7 Quick Tips from Google's Resume Workshop

During the summer I was able to partake in a program called CSSI, (Computer Science Summer Institution) hosted by Google. It was a four-week boot camp/internship where aspiring Computer Science students worked with Google engineers/employees to learn and make HTML, CSS, and Javascript programs. CSSI is usually hosted in Google headquarters, but due to the pandemic, it was hosted online for most people. Although there were some programs with Universities where it was done in person. The program was every day, for about 3-5 hours, depending on how much work you wanted to put into the program. There were advantageous opportunities such as resume workshops, and my favorite opportunity, a Google Techincal Mock Interview.

Although the feedback given to me may be catered to me since I am still a student studying Computer Science, some of the feedback I was given may be helpful to you. Some of this feedback you may already know, whereas some of it may be new to you, regardless I hope you take something useful from the feedback I was given.

What I learned from Google’s Resume Workshop

1. The most important things should be on the top of the page
   • Don’t just list out skills or jobs as they come to your head, carefully craft your resume so that the most important things are the things that pop on your resume.
2. If you are a student applying to Google put relevant coursework in your resume.
   • I doubt Google will really care that you took let's say a History class if you are applying for a technical position. Although, if you were applying for more of an HR position, maybe relevant coursework may be Psychology.
3. I was told that some include their LinkedIn profiles, this is just a personal choice and not a deciding factor in the resume review process
   • Although, I do prefer to use LinkedIn since they have their own resume builder, rather than using some shoddy “free” resume builder online.
4. Try avoiding putting too much information on your resume
   • A cluttered resume is no good either, put what is needed, too much information on your resume makes its convoluted and much harder to read.
5. Follow the STAR Method, Situation, Task, Action, and Result
   • Provide a Situation, which most likely entails a problem, a Task that is something you assigned to yourself or were assigned, an Action so something you DID, and a Result which is the outcome of how you solved the problem.
6. Follow the DRY Principle
   • Don’t Repeat Yourself, if you said you worked on a certain project, don’t bring up that project again.
7. Make careful use of the tenses you use in your resume
   • For things you have already done keep it in the past tense.
   • For things you are doing keep it in the present tense ### Bonus! KISS Method
   • Keep it Simple Stupid! You don’t need crazy graphics or fancy-looking font. (If you use Comic Sans so help me God.)
   • Logos of the companies or the places you worked at are cool, but they are not really needed, keep it consistent.

Hope this helped you! ✌️ ✌️ ✌️ ✌️