Specific advice, written to be argued with.

Every page here answers one question and says where the common advice is wrong. If a guide cannot tell you something you would not have guessed, it does not get published.

• Formatting

  5 min read

  ATS-friendly resume format: what actually breaks the parse

  Most advice about beating applicant tracking systems is folklore. Here is what genuinely garbles a parse, what makes no difference, and how to check your own file in two minutes.

• Writing

  5 min read

  How to write resume bullet points that survive a seven-second scan

  A repeatable structure for turning job duties into evidence, with before-and-after examples and the three habits that make bullets forgettable.

• Formatting

  5 min read

  How long should a resume be? The one-page rule, and when it stops applying

  Where the one-page rule came from, the four situations where two pages is the correct answer, and how to cut a page without shrinking the type into unreadability.