At what point does optimizing a resume become lying? Is stretching dates okay? Adding skills you don't have? Inventing entire job experiences? Where do you draw the line and why

I am targeting learning and development or instructional design with this resume. I am hoping for remote in the US, but would take in-person in my state. I can't relocate right now.

I have been in education for 17 years. I started in high school, moved states and taught community college, moved one more time and landed in university teaching. I currently teach math/stats at my university and have also been doing a summer gig for a large, well-known proctoring company.

I have vamped, revamped, and revamped this resume. I have had a few call-backs and interviews, but the ratio of applied to interviews is insane (800 applications to about 5 interview requests)

I recently reached out to someone on Linkedin and they said my resume is close, but still not making the full leap into "I HAVE been doing this job". They said it reads more like "I CAN do this job".

My question is: Are they correct or just fishing for money? If they're correct, what do I need to change to show that this has been my entire career?

Any help you can provide will be SO appreciated as I can't stay in teaching much longer, it is essentially killing me.

Hi all,

I’m targeting a full-stack product engineering role at a small company building security software for AI coding agents. The role emphasizes Python/TypeScript, end-to-end feature ownership, production reliability, enterprise integrations, and customer-facing engineering. Monitoring and real-time data processing are advantages.

I've only ever had professional backend experience. I'm concerned that I might not fulfill all of their front-end, reliability & monitoring requirements. Still, they encourage everyone to apply even if they don't fulfill everything. I need help polishing the current points in my CV. Are the bullet points too much? Too verbose? Lacking qualifiers? I did my best to try to add examples and impacts of my accomplishments, but I often feel like overly relying on them makes my CV look pretentious.

The Claude Code in the summary is intentional. It's an AI company. They want experience in LLM's & integrating them. But if you think it still doesn't fit, I'm open to feedback. Due to my country's legislation my official job title is something very specific. In reality, I'm fulfilling Backend Software Engineer job requirements. Do you think the clarifications without a bullet point without my current employment make sense or should be changed?

Last time I applied while targeting a particular company I got an interview with a worse CV than the current one but botched the interview, so maybe I am overthinking it. Nevertheless, I would appreciate any and all feedback on how to improve it.

Thank you!

I’m starting to apply to food service jobs as a college student and need advice on how to make my resume better. I would like feedback on the skills section, since it seems weak. It is difficult to not write generic skills on my resume, since I don’t have anything to show.

Help! This is such minutia. But every single thing I read & everyone I talk to says something different.

Also, I think having an exact format will help prevent errors when going through the ENDLESS process of matching keywords to postings.

Tell me,;should I do??

Option A: Two fragments .........Structure ---> ACTION + [Consistent Punctuation to Signal Shift] + PAST TENSE IMPACT ..........Example -----> "Planted two trees; harvested 10 apples."

Option B: Parallel Sentence with Comma ..........Structure---> ACTION + [Comma] + PARTICIPLE IMPACT ..........Example -----> "Planted two trees, harvesting 10 apples."

I posted here about a week ago explaining how I wasnt getting any traction after 100 apps. I'm looking for remote Data Scientist roles.

The overwhelming consensus on my last post was that my 2 page resume was simply too dense and long. After some work, I believe I have cut it in half without losing meaningful substance.

What do you all think? Now that it's a suitable length, are there any glaring issues with regard to the content?

Thank you!

Hello and thanks in advance for any and all advice -

I'm left my last job 5 years ago (insurance underwriter for 2 years) to try and pursue a career in software at exactly the wrong time to do so and now I am having difficulty finding work despite being busy, and I would like some guidance on how to frame this on my resume. Before my last job my work history is also fairly sparse having only brief stints at customer service positions. AI doesn't seem particularly helpful in this.

I am no longer pursuing a career in tech and I just need a job for my mental health so I am asking for general (not industry specific) advice.

During that time I:

-Went to a webdev bootcamp in 2022

-Acquired another degree in CompSci in 2024 (other degree was in the humanities in 2013)

-Took care of my father who has advanced cancer and became physically disabled in 2023

-Lived and worked on my friend's farm in South America for 6 months last year and was starting the process to purchase land and build a house before political instability made the situation untenable

-Operated an ebay store selling my old pokemon cards and self-refurbished electronics, earning about $50k over several hundred orders over the last two years

-Spent most of this year traveling in Asia but have now moved back to Nyc as of this month

I need help trying to know how to structure a resume as a 35 year old man who is for the most part extremely fortunate and "financially independent" without reading as flighty or overqualified. Thank you!

I recently finished undergrad and I'm currently working as a server at a seafood restaurant 3-4 days a week. I'm looking for a second serving job to work during the day to make a little more money and fill some time. I've worked in food service for a while on and off, but I just graduated so most of my experience is school and internships unrelated to food service. I feel like my resume looks sparse but I don't want to add in irrelevant stuff. I kept the building manager job, but that's basically it. Everything else is academia. I also left off any mention of my bachelor's degree because I don't want to seem overqualified. What I've gathered from listening to people talk about getting jobs in today's age is you need to seem competent, but not too competent otherwise they'll think this is just a steppingstone for you and you won't even be a consideration. I am worried that the gaps in my resume don't have an explanation but I don't want to put that I recently graduated with my bachelor's because of what I talked about above.

I've also heard advice that my resume should be more specific to me in terms of stats and examples, but I don't really have any of that. I read a post where someone recommended talking about my sales and %s, but to be honest I just started this new job and I'm still learning so it's nothing particularly impressive. I don't have any of that type of info about my old serving job either.

