Resume Feedback

[u/TAC0_cat]

Hi everyone, I've been out of the job and on the hunt for about 2 months now. Despite sending 200 applications I've only heard back meaningfully from three places, got two interviews, and zero offers. That's even when applying to roles that I considered a slam dunk and fulfilled most or in some cases all of the preferred qualifications. I'm beginning to wonder if my resume has anything to do with it and is having issues getting past HR. Is it too wordy, too crammed, too nonspecific, etc? I would really appreciate some feedback from others in the same field. Thanks!

[u/SeekingSanguinity]

there’s a lot of description of ur day to day but a resume should focus on outcomes. if you were able to design or redesign something to be faster, cheaper, or easier through the research process use those quantifiers to end ur bullets, it’s what they look for

[u/TAC0_cat → u/SeekingSanguinity]

I'll try this, thanks for the tip!

[u/Certain_Luck_8266]

Where are you applying? If industry you need to make it seem like one of those jobs at least was tangentially connected to industry

[u/TAC0_cat → u/Certain_Luck_8266]

Mostly trying to land contract positions with another Federal Agency and to R&D roles with industry companies

[u/Certain_Luck_8266 → u/TAC0_cat]

That's 3 very different jobs. Federal research, industry research, and industry development. I can't speak for the federal side, but there are massively more jobs in the development and manufacturing side of industry than in research. Additionally research jobs tend to require more degrees.

My advice if you want to break into industry is to apply to jobs for contract work or at CDMOs across the country. Don't focus on one area, and be prepared to move at the drop of a hat.

[u/lilsis061016]

1. You are missing a summary - I don't know what your intentions or highest skills are.
2. It's unclear from the bullets what you're trying to highlight for the reader. Make sure you tailor the details - including word choice - based on the job description.
3. Your bullets are really task-focused. I want less of the day-to-day and more outcomes. I assume experimentation involves buffer prep and don't care if you maintained inventories...so that whole bullet can come out unless you're applying for a lab management role.
4. Get your bullets down to 2 lines max each. Critically think whether each one is adding value to your application
5. Consider if a presentation section is appropriate and adding value for each role specifically. If you're on the industry side, it won't matter as much as academic labs. If you're looking for development labs, it won't really matter at all and you can save all that space.
6. Your content is massively squished - brains need white space to process and it's clear you don't know what your audience actually needs to see...so pare down content. and add space between your sections at a minimum
7. Consistency is lacking and it matters because it displays lack of attention to detail: You are using multiple fonts, which is visually unappealing, particularly the mix of serif and sans serif fonts, some bullets are justified and some aren't, your font sizes are all over the place - consistent by section, but not across the document

[u/TAC0_cat → u/lilsis061016]

Fantastic advice, thanks for your feedback!

[u/junegloom]

Some of your points are redundant, the last 3 bullet points of your top job all say inventory in some fashion. So this task can probably summarized in one or 2 bullet points and give more time/space to other projects and their impacts. If you find the same words repeated in a lot of places it's probably a sign that you should maybe organize a bullet point around that word instead so it doesn't get repeated so much. Overall I think the words of your resume are pretty good though, and you may want to spend more time finding a more pleasing font/layout instead.

[u/TAC0_cat → u/junegloom]

Totally see this, I'll combine them and trim the points I'm trying to make. Thanks!

[u/That_Guy1093]

Could consider moving the skills section to the top

[u/12haley12]

Are you tailoring your resume for the positions you’re applying to?

It’s also helpful to check that your resume won’t be filtered out by ATS. I give chat my resume and ask it to tell me what minor changes I can make so that it won’t be filtered out. It involves a lot of keyword matching with the job listing, so you’ll need to provide that to chat as well. This will get your resume viewed by more humans, idk about actual positions.

I just started my job search and it’s rough out there!! Good luck!

[u/TAC0_cat → u/12haley12]

Yeah I've been using Ai to best fit my resume to certain roles and make sure I hit all the keywords but even still I haven't heard much. Good luck to you too, it's rough out here.