As a professional career consulting company, we hear this all the time: “I’d like my resume to look like Marissa Mayer’s.” Wouldn’t we all?

So, let’s take a look at it. First of all, it’s Marissa Mayer. Her name stands on its own. She could write on a square of toilet tissue: I’m Marissa Mayer and I’m open to opportunities. Boom! She has a job. Her resume will NEVER need to go through an ATS system. In fact, it will never even go into a shortlist. She is headhunted constantly. She is in demand. She gets to do fun charts about spending time with her kids.

You aren’t Marissa Mayer. You aren’t a household name in Silicon Valley, or even in your own field. Recruiters aren’t waking up in the morning and saying, “Oooooh, I hope (Insert your name here) is available for this position.” 

If you haven’t had multiple articles written about you, been in demand to speak at college graduations, conventions, and think tanks, you don’t use a Marissa Mayer resume. Your resume has to tell your unknown story to the right people. It needs to cover all those achievements that magazines covered about Marissa.

Chances are, you will be competing against at least 100 other people for the position you want. As I peruse position listings for clients, I have seen as many as 2,000 applicants for a job. If you are applying online, then your resume needs to be full of quantifiable achievements, information that proves you can replicate those accomplishments at the next company. 

Most CEO resumes are 3 – 4 pages long and tell your whole story. They don’t talk about how much time they spend with their kids, or about their cupcake recipe. It doesn’t waste space with their picture, and certainly doesn’t have cute graphics. It’s a business document, meant to portray a professional snapshot of your career trajectory to this point. 

Now, while we don’t recommend that you rely on the Easy Apply button to get a job, your resume still has to be ATS compliant because they may want to run it through to make sure it ticks all the boxes. You’ll want it to be easy to read, and contain enough information that they want to talk to you. Most importantly, you will want to get it into their hands. 

Finally, your resume should be the talking points for the interview you get. Marissa will never have to sit through a panel interview again, but you can bet she once did. Having a great resume, with quantifiable specific results will ensure that you have the right answers.

So, congratulations, Marissa, for making it that far! You are an amazing ambassador for geeky women. To everyone else, let Analytic Career Consulting help you get the job you deserve.  

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