123: This One Resume Hack Will 10x Your Data Job Hunt

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_01]: What I'm about to tell you has the ability to 10x the speed of your data job hunt.

[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's not very difficult, and it should only take like an hour.

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_01]: What is it?

[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Lying on your resume.

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Data Career Podcast, the podcast that helps aspiring data professionals

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: land their next data job.

[00:00:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Here's your host, Avery Smith.

[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_01]: But hold on, before you stop listening and you exit out of this episode, let me explain

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_01]: myself.

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_01]: In today's job market, every data job you find is oversaturated, especially the entry

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_01]: level roles.

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_01]: There's going to be so many candidates.

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_01]: There's like literally dozens, hundreds, thousands of applicants for every job that

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_01]: you're going to be applying for.

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_01]: So companies have to use something to keep track of all these applicants, and they

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_01]: use what's called the ATS or the applicant tracking system.

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And that helps them organize and qualify applicants like me and you.

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Now the ATS, the applicant tracking system, is very dependent on your resume.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, that's 90% of it.

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_01]: It's all it really sees.

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And guess what?

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_01]: You might be surprised, but the ATS is kind of dumb.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_01]: It's not like using any sort of like crazy AI.

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_01]: It's not using machine learning.

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of the times it's very stupid logic.

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Like how good are you at SQL?

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to count how many times you use the word SQL on your resume.

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm telling you, it is so dumb.

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_01]: But that's good for you.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And you can actually hack your way to the top of the ATS using these three resume tricks.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Now, hack number one was demonstrated just masterfully to me recently when my wife and

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_01]: I were planning our trip to Iceland.

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Specifically, we wanted to go to like central Iceland high up in the mountains

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_01]: to this place where they call the Highlands.

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_01]: In order to get there, you have to have a pretty beefed up car.

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_01]: And the one we were renting was not going to be adequate to get there.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_01]: So we ended up finding a resort that we could actually book a private car to,

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_01]: like private transfer.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_01]: That was going to be about a two hour drive from there to do the hike that we wanted

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_01]: to do in the Highlands.

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_01]: It was going to be an additional 20 minute drive.

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Now we were trying to figure out we had limited time here.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_01]: We're only at about, let's see, six hours that we were going to be able to be in

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_01]: this area and we really wanted to do this cool hike in the Highlands.

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was trying to figure all this out.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_01]: I actually decided to go ahead and take the punch and make the long distance

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_01]: international call to this resort to try to figure out how we could get from

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_01]: the resort to the hike start.

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And I realized on the website that they had e-mountain bike tours and I love

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_01]: to mountain bike.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I thought, wow, let's do this e-mountain bike.

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_01]: So I call and I ask my question and the receptionist says, oh, let me

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_01]: give you to my colleague here.

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_01]: He'll be able to answer the questions a lot better.

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_01]: And that is when I met Dejan.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_01]: So Dejan and I are talking on the phone and I explained the situation to Dejan

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_01]: and he says, yes, absolutely.

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_01]: We can totally do that for you.

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_01]: We'll arrange it.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm actually the mountain bike manager.

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I'll be, you know, don't worry about it.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_01]: I've got you taken care of.

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And I said, OK, great.

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm happy to book it.

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm happy to pay and get this going.

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_01]: And he said, no, don't worry about it.

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Just when you get here, we'll pay and we'll go from there.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_01]: And we said, OK, so we're just going to ask for Dejan, the mountain

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_01]: bike manager.

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_01]: And he said, yes, that's exactly what you do.

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_01]: So fast forward, we've been in Iceland a couple of days and we get onto our

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_01]: private car transfer, which actually has two other people on it,

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_01]: surprisingly.

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_01]: And those two other people are actually employees at the resort.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_01]: And so we meet them and have our greetings.

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_01]: We explain to them what our plan is and we ask if they know about, if

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_01]: they know Dejan and they said Dejan, well, it's not a very big resort

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_01]: that you're going to.

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And the only person that works there with the name Dejan is a restaurant

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_01]: server, but sometimes he likes to take clients out on mountain biking.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_01]: But he's not the mountain bike manager.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_01]: That is someone else.

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And he has really no authority to approve what your guys' tour was.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm laughing my head off because Dejan did exactly what number

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_01]: one resume hack is.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And that is to change your job title on the job title section.

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Give yourself your own job title.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Specifically, there's a section in your resume that is called the job

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_01]: title section.

