Drowning in decades of experience and not sure what belongs on your resume?
An executive recently came to me with a career full of impact—but no résumé in 25 years. The challenge wasn’t a lack of results, it was knowing what to include and what to cut.
When they came to me, they shared everything—decades of career history, detailed project outcomes, metrics, awards, presentations, initiatives…the list went on (and on). For me, this was exciting—an overload of information gives me the chance to uncover the strongest threads of a client’s career story. I truly love finding those golden nuggets!
But here’s the catch: a resume is not a career biography.
So, how do you decide what makes the cut when you have 15+ years of rich experience to draw from?
Where I Started (and Where I Didn’t)
Many people assume I’d begin at the beginning of their career and work forward, or start with their most recent role and work backward. But I did neither.
Instead, I started with their job target.
I studied the job description and identified the skills, experiences, and results that mattered most to that specific role. Only then did I look back through their career history to pull out the the projects, successes etc. that aligned with the role as well as the soft skills that mirrored the company's culture.
Why This Matters
A resume is not written for you—it’s written for the reader (aka hiring manager/HR/recruiter). And the only perspective that matters is theirs.
What do they need to see to determine you’re a strong fit? Anything else is noise, and noise distracts from your impact.
This is where many professionals go wrong: they include everything they’ve ever done, thinking it shows range and credibility. But what it really shows is a lack of focus.
The Blueprint Approach
Think of the job description as your blueprint. It tells you exactly: ✔ What experiences to highlight ✔ Which achievements to prioritize ✔ How to align your narrative with what the hiring manager values
The rest? It’s excess. And in a competitive job market grabbing the hiring managers or recruiters attention is critical, excess is costly.
Key Takeaway
Your resume is not your life story—it’s your marketing tool. Start with the job target, use the job description as your blueprint, and craft a document that proves you are the solution to the employer’s problem.
Because at the end of the day, what matters is not everything you’ve done. What matters is what the reader needs to see.
👉 If you haven’t looked at your resume in years (or decades), the best first step is not to dust off your old one—it’s to study your target job description. That’s where the real story begins.