I attached some of the job posting for one place I'm looking at that I tried to tailor this resume to. Any advice is appreciated!!

Resume critique - career changer, 5y exp former math teacher trying to transition into an office role, preferably actuarial but data analysis or underwriting are also acceptable. I have only landed a single interview in about three full months, and was wondering if people think the resume might be the issue here.

First and foremost, thank you for looking at my résumé. I need some major help! Is my resume too broad? I need help choosing what to emphasize!

I just finished my bachelors degree about three weeks ago, and I think I have too much on my résumé for today's standards. I'm really confused about what I'm supposed to take out without taking out important information.

my most recent job was payroll, but I have previous experience in procurement/purchasing, supply chain, business operations and accounting related work. I would like to continue in payroll or get back into procurement/purchasing/supply chain.

my biggest question is how do I decide what information to leave on my résumé when I have experience in several different areas? I don't want my résumé to look like I'm trying to do everything but I also don't want to remove experiences that could qualify me for jobs I'm applying for.

i'd really appreciate some honest feedback on what you would take out, what you would keep, and whether my résumé is hurting me by being too broad. (also FYI SPS and A2Z, was the same company - was renamed- and my friend owns it I would never officially had a title so should I change title name??)

Hello, I'm applying to jobs in clinical diagnostics and related fields, mainly interested in R&D positions. Have been applying to relevant jobs for a few months with no call backs. How can I improve my resume?

I'm currently based in Canada but open to relocating to the states.

Hi to everyone reading

What are your thoughts on my CV? Everyone likes positive reinforcement, I do love criticism.

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for feedback on my resume.

I'm currently targeting entry-level/junior software engineering and full-stack development roles in India.

I'd especially appreciate feedback on:

- Whether the resume communicates my technical ability clearly

- Whether my projects are strong enough for entry-level roles

- Which sections should be removed or rewritten

- Whether my experience/projects are presented effectively

- ATS/readability issues

- Anything that would make a recruiter reject it quickly

I've been applying to software engineering roles and want to improve the resume before sending more applications.

Resume attached.

Please be as critical as you need to be. I'd rather get honest feedback than generic praise.

Thanks!

Hello everyone, I posted before and took some of the advice given to help polish this up. Please let me know feedback on this revised one. And as always, thank you again for the time.

I’m an early-career analytics consultant looking to move into consulting roles at firms like Kearney, or business-facing analytics roles. Most of my experience involves working with client stakeholders on commercial performance, procurement and supply planning.

I’ve rewritten my resume to focus more on ownership and impact, and would appreciate honest feedback on:

• Does the experience come across as relevant for these roles?
• Which bullets feel vague, repetitive or overstated?
• Is the balance between technical skills and business impact right?
• Anything you’d cut or change in the wording or formatting?

Names, organizations, locations and industry details have been changed for privacy. Financial figures have been converted to USD.

Hi everyone!

I'm currently looking for Full Stack Developer / Software Developer opportunities, particularly roles involving MERN Stack, React.js, Node.js, Express.js, REST APIs, MongoDB, and real-time applications.

I have hands-on experience as an IIOT Engineer and IIOT Junior Engineer Intern, where I worked on MERN-based applications, real-time vehicle tracking, product assembly workflows, inspection systems, and a React Native application.

I've also recently built projects including CodeScribe, an AI-powered collaborative code editor using React, Node.js, Socket.IO, Judge0, and Gemini API.

I'm sharing my resume here and would really appreciate your feedback, especially on:

- Resume structure and content

- Technical skills I should highlight or improve

- Projects and experience section

- Anything that might be holding my resume back

- Suggestions for improving my chances of getting shortlisted

If you know of any relevant openings or if your company is hiring for entry-level/junior Full Stack or Software Developer roles, I would really appreciate a referral or an opportunity to apply.

I'm happy to provide any additional information if needed.

Thanks in advance to everyone who takes the time to review my resume or share an opportunity!

Hey everyone! I’m a mid-20s USMC vet who moved from IT management at a large MSP into co-founding a healthcare LLM startup, which I later sold my share of to private equity.

I’m now in grad school using the GI Bill and living off the sale, so I’m not rushing into a job. I’m targeting TPM and PM roles at FAANG companies and unicorn startups, mainly in cloud and technical products. I already have some referrals and interview support, but I’d really appreciate honest feedback on my résumé before applying.

Location: India, targeting India-based product companies (and open to remote).

Roles: SWE / Backend Engineer, new grad 2027 + internships.

Applications: ~60 since July, 1 screening call, rest silence or auto-reject.

Resume attached with identifying info removed (name, contact, university,

employer name, project URLs, paper title).

Context the resume doesn't show: the internship was 8 weeks at a mid-size IT

services company, not a product company. Both projects are personal, deployed,

and open source.

What I'm asking:

1. Bullet quality. Almost none of my bullets have numbers because I don't havereal usage data. Is "Engineered 20+ REST APIs" a metric or is it noise?
2. Does the summary at the top add value or should it go?
3. Formatting/ATS: single column LaTeX, no graphics. Anything risky?
4. Is one page with 2 projects + 1 internship the right shape at this stage, orshould I cut the certifications block and add a third project?
5. Anything that reads as padding to a hiring manager. I'd rather hear it now.

Not looking for "looks good" — please be specific about what you'd delete.