04 · ATS resume system · Chapter 09 of 35
Build the resume skeleton
A strong resume is a concise argument that your background is relevant to this particular kind of work. It is not your autobiography and it is not a branding poster.
14 min read
Keep a master resume as your evidence warehouse—every job, every metric, every tool. Then tailor a version for each serious application. The tailored version is usually one page for under ~10 years of relevant work, two pages when the second page is packed with relevant proof, never three pages of duties.
Header
- Name as you want it said in an interview.
- Professional email (not partygirl2004@). Create a new one if needed.
- Phone you actually answer.
- City and state (or ‘Remote — U.S. Eastern’ if that is accurate). Full street address is usually unnecessary.
- LinkedIn and portfolio/GitHub only if they are current and consistent with the resume.
Summary — 2 to 4 lines, no unsupported adjectives
The summary is a positioning paragraph, not a poem. Formula: who you are + the role family + 2–3 proof points + the environment you work well in.
Summary rewrite
Weak
Passionate, results-driven professional seeking to leverage my skills in a fast-paced environment where I can grow and help the team succeed. People person. Detail-oriented. Team player.
Strong
Customer operations coordinator with 4 years keeping order flow, vendor appointments, and customer follow-ups on time for a regional supplier. Comfortable in Excel trackers, shared inboxes, and messy handoffs. Known for closing loops the same day and writing SOPs other people will actually follow.
Experience
Reverse chronological. Job title, employer, location, dates. If you were a ‘Team Member’ but did coordinator work, keep the official title and prove the work in bullets—do not invent ‘Operations Manager.’ Contract and dual jobs can be stacked with clear dates. Employment gaps belong as accurate dates, not as a cover-up.
Skills and credentials
A short, defensible list grouped by type beats a tag cloud. Tools, hard skills, languages, licenses. Soft skills belong in bullets (‘trained 6 new hires’) not as a list item called ‘leadership.’
Full sample — mid-career coordinator (fictional, for structure only)
ALEX MORGAN Portland, OR · 503-555-0199 · [email protected] · linkedin.com/in/alexmorganops SUMMARY Operations coordinator who runs the unglamorous systems that keep a warehouse and a customer desk from colliding. Four years in wholesale distribution: purchase-order tracking, carrier windows, returns, and a shared inbox that used to be a junk drawer. SKILLS Order & PO tracking · Excel (pivots, VLOOKUP) · Google Sheets · Inventory counts · Vendor scheduling · Returns / RMA · SOP documentation · Zendesk light admin · Bilingual English/Spanish (professional) EXPERIENCE Operations Coordinator | Cascade Wholesale | Portland, OR | Jan 2023 – Present - Track 80–100 open purchase orders a week in Excel and the ERP, flagging late vendors before the warehouse is idle. - Cut same-week stockouts on the top 40 SKUs by building a simple reorder view the buyer now checks every Monday. - Coordinate inbound carrier windows with the warehouse lead so dock time is scheduled instead of guessed. - Wrote a 4-page returns SOP; new hires now close RMAs without a manager sitting next to them. - Cover the customer desk during peaks; resolve delivery misses with a same-day call-back standard. Warehouse Associate (lead on weekend shift) | Cascade Wholesale | Jun 2021 – Dec 2022 - Picked, packed, and staged B2B orders; trained 5 new weekend hires on the scanner workflow. - Owned Friday cycle counts for two aisles; variance notes went to the buyer the same afternoon. EDUCATION Portland Community College — coursework in business and spreadsheet modeling NOT ON THIS RESUME A photo, a chart of my ‘communication 90%,’ or Salesforce, which I have not used.
Do this now
- Build or repair your master resume this week. It is the source of truth for AI later.
- Write one tailored one-pager for your primary role family.
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