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_01]: This is not in your experience section.

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_01]: This is separate.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_01]: This is usually towards the header of your resume with all your

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_01]: contact info or it might even be part of your written summary at the top.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_01]: In those summaries up there, you want to include the job title you

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_01]: are trying to get.

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_01]: So for example, if you are a high school, let's say science teacher,

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_01]: you wouldn't say science teacher in this section.

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_01]: If you're trying to become a data analyst, you would say data analyst.

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_01]: The problem with entry level jobs is they all require experience, right?

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_01]: That's what we're seeing in today's market.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Even the entry level jobs are like two to five years of experience.

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_01]: The ATS though is pretty dumb.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_01]: It really just is trying to check how many times you have the word data

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_01]: analyst listed on your resume.

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And so the job title section is a great opportunity for you to trick or

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_01]: lie to the ATS and pretend like you have more experience than you do.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_01]: So I like to put data analyst in the job title section.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I like to also include it inside of the written summary section right there.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_01]: And that way I'm increasing my opportunity for the ATS to actually accept me and

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_01]: have my resume be reviewed by a human.

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Now, resume hack number two is actually pretty similar and that is to give

[00:05:25] [SPEAKER_01]: yourself your own job title, but that'll be specifically in your experience section.

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_01]: When I was applying for jobs, I would often change what

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_01]: my title was on my resume.

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Titles don't really mean anything to the world.

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_01]: They are very subjective and what one role is at one company might be

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_01]: something very different at another company.

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_01]: And so if you can actually back up the bullets and you can feel like I can,

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, my job's not a data analyst, but I do a lot of data analyst work.

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_01]: You could put data analyst potentially on your resume.

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_01]: You can potentially lie and put that on your resume.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Now, if you are like a waiter saying that you're a data analyst,

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_01]: that is a little bit trickier.

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_01]: That's a little bit harder to support.

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_01]: And we'll talk about with resume hack number three, what you can do there.

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_01]: But for example, when I was trying to land a new data job, I already landed

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_01]: my first data job, my official title was actually junior chemo-matrician,

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_01]: which doesn't mean a whole lot to anyone.

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_01]: A chemo-matrician is basically a data analyst that specializes in chemistry,

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_01]: but it's not a term that's used very often.

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_01]: So that was my official term.

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_01]: So I just replaced that as junior data analyst or data

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And I've done a lot more hits when I already had data analyst on

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_01]: resume instead of just this chemo-matrician.

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Another really interesting or easy thing that you can do is just edit

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_01]: your current title by adding the word data or adding the word analyst.

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_01]: So this works a lot of the times with like business professionals.

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_01]: So I know one of the people I previously interviewed, Trevor Maxwell,

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_01]: who went through my data analytics accelerator bootcamp.

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_01]: He was a printer technician and we just added the word analyst at the end.

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_01]: So on his resume, it said printer technician analyst.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_01]: The term analyst basically means you use critical thinking.

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_01]: And so if you can slap that on your current title and you can justify

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_01]: that you do critical thinking at your job, I think that is worth doing

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_01]: because it makes you sound a little bit more analytically, right?

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_01]: A little bit more analytical and increases your opportunity to have

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_01]: the word analyst on your resume in multiple places, which will increase

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_01]: your ATS score.

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Same with data.

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_01]: If you can throw the word data as many times in your different titles

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_01]: as you can, it's a little bit harder to add data driven is often a term

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_01]: that I kind of like, but once again, I think that is a little bit more

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_01]: pushing it.

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_01]: I think analyst is probably the easier direction to go if you're

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_01]: going to edit your title.

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_01]: So resume hack one was to choose your title specifically in the job

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_01]: title section.

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Hack number two is to edit your current or previous titles in your

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_01]: experience section.

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_01]: And hack number three is to edit or create or lie about your previous

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_01]: experience bullet points.

[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm not actually advocating for any sort of line, but what I can say

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_01]: is this that the experience section is supposed to illustrate

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_01]: your capabilities.

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Now in that experience section, you have the different bullets for

[00:08:19] [SPEAKER_01]: different jobs you've had and you really just kind of outline what

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_01]: you've done at those jobs.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_01]: So for example, if I waited tables, I was a waiter, you know, you can

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_01]: basically have a bullet point of like waited tables and took credit

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_01]: cards and all the hard stuff that waiters do.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_01]: But you might have made a chart or you might have used Excel.

