Listen to the latest episode of Data Career Podcast: Helping You Land a Data Analyst Job FAST

[: 00:00:00

Avery Smith: Andre, as the co-founder of Novo Resume, you've seen literally thousands of resumes. What's the number one mistake data professionals are making with their resume?

Andrei Kurtuy: Oh yeah. So actually this drives me crazy because I see. so many other fields, but also in data science, in science and for data analysts. it was actually last week, uh, I reviewed the resume from a data analyst actually with five years of experience at Amazon. their first bullet point was actual responsible for

Avery Smith: for data.

Andrei Kurtuy: And I think that. That's like saying I

Avery Smith: Same.

Andrei Kurtuy: because of course you analyze data because you're a data analyst. here's the

Avery Smith: here's a mistake.

Andrei Kurtuy: people make,

Avery Smith: Make and especi

Andrei Kurtuy: case, like

Avery Smith: like data

Andrei Kurtuy: they treat their resume

Avery Smith: license documentation

Andrei Kurtuy: of

Avery Smith: instead of a sales

Andrei Kurtuy: 'cause I think your resume should be a marketing

document.

and it should sell

Avery Smith: Sell you for

Andrei Kurtuy: to the

Avery Smith: employer.

Andrei Kurtuy: [: 00:01:00

Avery Smith: Over the years, like over the past 10 years

Andrei Kurtuy: we

Avery Smith: and

Andrei Kurtuy: I think hundreds

Avery Smith: hundreds of

Andrei Kurtuy: of resumes. And I think usually

Avery Smith: thousands,

Andrei Kurtuy: like

Avery Smith: like

Andrei Kurtuy: them, they just

Avery Smith: just use like normal tests without the input.

Andrei Kurtuy: they just

Avery Smith: They just use the task for, from the job description.

Andrei Kurtuy: it's

Avery Smith: That's very lazy. And

Andrei Kurtuy: or the

Avery Smith: where the HR manager, they already know that.

Andrei Kurtuy: I

Avery Smith: And I think here

Andrei Kurtuy: in

Avery Smith: big this case,

Andrei Kurtuy: a

Avery Smith: like that example, would be

Andrei Kurtuy: before, analyzed

sales

data using

Avery Smith: using

Andrei Kurtuy: But the good

Avery Smith: the good example.

Andrei Kurtuy: could be that I, or don't start with I, but you can

Avery Smith: You can say uncovered

Andrei Kurtuy: million in hidden

Avery Smith: revenue,

Andrei Kurtuy: by analyzing sales

Avery Smith: sales pattern,

Andrei Kurtuy: leading

Avery Smith: leading up

Andrei Kurtuy: 80% Q4 growth and.

Avery Smith: and

Andrei Kurtuy: Here.

Avery Smith: ly

Andrei Kurtuy: you can follow a very easy formula, like you can take context plus action and then plus impact. I think every bullet that you add in your resume should make the

Avery Smith: hiring manager.

Andrei Kurtuy: that I need this person. if

Avery Smith: Any

Andrei Kurtuy: doesn't have dollar

Avery Smith: have signs for

Andrei Kurtuy: or time

Avery Smith: [: 00:02:00

Andrei Kurtuy: are

Avery Smith: you're actually just

Andrei Kurtuy: the job

Avery Smith: job fixed.

Andrei Kurtuy: I said before. So yeah, I think that's the main mistake that, yeah, people make.

Avery Smith: Okay, so, uh, bullet points. People have bad bullets, um, and they just basically say what they did. But if I heard right, what, what you're saying is they should not only say what they did, but also like what was the actual impact of that? Like, how much money did it save, what percent went up or percent went down, how much time was saved?

And that's how you can kind of make a bad bullet point into a good bullet point is just by, by putting one of those three things in there.

