover letter for two different jobs you might as well put it in the bin yourself. Your cover letter should be woven with details of the job you are applying for and your resume should be tailored to fit the description. It takes 20-30 minutes to edit your application materials from one job to another. Not customizing your application for each position is the number one reason people aren’t getting called. It is worth the time.
No SPAG errors in either the resume or cover.
Never put your picture on it unless you are an actor/model or it is somehow relevant. Invariably when I receive applications with photographs the applicant is from a foreign country where this is the norm. If you hail from North America and include an irrelevant photograph, it is bad.
We expect lies. Everybody lies. Lie small. Big lies are obvious disqualifiers.
If you find yourself looking for a job in the second half of the year, it’s important to hustle a little more or prepare for activity to pick up in the spring. Don’t give up hope. Use this time to plan more thoroughly.
Thanks
Good to know that this post is perfect for me. I continue working for 8 years and counting a lot of experience and I am now looking to move toward working for a company. I need to improve my resume to show up on my current skills.
I have a Linkedin account that I started a while ago but I never completed my profile or use it. Should I update my Linkedin profile etc. before applying for a position? Would it hurt to just delete my account?
While resumes are an invaluable part of applying for, and acquiring a job, it is important to also have a well-written cover letter. Thanks for providing these resume examples, they are so helpful for the job search.
How do you present the gap of being a state at home parent for some time? To be honest it was a very bad impression that employers left me when that gap in your work history was to take time to develop, nurture and teach another human being the right things in life. It seem to come across as a penalty on my work experience.
How do you effectively write that gap on your resume.
Thank you
There are some great design templates as well for resumes. Especially those that give provide a lot of white space while still showing all your information. Just because you are applying for a pretty technical position doesn’t mean your resume has to look drab.
PS. Microsoft Word can do a lot more than you think. You got this!
-Andrew
ay what if you lie on your resume
Depends if you get caught I guess! All employers use the web to verify who you are and what you say you’ve done.
you good brodie
I just wanted to point out that you are incorrect regarding COBRA. Any employer with 20 or more employees (part time employees are counted on a fractional bases) must off COBRA to an separated employee regardless if separation was voluntary or involuntary. The only exception is if an employee was fired for “Gross Misconduct”! Though there is no set federal definition for what constitutes “Gross Misconduct” court cases have generally sided with the employee unless the employer has been able to show the employee endangered other employees or customers. The law sets forth strict timeframes on timing and content of a COBRA notices to employees.