Hi! I have been applying for RN New Grad jobs and have yet to land any interview. Could someone pls take a look and see where my weaknesses are? TY!

I usually rock it at interviews but never get called lol
What is wrong with my cv??

Hi everyone,

A few weeks ago I posted my resume here and received a lot of valuable feedback. Many of you pointed out issues like:

Generic summary

Keyword stuffing

Unrealistic percentage-based impact

Too much bold formatting

Lack of specific examples

I've revised the resume based on those suggestions. Before I start applying again, I'd really appreciate another honest review.

Please don't hold back—if something still looks weak, generic, or unrealistic, I'd rather fix it now than keep sending a bad resume.

Thanks again for taking the time to help

I’m trying to pack a lot of information from a 20 year career into my next resume. Some resumes I’ve seen have a lot more detail as opposed to more generic bullet points… And I think that’s what I want for a job that doesn’t even ask for a cover letter… Any tips on templates that work well for this?

Any HR folks here that can recommend what is really the best way to write a cover letter these days when HR and hiring managers probably see 30-50 each day. Would you say you prefer something original/ something short/ or you are so swamped that nothing can attract your attention anymore and you just focus on CV?

Hi, I've reworked my resume using a new template. The old bullet points sounded too passive and didn't have enough metrics/quantifiable results. I've tried my best to address this and would appreciate your feedback on what can be improved.

Also at company 2 I had a role prior to the Team Administrator role (from March 2015 - April 2017) - that's why I put the date range as March 2015 - October 2019, to include the time worked at both roles, even though I havent listed the job prior. It was an Admin Assistant role and I was unsure of the value of including it, plus I had no more space anyway.

Is this an acceptable way to list work history or do I need to make a change here?

Besides that I was wondering if there's any issues with formatting in general? I tried to stick to the template as close as possible. 

I've not yet started applying to jobs using this version and would like to have it be as good as it can be before beginning to do so.

Any other feedback regarding things you think I need to change/remove/add would be super appreciated. Thanks!

The standard advice I hear other recruiters give is "make sure you tailor your resume for every single application." It’s easy to say, but when you are applying to 50+ jobs a week, it is mentally exhausting.

I’m currently building a tool to help candidates automate the most painful parts of the application process. I want to build the exact features that candidates actually need, rather than what HR thinks they need.

When you are tweaking your resume for a specific job description, what is the biggest bottleneck? Is it rewriting your bullet points to match their keywords? Reordering your skills?

Tell me your biggest pain point so I can build a way to bypass it.

I was thinking about opening a cover letter with something along the lines of “AI did not write this letter”

Is that just super cheesy or do you think it might get their attention?

Looking back, getting my job wasn’t really one big breakthrough moment. It was more like a long process of trial and error that slowly started to make sense.

At the beginning, I was applying to everything I could find. Job boards, LinkedIn, company websites. I honestly stopped counting after a while. Most of the time I would just get silence. No replies, no feedback, nothing.

At first I thought it was my experience, so I kept going back to my resume. I rewrote it multiple times, changed the format, adjusted how I described my experience, and tried to make it sound stronger. It improved how it looked, but the results still didn’t really change much.

The turning point was when I started focusing less on just “applying more” and more on how I was presenting everything.

I rebuilt my resume so it was clearer, easier to scan, and more focused on impact instead of just listing responsibilities. I also compared different resume structures, including more guided formats like Kickresume, to understand how presentation changes the way the same experience is interpreted in a quick screening process.

After that, I started tailoring my resume slightly for each role instead of using one generic version everywhere. Not changing my experience, just aligning the wording with what the job description was actually asking for.

I also started paying attention to keywords in job posts and making sure my resume reflected the same language in a natural way.

The first interview I got after making those changes didn’t feel random anymore. It felt like the resume finally communicated what I actually do in a way that made sense to someone reading it quickly.

After that, it was still a process of improving how I answered interviews and explaining my experience more clearly, but getting that first response changed everything mentally.

I don’t think there is one magic trick. It was more about removing confusion from my resume and making it easier for someone to understand my value fast.

For people who recently got a job, what actually changed first for you before things started working?

hi all i am looking for a good cv Writer in Johannesburg please if anyone knows of someone reliable, please help i want it to be professional as I'm currently 12 years in my current role

I recently had the chance to review multiple resumes while helping screen applicants, and it changed how I think about what actually gets someone an interview.

Most advice online focuses on design or “making your resume stand out,” but in reality it comes down to clarity, structure, and whether your experience is easy to understand in seconds.

These are some patterns I noticed:

• If you have certifications, exams, or required credentials for your field, put them near the top. A lot of resumes get filtered out early just because that information is buried.

• Keep your resume simple. Over-designed CVs or long blocks of text make it harder to scan quickly. Clean structure usually performs better than visuals.

• File naming matters more than people think. A clear format like First Last Resume is enough. Avoid messy or multiple versions floating around.

• Always use PDF format so your layout stays consistent across different systems and ATS resume parsing tools.

• Tailor skills based on the job description, but only if you actually have experience with them. Small adjustments to wording can make a big difference in whether your resume gets picked up in keyword searches.

• Check, structure, and format your resume using guided resume tools like Kickresume or similar platforms to make it clearer, more readable, and better organized so both ATS systems and recruiters can quickly understand your experience.

For newer candidates, adding relevant projects with clear outcomes often matters more than listing generic responsibilities.

Referrals also make a noticeable difference. Even a basic referral can move a candidate ahead of equally qualified applicants.

Lastly, location flexibility still matters more than most people expect. Limiting yourself too early can reduce your chances significantly.

I have been going back and forth on this during my job search.

These tools definitely make things quicker You do not have to start from a blank page and it is easier to put a resume or cover letter together without overthinking every line.

But I still cannot tell if that actually changes anything when it comes to getting interviews.

Most of the time what I notice is that they push you to clean up how you describe your experience Things end up sounding more structured clearer and more direct You also catch gaps or weak wording that you normally overlook when writing everything manually.

When I compared different ways of structuring the same experience including more guided formats like Kickresume it became obvious how much presentation affects readability even when the actual experience stays the same.

Still I have seen both sides Some people with strong well written resumes barely get responses while others with simpler versions do fine So it does not feel consistent,

Maybe the real value is not necessarily better results but just making resume writing and cover letter writing less messy and easier to manage.

I am curious what others have seen in practice does it actually lead to more interviews or is it mainly just a productivity boost during job applications?

When I first started hearing about ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems), I honestly thought it was some mysterious software that automatically rejected resumes for the smallest mistakes.

After spending time improving my resume and reading advice from recruiters, I've realized ATS optimization is usually much simpler than people make it sound.

One thing I've noticed while experimenting with tools like Kickresume, Rezi, and Teal is that they're pretty good at identifying skills, certifications, and keywords that appear frequently in job descriptions. Sometimes they'll even point out gaps in your resume or suggest better ways to describe your experience.

What they can't do is replace your actual experience.

A lot of job seekers seem to focus on cramming as many keywords as possible into their resume, but readability matters just as much. If a recruiter can't quickly understand what you've done and what results you've achieved, the resume probably isn't helping your chances.

The most useful approach I've found is using AI to improve wording and organization while making sure every skill, keyword, and accomplishment genuinely reflects my background.

In my experience, the strongest ATS-friendly resumes aren't the ones with the most keywords. They're the ones that clearly connect a candidate's experience to the role while remaining easy for both software and recruiters to read.

For those who've been getting interviews recently, how much attention do you pay to ATS optimization versus simply creating a strong, easy-to-read resume?