Andrei Kurtuy: Yes, that's, yeah, that's exactly right.

nding for applicant tracking [: 00:03:00

It's kinda like this mythical monster that just seems to be like sucking a bunch of resumes into the black hole, or at least it feels that way. Uh, what are some tips, uh, to get past the a TS and actually get your resume seen?

Andrei Kurtuy: So here that you say that I have actually a poor story in a way like that to share because a couple of, uh, weeks ago, I helped a friend of mine. Who was a data analyst at, uh, Novo Nordisk. 'cause maybe you're aware that Novo Nordis, they, uh, laid off 5,000 people, think one month ago. And yeah, Novo Nordisk, they are based in

Avery Smith: Based

Andrei Kurtuy: and I'm here in Copenhagen, so I have, I know many people working there. uh, he applied after, like, after the layoffs, like he applied to more than a. I think 200 jobs and zero callbacks. And usually it was because he was

Avery Smith: was using an

Andrei Kurtuy: type of template, uh, two

Avery Smith: two

Andrei Kurtuy: and

Avery Smith: and.

rts like images. So, uh, and [: 00:04:00

Avery Smith: Because of

Andrei Kurtuy: resume was invisible to a TS systems and like the

Avery Smith: like the mistakes and what they.

Andrei Kurtuy: here, when you think about a TS, is that most of the times you should use a, like one single column. Uh, two column work as well because, um, but this mostly for modern a TS systems because they can read even two columns if it's clean and text-based. So no image or, uh, no image

Avery Smith: Image

Andrei Kurtuy: based, uh, text. And then the

Avery Smith: and the second mistake,

Andrei Kurtuy: that you should have

Avery Smith: standard matters and

Andrei Kurtuy: for the

Avery Smith: sections. And I see lots of people actually being very creative saying my journey.

Andrei Kurtuy: very creative

Avery Smith: creative stuff, but you should choose write work, experience that

Andrei Kurtuy: It's very

Avery Smith: very simple, but,

Andrei Kurtuy: Then also you

Avery Smith: also is part of very like simple formatting,

Andrei Kurtuy: no

Avery Smith: long tables, no traffic links, no bed and.

Andrei Kurtuy: And

Avery Smith: And then the last team here would be that

Andrei Kurtuy: file

Avery Smith: file [: 00:05:00

Andrei Kurtuy: a lot and in the last five to 10 years, I think text-based PDF

Avery Smith: Media

Andrei Kurtuy: are the

Avery Smith: the best,

Andrei Kurtuy: but

Avery Smith: but you need to make sure it text based,

Andrei Kurtuy: and not image based

Avery Smith: based

Andrei Kurtuy: and you, you should use Word

Avery Smith: or

Andrei Kurtuy: or Doc X only

Avery Smith: other one.

Andrei Kurtuy: requested. to test your

Avery Smith: consideration

Andrei Kurtuy: s usually have a

Avery Smith: have a very simple

Andrei Kurtuy: that

Avery Smith: what

Andrei Kurtuy: doing. And

Avery Smith: and.

Andrei Kurtuy: our templates, this is like the first

Avery Smith: First lesson that I'm doing this,

Andrei Kurtuy: you

Avery Smith: you should

Andrei Kurtuy: copy

Avery Smith: copy your resume contact from the P.

Andrei Kurtuy: just

Avery Smith: just command or control A, you see all text

Andrei Kurtuy: and then copy it, command

Avery Smith: and see, and then you just past into, into a note

Andrei Kurtuy: That's

Avery Smith: that's

Andrei Kurtuy: actually the ATS sees. It doesn't

Avery Smith: doesn't see how the fancy and apple

Andrei Kurtuy: looks. It

Avery Smith: looks.

It just takes a text,

Andrei Kurtuy: the whole

Avery Smith: all text, and then.

Andrei Kurtuy: So it's, that's I think, the quickest test and the best way to make sure your resume's a TS compliant.

t like control a, control C, [: 00:06:00

Versus like, I guess non-modern at s And I think that's important to point out that not all t ATSs are the same. It's not just like there's one a TS, there's um, there's a bunch, uh, just depending on what the companies use and where you're applying. So like for example, LinkedIn has an an a TS essentially right?

