The Google Résumé: How to Prepare for a Career and Land a Job at Apple, Microsoft, Google, or any Top Tech Company

Chapter 4. Résumés

Just three months into my freshman year of college, I gave Microsoft my résumé—all three pages of it. Large blocks of text recounted in excruciating detail the features of the three C++ games I'd created. Under "Work Experience," I reported every web page I had designed as though each shed some unique and fascinating light on my credentials. The recruiter tossed my résumé aside without a second glance.

With a bit of persistence but mostly dumb luck, I did in fact wind up at Microsoft that summer. My résumé drifted its way to the desk of perhaps the one person who would give me a chance, and he just so happened to need an intern. Jon had a penchant for the less traditional. My three-page faux pas didn't faze him.

I am fairly sure that I exhausted all luck right then and there. Résumés are an art form, and what I submitted was the equivalent of a four-year-old's crayon drawing: cute, perhaps, in an incredibly clueless way.

A good résumé clearly highlights a candidate's relevant skills. It must present the candidate in the best possible light because, after all, it is one's first chance to persuade the reader that she is the best candidate for the job.

Six Hallmarks of a Powerful Résumé

A powerful résumé should leap off the page saying, "Me! I'm the one you want to hire!" Each and every line should contribute to the employer's wanting to hire you. Why, then, does a candidate list his vague and totally unprovable love for running? One has precious few lines on a résumé, ...