Sometimes good resume advice is actually bad advice.
Here’s a common bit advice you may have heard:
“Make your resume a little personal.”
Or:
“Show a bit of who you are as a person.”
On the surface this makes perfect sense. You want to stand out, right? And as someone who has hired for a lot of roles I can confirm that after reading dozens of resumes they definitely start blending together. Showing a bit of "you" helps you be memorable.
But sometimes not memorable in a good way.
Too often I’ve seen resume bullets like “avid taco fan” or “l own 6 cats.” (No really, I’ve seen both!)
In the quest to stand out, it’s common for folks to include information that actually works against them on their resume.
Your resume is your personal billboard on the side of a busy street. It’s prime real estate, meant to catch the short attention of a busy human. It’s limited real estate.
Every word needs to support your core job search goals: Establish that you are a qualified, credible professional.
This gives you three criteria to satisfy. Every point on your resume must satisfy at least one and preferable all of them:
Qualified
Credible
Professional
You can add a touch of ‘you’ to your resume, but it still needs to tick those boxes.
“Cat lady” does not tick those boxes for any of the roles I’ve hired for. “Taco fan” likewise.
But note the caveat there: “For any of the roles I’ve hired for.”
Context matters.
What's relevant?
Context defines what's relevant and what isn’t.
Let’s look at another bullet point:
“Avid hot yoga practitioner and instructor for over 9 years”
Yep, I've seen variations on this on a surprising number of resumes. So how does it stack up to our criteria?
If you’re applying to a product designer role:
❌ Reinforces credibility (as a product designer)
❌ Shows you as a professional (product designer)
❌ Demonstrates key skill / experience (as a product designer)
But if you’re applying to a retreat centre looking for instructors, this same bullet ticks different boxes:
✅ Reinforces credibility (as an instructor)
✅ Shows me as a professional (instructor)
✅ Demonstrates key skill / experience (as an instructor)
The exact same information has a place on one resume but not on another.
So what can you include on your resume to stand out and be memorable while still ticking all three boxes?
Here's a way to figure that out. What’s unique about your approach, your background, your history that come in handy at work? Journal this for 5 minutes and you’ll find your “secret sauce” — the unique side of you that’s 100% worth putting on your resume.
For example if I was applying for a UX role, I might include “I’ve worked as a UX researcher, designer, and writer and bring deep experience in all three to every challenge.” That breadth of experience is something relatively unique, so that’s worth highlighting on a UX-focused resume. It’s uniquely me (memorable) while setting me up as credible, professional, and qualified (our 3 criteria) for this particular role (context).
A 5-minute resume refresh
Your turn. Why not grab a coffee and give your resume a fresh look?
Is there anything that isn’t showing you as credible, professional, and qualified?
What’s your professional “secret sauce” — what’s unique about your background, approach, or experience?
How can you highlight that on your resume, to be more memorable?
If you try this, I’d love to hear what you changed. And in the meantime? You’ve got this.
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