When when you easy apply to a job on LinkedIn or a job that's posted on LinkedIn, um, that process is maybe different than if you're doing it on the company site. And just one little tidbit that I wanted to give. As someone who's hired people on LinkedIn, if you have your resume, um, Asa word file and you do easy, uh, easy apply on LinkedIn in order for me to view your resume, this is not from, I guess like the, what the computer's seeing, right?

had to download all of your, [: 00:07:00

And so just like right off the bat, like if you submitted a a, a Doc X, you were at a huge disadvantage. 'cause it was just so much more work for me to actually view what you were, what you were trying to tell me that you're a good candidate. Um, so I just think it's interesting. I, I wanted to ask you like the PDF Asa text versus PDF as an image.

Is that like a certain setting or if you're using like Microsoft Word. Or or Google Docs, and you're just like exporting to PDF. You're good.

w it happens for some people [: 00:08:00

PDF. And I think that's where issues can happen.

Avery Smith: That makes sense. Okay, so no multiple columns is a little bit dangerous. Uh, make sure you have no images. So none of those necessarily super fancy looking, um, resumes that might have images on it. I know you guys have a lot of really a TS friendly, uh, templates available on Novo resume. Um, make sure that there's like no tables.

What about links? Like if I put my, my LinkedIn actual link or if I put a link to my portfolio? Are those okay?

his is especially important, [: 00:09:00

So it should be the full link.

Avery Smith: Okay, so you're saying that I shouldn't say like GitHub and then have the full GitHub link, uh, be clickable you, you're saying I should have the full link displayed, um, in, in the actual resume. Okay, that's good. That's good to know. Okay, that's good to know. And that's just 'cause it makes it easier for the, the a TS,

Andrei Kurtuy: Uh, yeah, the teacher, because the a s then would read that whole

Avery Smith: so we.

Andrei Kurtuy: then it's also like the best then for recruiters. So they don't, so they don't, uh, how do you say, they're not

Avery Smith: Not suspicious

Andrei Kurtuy: It's a wrong link or it's hidden, it's

Avery Smith: the.

tant for a TS, but also then [: 00:10:00

Avery Smith: Yeah, that's, that's actually a good point I haven't thought of before. Um, yeah, when I worked for corporate ExxonMobil, they were very careful about what links you were pressing and you had to be, if you press the wrong link and you got caught, you would lose internet access for like a day. Uh, so you gotta be really careful with that.

Uh, it is interesting though, 'cause I could understand also people wanting to use like a link shortener. 'cause it also tracks link clicks. Like I have a link shortener anytime someone. Clicks it, it sends me an email, Hey, someone just clicked your link. And then I'm like, at least someone's looking at my resume.

I guess technically computers can also click links, so I guess you don't know if it's a computer or a human. Um, anyways. Okay. I learned something new today. That's, that's very valuable. Um, in terms of hidden stuff, I'm curious, you're, you're, if you've heard about these people who like will take the job description.

ading it. And it's just like [: 00:11:00

Is this like a valuable technique?

r jobs. And is because From, [: 00:12:00

How do you integrate those keywords in context where it makes sense? So you can write

Avery Smith: Right

es sense in the context. And [: 00:13:00

Avery Smith: percent

Andrei Kurtuy: each keyword, the main keyword should appear two, three times maximum in

Avery Smith: month.

Andrei Kurtuy: And always with context and impact. And yeah, think you should think of it

Avery Smith: Will be to.

Andrei Kurtuy: engineering and you should think quality over quantity. Because at the end of the day, the a TS and also the hiring manager, they don't care of how many times you mentioned that keyword on your resume.

If you mentioned it only once and it made sense in the context, that's enough.

