Inside this issue:
Why 38 of the 40 hours you spent on your resume were wasted
The 1-to-5 rating recruiters would put on every bullet, and the score that gets a bullet cut
🔒 My new audit prompt that hands you a list of the exact numbers your resume is missing (paid subscribers only)
“Spending 40 hours on your resume is 38 hours too many.”
I wrote that line a while ago and I stand by it. A hiring manager spends 6 to 8 seconds on the top third of your resume. That is the entire window.
Most executives believe the resume is what gets them the job.
Wrong.
The resume is a supporting document. It gets read after a recruiter found you on LinkedIn, after the screening call, when the shortlist is forming. I lead the global life sciences practice at a top 10 retained firm, and in my searches the resume shows up exactly there: late, and in a supporting role.
That is why your resume is a fact sheet, not a sales brochure. Facts, numbers, scope. Read fast, verified later.
Today you get the prompt that rebuilds yours that way. Paste it into your AI model, attach your current resume, answer 3 questions. It audits your resume against the 7 checks a recruiter runs, scores every bullet 1 to 5, then rewrites what fails. It will never invent a number for you. Where a metric is missing, it hands you the exact question to answer instead.
The prompt runs my 7-step resume framework.
Name, city, phone, professional email, LinkedIn URL. No street address.
One sentence answering 3 questions: how many years of experience, in what function, at what type of organization (quantified by headcount and revenue). This replaces the buzzword summary.
The only part of the resume you adjust per application. The rest stays factual and fixed.
Each role gets a header with months on the dates, a 1-line company summary (headcount, product, revenue, geography), a scope bullet (team, reporting line, P&L), and 3 to 7 accomplishment bullets carrying a metric.
Roles from 10 to 15+ years ago collapse into one-liners. Company, title, dates. No bullets.
At the bottom. At the executive level, nobody hires you for your degree.
Reverse chronological. Clean layout, black text, no logos or images (they break ATS parsing). Save as PDF.
This is the evaluation engine. Your resume passes or fails each one.
1. The 3-question opener test. Does sentence 1 state years, function, and organization type with headcount and revenue?
2. The buzzword test. “Dynamic,” “results-driven,” “passionate,” “strategic thinker,” “team player.” Every one is an opinion about yourself with zero proof. All get cut.
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