Highlighting Industry Experience On An Engineering Resume

A client came to me with over 8 years of experience because they struggled to get interviews. They had 3 years in Data Science and 5 in Data Analytics & Engineering. Worked at a Fortune 500 company for the last 3 years. Their goal was to land a Senior Product Data Science role at a top-tier company. But despite the experience, only junior roles or interviews at small startups came through. Even after paying for a resume review from a coach (who didn’t understand the data field), the results weren’t there. So we got to work. Here’s what we fixed (that most mentors miss): 1. A one-page resume that undersold everything It was just one page and was missing two relevant roles. There wasn’t enough space to: • Highlight DA/DE skills that pair with DS expertise • Feature LLM/MLOps projects • Show ownership and growth from a Fortune 500 background So I proposed an A/B test. We built a two-page version, modeled after a past client who landed a $150K+ MLE role with less experience, and it worked. Resume rule of thumb: Under 5 YOE → 1 page Over 5 YOE → 2 pages But always test based on your context 2. Experience bullets that sounded junior Even with great experience, the bullet points lacked impact. We rewrote everything to show: • What they did, how they did it, and the measurable impact • A clear summary: title, YOE, accomplishments, and niche value proposition • Consistent formatting (4–6 bullets per role) • Unique action verbs, no repetition 𝗪𝗵𝘆? If your resume sounds junior, you’ll get junior responses. 3. No visibility on high-impact projects Projects were buried or had generic names with no links. We: • Gave them catchy titles • Linked directly on the resume, GitHub, and LinkedIn • Highlighted tools, outcomes, and real-world impact Visibility = credibility. With our job search dashboard, we tracked the A/B test results: New resume → interviews with Amazon, Meta, Google, and Apple Old resume → still stuck at startup-level roles Here’s everything we actually did: Updated resume in under 2 hours • A/B tested it before applying to top companies • Built connections and added value to get referrals • Reached out to hiring managers and recruiters • Practiced interview prep daily without cramming    𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀: 1. Final round – Amazon 2. 2nd round (waiting) – Apple 3. 1st round (waiting) – Meta 4. 2nd round (waiting) – Google They went from overlooked to competing at the highest level, without adding more experience. Your resume isn’t just a job list. It’s your first impression. Your bridge to the next level. You can’t get results like this with generic advice. Every job search is unique. That’s why I tailor solutions to your exact situation. Drop your biggest resume questions in the comments, and I will respond to each of them.

The most unpopular but true career lesson you'll receive today: (From a top tech Solutions Architect who spent 20+ years learning it the hard way) Your fancy projects are killing your career growth. I proudly shared with my manager that I've developed a new project leveraging the latest AWS Gen AI capabilities, combined with Serverless and Kubernetes. He paused, then simply asked: "What was the impact?" That's when it hit me - using cutting-edge tools feels exciting, but true success comes from measurable impact: accelerating time-to-market, reducing churn, boosting productivity, or increasing revenue. And those impactful projects are way more effective in your resume for career or job switch. I had focused on the technology itself rather than how it addressed business objectives. Innovation is powerful, but it's meaningless if it doesn't serve your customers or align with strategic goals. Here are some actionable tips: - Before starting a new project, clearly define its impact—ask yourself: "How will this improve the business? What's the measurable outcome?" - Shift your project narrative from tech-focused to outcome-focused. Instead of: "Implemented Gen AI with Kubernetes," Say: "Reduced customer onboarding time by 40% with Gen AI." - Regularly communicate your project's impact to leadership. Managers prioritize outcomes, not tools. - Review your past projects and have a short pitch: Identify which ones created measurable impact and highlight these prominently on your resume. Have a short pitch ready, highlighting the impact that you can communicate to recruiters and hiring managers Question to readers: What's one career lesson you have discovered late in your career? --- Get byte sized system design, behavioral, and other interview and career switch tips in weekly newsletter : https://lnkd.in/eG7XdHmN

As a hiring manager at Amazon, I saw 100s of one-page resumes, and skipped most of them for one common reason. (Here's why these resumes often get rejected.) Most people believe that the shorter the resume, the better it is. But that does not work at the senior level. If you're aiming for a $200K+ role, the company wants to see evidence of impact, scope, strategy, leadership, and results. And a one-page resume cannot show all of that. A highly tailored resume often leaves out: - Cross-functional complexity - Business outcomes and metrics - The scale of ownership (budget, team size, reach) - Strategic initiatives and decision-making So instead of looking concise, you end up looking underwhelming. Here's how ambitious women inside The Fearless Hire get their resumes right, and land $200K-$500k interviews: 1. Don’t list what you were assigned. Show what you changed. Bad: “Managed cross-functional team on internal tools project.” Better: “Led 15-member team across Engineering, Ops, and PM to deploy internal tooling platform, reducing manual reporting by 70% and saving $2.5M annually.” It highlights scope, collaboration, technical delivery, and clear business value. 2. Scope tells the real story, use it. Bad: “Oversaw product roadmap and feature delivery.” Better: “Owned multi-region product roadmap for $80M B2B platform with 12 enterprise clients and 6 cross-functional pods.” Senior hiring managers want to know the size of your impact, budget, team, markets, and complexity. 3. Replace vague filler with high-signal language. Bad: “Results-oriented and detail-focused professional with strong communication skills.” Cut this line entirely and give them a metric-driven win instead. Better: “Scaled platform reliability to 99.98% uptime by leading incident response redesign across 3 global teams.” Two pages is standard for senior roles, if used well. - A one-page resume says: “I’ve done some things.” - A well-structured two-pager says: “I’ve led big things, and here’s how.” But it must earn the space: - Lead with a positioning summary (not a generic intro) - Curate bullets by business impact, not job duties - Use white space and formatting to make it skimmable At the $200K+ level, you’re not applying as a doer. You’re applying as someone with an impact. That’s how your resume needs to read to impress the decision makers. Share this with someone preparing for a high-paying role. P.S. DM me "Career" to apply for The Fearless Hire if you are a mid-career woman aiming at $200k-$500k roles. Let's fix your resume and build a positioning strategy that actually gets you hired.