Avery Smith: Interesting. Yeah, I think, um, I think it, this is a tough balance 'cause obviously you don't want to put like SQL seven times in the same bullet point. And obviously you don't want to do the whole job description hidden somewhere on your resume. Um, but I, I've see a lot of, I help a lot of people who are pivoting from like.

work section. Right. And um, [: 00:14:00

With Python, for example, but they're applying for jobs where Python is, is a requirement and they're like, I can't get any, you know, I can't get any interviews. And I'm like, well, the job description's asking I'm, I won't say Python, I'll say, I'll say Power bi. It's asking for Power bi. And you don't have Power BI once on your resume.

So I think there is something, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there's still something to be said about having the keywords on your resume at least once, you know, maybe, maybe even three times. Um, you don't wanna have 'em a hundred times. You don't, you also don't wanna have zero on your resume. I.

about that as well. I think.[: 00:15:00

Avery Smith: Obviously, yeah, you don't wanna be, you don't wanna be lying, you don't wanna be wasting anyone's time. I am curious about this. So, um, let's say I wanna be data analysts for, for example, maybe they're in my bootcamp, the data analytics accelerator. Uh, they log into Novo resume at the beginning and they're like, Hey, I need a new resume that's gonna help me land data jobs.

Um. Let, let's say that they maybe have used SQL once, but they're not really proficient in it. It's, it's obviously really hard to keep updating your resume as you're upskilling. Obviously, you should keep your resume as up to date as you're gonna be, but let's say you're going through a bootcamp where in the next 12 weeks you're going to learn a ton of new skills.

Do you think it's okay? Like if I'm going to learn SQL to put it on my resume right now so that way I can start applying for jobs and by the time I actually end an interview, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be. Proficient inl. Do you think that's okay?

ay. You should never kind of [: 00:16:00

nd then you can say February,: 2026

Avery Smith: I think that's great. Uh, I think it's important to, to not sell yourself short of what you're, what you are going to do as long as you do it. Obviously you need to still put it in the work. Um, let's talk about tailoring your resume. So one of the things that we've heard a lot about is, you know, you should tailor every resume that you send for every job.

Description. So if you're applying for a data analyst job at, let's say ExxonMobil, you should have a different resume than if you're applying to a business intelligence engineer job at Netflix. What's your take on that?

Andrei Kurtuy: Yeah, I think these helps a lot and I think. to answer this question would be the best to share my personal story actually, because when I was, uh, 19, I, uh, I went to, I got to Denmark to study in Copenhagen and

Smith: And I sent up it over: 1000

like zero, like nothing. And [: 00:18:00

Avery Smith: I

Andrei Kurtuy: to cocktail bars, and then in one month I got a

Avery Smith: got a job.

Andrei Kurtuy: and I think I only applied to 20 places. So the data and the difference is crazy. And also I think from our research

Avery Smith: Research.

Andrei Kurtuy: that I've seen is that generic resumes, usually they get two to 3% response rate while tailored ones they get 11 to 15. And that's, that's a lot. That's a huge difference. Usually I think. At the end of the, at the end of the day, also, like I understand, um, I understand users usually saying, or I see people all the time on social media and they say it's exhausting.

do, you should create a one [: 00:19:00

d this tailoring, I think it [: 00:20:00

Avery Smith: That makes sense to me. Like obviously if you're, uh, like in your situation where you were applying to like a bunch of different titles, like obviously when you narrowed it down that makes a lot more sense that you got more, uh, replies. 'cause it's a lot, a lot more tailored. Uh, but yeah, I do think it is exhaust.

Thing. Uh, and it's hard to do. So I like the idea of the mega resume. I love the name of the mega resume, um, where it's like, this is my giant resume where I just kind of duplicate it and then delete some stuff and change some words. I think that makes it a lot more manageable. Um, and that kind of goes along with, with, uh, my philosophy that I've kind of been teaching where it's like, okay, one of the easiest things you can do to tailor your resume.

ts. Those are basically data [: 00:21:00

So one easy thing I tell my students to do is just like, take your, take your Meg mega resume, and this is like the laziest way you can tailor their resumes is just change like in your, in your description or your objective. Uh, if you say like you're a data analyst, instead of saying a data. You're a financial analyst, then you have a financial analyst resume.