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_01]: That might not be what you do on a day to day basis.

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_01]: You might've only done it once in your two years of working there.

[00:08:46] [SPEAKER_01]: But I honestly believe that if you're trying to land the data job,

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_01]: those bullets that are more related to the data analytics world are more

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_01]: valuable than what you actually do on a day to day basis.

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Of course, you always want to tie in as many of your bullet points into

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_01]: data analytics as you can.

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_01]: So whether that's, you know, making charts, looking at Excel, presenting

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_01]: things, customer service, those are all things that you might do as a

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_01]: data analyst, but you really want to filter down and try to find the

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_01]: most data analyst-y bullets that you can.

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_01]: And then once you have those bullets, try to make them sound as

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_01]: data analyst-y as you possibly can.

[00:09:21] [SPEAKER_01]: So I would guess that most of you, no matter what your job is, you've

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_01]: probably used some sort of Excel worksheet at some point, even if it was

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_01]: just once, I would make that a bullet.

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_01]: The more that you can creatively dress up your bullets and make them sound

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_01]: more data analyst-y than they actually are, the better it will serve you.

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_01]: And I know some of you guys are freaking out and you're like,

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Avery, you're dishonest.

[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_01]: You're telling us to lie.

[00:09:44] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not telling you to lie.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm telling you to dress up.

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm telling you to make it sound a little bit sexier than it actually is.

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm never saying to completely make, if you've never touched Excel at your

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_01]: job, don't say you have.

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_01]: If you've never made a chart, don't say you've made a chart.

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_01]: But if you have done those things, even if it was once, you can have

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_01]: that be a full bullet for you.

[00:10:04] [SPEAKER_01]: Keep in mind that these hacks, all three of them are actually

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_01]: really just ways to beat the ATS.

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Which the majority of the time is probably the thing that's rejecting you.

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_01]: But as the part of any sort of job hiring process, you always have

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_01]: the ATS and then you always have the hiring manager and the

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_01]: recruiter and stuff like that.

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_01]: So you're still going to have your resume be seen by a human.

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know any company that just hires straight after the ATS.

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_01]: There's always going to be interviews.

[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_01]: There's always going to be humans looking at your resume.

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And so if you completely lie on your resume, you can pass the ATS,

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_01]: but you're going to have to figure out how to lie your way through

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_01]: the human interactions.

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_01]: And one, I don't think that's moral.

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And two, I think that's very difficult.

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_01]: So whatever you're going to be saying, just try to be able to justify it

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_01]: one way or another in that section.

[00:10:50] [SPEAKER_01]: In the next section of the interview process, which is going to be

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_01]: the human element where humans are going to be looking at your resume.

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_01]: They're going to be asking questions in an interview.

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Resume hack number one, you don't really have to justify that because

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_01]: you can say whatever you want in the jobs title section of your

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_01]: resume for two, your previous titles.

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_01]: As long as you can kind of illustrate what you did previously relates

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_01]: to that title, I don't think you'll have any issues.

[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_01]: You might have some issues potentially if you list your previous company

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_01]: as a reference and they call that company and they're like, yeah,

[00:11:19] [SPEAKER_01]: John worked as a data analyst.

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And they're like, no, John was a restaurant waiter.

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Kind of the same experience I have with Dejaun.

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_01]: You can get caught there.

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_01]: But if you just add analyst or you don't list your old

[00:11:30] [SPEAKER_01]: company as a reference, I don't think it's a big deal.

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_01]: And then three in your bullet points, what you did is what you did.

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_01]: So if you did those things, no matter how big, no matter how small,

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_01]: no matter how frequent or infrequent you did those things and your

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_01]: experience is your experience.

[00:11:44] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think you should feel confident putting anything

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_01]: you've done in that bullet section.

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_01]: There you have it.

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Three easy hacks that you can probably do in the next hour to make your

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_01]: resume 10 times more powerful than it is right now.

[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_01]: If you guys want to know how to test this and actually figure out

[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_01]: the next steps with your resume and your job search, I highly recommend

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_01]: you check out my episode I did with Ro Law, all of it in the show notes

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_01]: down below where it'll pop up on your screen right here.

[00:12:09] [SPEAKER_01]: We talk about how to A B test your resume.

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_01]: And so that way you can land jobs even faster than these three hacks.

[00:12:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Check it out.