Is Your Resume Working For You…Or Against You?

Let me ask you something. 

If a hiring manager had 60 seconds with your resume, which is honestly generous, would they know exactly what you bring to the table and where you’re headed? Or would they walk away with a vague sense of your job history and not much else? 

Most resumes I review fall into the second category. And it’s not because the person isn’t qualified. It’s because their resume is doing the wrong job. 

Here’s the reframe I give every client I work with, and I want you to hold onto it: 

Your resume is not a history report.

It is a marketing document for your future.

The moment you start thinking about your resume as a pitch, not a record everything changes. What you include, how you frame it, what you lead with. All of it shifts. 

So, let’s talk about how to tell the difference between a resume that’s working for you and one that’s quietly working against you.

The 3 Signs Your Resume Is Working Against You 

1. Every bullet point starts with a duty, not an achievement

“Managed a team of 5.” “Responsible for client communications.” “Assisted with project coordination.” 

Sound familiar? These phrases describe what your job required, not what you actually did with it. Duties tell the reader what the role was. Achievements tell the reader what you’re worth. 

The fix isn’t complicated, but it does require you to think differently. Instead of asking “what did I do in this role?”, ask “what happened because I was in this role?” 

Before: Managed social media accounts for the company. 

After: Grew company Instagram following by 40% in six months through a consistent content strategy, resulting in a 15% increase in inbound inquiries. 

See the difference? The second version tells a story with a result. That’s what gets attention. 

2. Your summary reads like a job description from 2019

The summary section at the top of your resume is prime real estate. It’s the first thing a recruiter reads, and it sets the entire tone for how they interpret everything below it. 

A summary that says “Results-driven professional with 8 years of experience in marketing and communications” tells a recruiter almost nothing. It’s generic, it’s passive, and it doesn’t tell them where you’re going. 

Your summary should answer three things in 2 to 3 sentences: who you are professionally, what you’re known for or what you do best, and what kind of opportunity you’re looking for next. It should sound like a confident, forward-looking introduction, not a copy-paste from your old LinkedIn. 

3. Your skills section is untailored and stale

A long list of skills that applies to every job you’ve ever had is another missed opportunity. Hiring managers and applicant tracking systems (ATS) both scan for keywords that match the specific role you’re applying to. 

This doesn’t mean you need to fabricate skills you don’t have. It means you need to be strategic about how you present the skills you do have and make sure the language matches what the job posting is asking for. 

The Simple 3-Question Audit 

You don’t need to rewrite your entire resume tonight. But I’d encourage you to ask yourself these 3 questions as you look at what you have: 

1. Does this bullet tell the reader what I did, or what it was worth? If most of your bullets start with a duty, pick one role and rewrite just the top 2 or 3 bullets as achievements. Start there. 
2. Does my summary tell someone where I’m going — not just where I’ve been? Read your summary out loud. Does it sound like a confident professional who knows what they want next? Or does it sound like a description you wrote in a hurry 3 years ago?
3. If a stranger reads this, would they know what role I’m targeting? This one is harder than it sounds. Have someone who doesn’t know your career history read your resume and tell you what job they think you’re applying for. Their answer is very revealing.  

One Rewrite to Try Right Now 

Pick the most recent role on your resume. Find one bullet point that starts with a duty word, “managed,” “responsible for,” “assisted with,” “supported.” Now rewrite it using this simple structure:

The Achievement Formula

Action verb + what you did + the result or impact

Example: Redesigned the onboarding process for new hires [action + what] → reducing ramp-up time by 30% and improving 90-day retention by 20% [result].

That’s it. One bullet. See how it feels. Then do the next one. 

Small changes compound. A resume that leads with impact reads completely differently than one that leads with duties, even if the underlying experience is identical. 

The Bottom Line 

Your resume isn’t just a document. It’s the first conversation you have with a hiring manager before you’ve ever met them. It either makes the case for you, or it doesn’t. 

The good news: if yours isn’t doing that job yet, it’s completely fixable. And you don’t need to start from scratch, you just need to shift the lens. 

From “what did I do” to “what was I worth.” 

That one shift changes everything.