I mean, you can, and you can kinda do that with, like you said, like change the skills. You could do that with maybe different industries. So I think, I think the takeaway here is tailorings good. It's also really hard. So find a balance of like one that's not going to make job hunting overbearing, but also it's going to expedite the process and help you get interviews, um, more often.

Um. Cool. When you're, when you're looking at a, a resume, let's say you like get a resume for the first time, what's like the first thing that you personally are looking at?

If they worked in an area in [: 00:22:00

Avery Smith: Okay, so in our case, it would be like if they, say they're a data analyst, you're going to their experience section, and you're like, does, does it actually say that they're a data analyst? And if it, if it says that they're not, that's not necessarily the greatest side, right?

resumes. [: 00:23:00

Avery Smith: So if, if you're a career pivot, that's, uh, that's a little scary, right? 'cause it's like, well, I wanna, I'm a teacher right now, but I wanna be a data analyst. Is there something that like these teachers could do to try to, uh, win over, uh, you as like the hiring manager or the recruiter to be like, yeah, I don't, like, I'm not working Asa data analyst right now, but I have the skills and I'm capable of actually doing it.

Like, what would you need to see in a resume to, to maybe consider those people?

ith your professional skills [: 00:24:00

So under data analysis, they can write some bullet points of the projects and of the tests that they actually, where they used that, that skill. And in this case, I would actually look at that. So I would look, okay, this person is now, uh, uh, transitioning to this position and it has that skill. And actually they did something to prove it.

k about them where it's just [: 00:25:00

Um, is, is that, am I, am I kind of imagining that correctly?

Andrei Kurtuy: Yeah, that's correctly. Because I guess in your bootcamp, they need to do certain tasks and they need to work on that skill. So like the results or what they achieved in the bootcamp, that can be a bullet point there.

Avery Smith: That's, that's interesting. Yeah, we, we do a bunch of projects in the bootcamp and I've always had the students say, like, have a project section on their resume. Um, but I wonder if renaming the project, I think like a lot of 'em just name it like projects or, or maybe data projects. I wonder if we switch it to data analysis.

on, we do try to like do one [: 00:26:00

Better understand marketing trends that was in Excel. That was a terrible example of the bullet point. But something where it's like, this is the skill we did. This is the data set, this is how big it is, and this is what we, we accomplished with it. So I wonder if renaming it to like data analysis experience would be, would be useful.

'cause um, yeah, we definitely wanna have a project section or at least something that's highlighting the, the experience we do have. Um, but I like the idea of data analysis experience. It just sounds a little bit more professional. I don't know. I like it.

achieve multiple things. But [: 00:27:00

Avery Smith: Makes sense. I wanna get your, your thoughts on the future of resumes and ai. A lot of the times it feels like we are, uh, it's almost like the Spider-Man meme where it's like Spider-Man pointing back at Spider-Man and it's like. A resume written with ai and it's like a TS processed resume with ai. And it's just like, is there any humans in this?

le talking to AI people now. [: 00:28:00

Andrei Kurtuy: I think it is a huge, uh, a huge change that's happening now. I think two weeks ago, I, I posted even on LinkedIn, uh, car talking about this. I think it's a stupid kind of arms race because it's. Job seekers are

Avery Smith: Using.

Andrei Kurtuy: write their resumes, and then, uh, recruiters are using AI to screen them. So then it's AI versus ai.

ning, that's seconds and it's: 1000

ld have, they, uh, they make [: 00:30:00

Avery Smith: Sometimes as well.

