If we’re going to get technical about it, the first resume I ever wrote was my own. I used a Microsoft Word resume template (don’t ever do this) and thought it could use some refining. I took it to the Career Center at USC and they completely redid it. I thought it looked AWESOME and was so pumped. I applied for dozens of jobs. And I got no response.

I eventually landed my first job in the talent acquisition space, but it wasn’t as a result of my “awesome” resume. In fact, my resume almost cost me the job. It was my sister-in-law’s connections to someone that worked for the company that opened the door. She had found out that they were opening a local office and sent my resume to her friend. Shortly after that, I got a call from a recruiter.

I aced the phone interview and was asked to come in for a face-to-face interview. The first thing the interviewer said to me after I sat down was, “I hate your <censored> resume.” I was stunned and visibly embarrassed. He followed up with “I can’t believe you would apply for a job at a staffing agency with this. You can’t send this to a client.” Fortunately, I rebounded in the interview, got the job, and learned very quickly how to write a resume that really is awesome.

So, what was so wrong with my first resume?

First, the layout was terrible. Second, the content was all wrong. It had so much text, horrible spacing, my high school graduation, an objective, and my education was the first thing listed. Not only that, it didn’t speak to what I could and had accomplished, it spoke to what I did on a daily basis.

I want to help you not make the same mistakes I made. Let’s create your very own awesome resume, create a strategy for you to post up in your career, and get you some interviews!