Andrei Kurtuy: you, tell people, okay, you should take the content of your resume and then you should copy paste the job ad and then ask if it matches and what are your recommendations there. But then you should

Avery Smith: I

Andrei Kurtuy: your achievements, your.

Avery Smith: try myself

Andrei Kurtuy: Like the achievements that you have and everything, you should write them yourself because

Avery Smith: otherwise.

the resume. I would say that [: 00:31:00

Avery Smith: Completely.

Andrei Kurtuy: wisdom that like, let's say a couple of years ago, I would not have recommended that.

y prediction would be that by: 2026

Then you would just, uh, copy paste the link that you will include a link for a job post. And then we would tailor it for that job post in kind of one click. So you don't have to worry. But then again, we would all the time say like a big warning that you should, like, this is kind of the ideal resume based on what you have, but you should tailor it yourself to make sure it's. a hundred percent yours and you're not, uh, and you're not taken by surprise in a job interview when the interviewer would ask you something and they're like, oh. And they would say, oh, I see on your resume that you did this and this and this, and you would be, oh yeah, I don't

Avery Smith: Yeah, I don't know.

Andrei Kurtuy: So that's what people need to take into consideration.

Avery Smith: That's a cool feature. I'm excited to see that, uh, rolled out at, at novo and uh, because it sounds nice to be able to, to do that a little bit automatically. Um, yeah, it's, once again, it's hard 'cause it's exhausting being a job seeker. So obviously you wanna try to. Maximize your time and work efficiently.

Um, but I know personally, [: 00:33:00

Um, and it was just very evident that there was very little human input in this. And if that's on your resume, if like your resume is very clearly written by ai, I think that's going to send a red flag to recruiters and hiring managers that, Hey, this person's kind of lazy and they're gonna just use AI for their job.

ever heard. Like what's the [: 00:34:00

this, we've heard this since: 2015

s the future. And it was like: 2015

Avery Smith: Requirements,

Andrei Kurtuy: they need

Avery Smith: searchable

Andrei Kurtuy: or, uh, documents that they can archive and. again, if you have a video, it's like very hard to search through the videos. And, uh, storage wise as well, they take so much more space. And then of

Avery Smith: and.

Andrei Kurtuy: like legal departments, there's a bias risk when you can see protected characteristics. And also, like in us, Canada, uk, even on, even on traditional resumes, you should not have a picture because it leads to bias.

ke hours instead of minutes, [: 00:36:00

Avery Smith: That makes sense. Yeah. Video resume. Video resume kind of sounds like a nightmare for both ends because, um, I actually, I have a, uh, a mock interview platform that's, that's video based where you get to do like these asynchronous mock interviews with me and, uh, yeah, I can tell you that people. People hate being on camera often, so that sounds like a, a nightmare for the job seeker and for the, uh, recruiters because that's just a lot of information to process, uh, on your own.

And there's just so many job applicants these days that that would be very hard to do. So that makes sense. Um. Okay, cool. Um, thank you Andre for all of your uh, comments here. If you guys haven't checked out Nova Resume, be sure to check out Nova Resume. Um, I was actually talking to Andre before we started recording.

y what I used for a resume in: 2018

should, uh, convey. To the, [: 00:38:00

I think when you understand that and when you can do that, I think your chances of getting, at least getting interviews are increasing, are increasing ex exponentially. 'cause you need to think about each job ad it's actually a problem that they have because if they would not have a problem, they would not hire someone. So, uh, if you think about that, then it's very easy to present yourself Asa solution to their problem. Hey, I'm the best that can solve that problem that you posted there. Then in the interview it should be very easy. Easy for you to explain why.

Avery Smith: Love that. I love that you said that there are a little salesmen going out there and trying to sell you. I think that makes a lot of sense. Uh, well thanks Andre. We'll have a link to, uh, Andre Novo resume in the description down below, and thanks for all your wisdom.

Andrei Kurtuy: Thank you very much. It was a pleasure talking with you.

Avery Smith: Okay. Awesome.

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