The Leader Assistant Podcast - Exclusive Episode - Resume Webinar Replay

In this exclusive episode, Al-Husein Madhany and I talk about how to confidently craft a resume – specifically for executive support roles – that stands out from the crowd.

This is not a generic conversation about resumes. This is a brutally honest session to help you with your resume so you can gain an edge in your current (or future) job search.

To further dive into this topic and get access to the resume template and line by line videos, enroll in The Assistant’s Guide to Crafting the Perfect Resume online course. (NOTE: Be sure to listen to the podcast for the course coupon code so you can enroll for 50% OFF!)

CONNECT WITH JEREMY and AL-HUSEIN MADHANY
ABOUT JEREMY

Jeremy Burrows is a longtime executive assistant, international speaker, author of the #1 bestselling book, The Leader Assistant: Four Pillars of a Confident, Game-Changing Assistant, founder of The Leader Assistant Community, and host of the #1 podcast for assistants – The Leader Assistant Podcast.

He has worked with CEOs, professional athletes, Fortune 100 board members, and billionaires spanning across the nonprofit and for-profit sectors.

Jeremy has had the opportunity to speak to assistants all over the world at multiple conferences of various sizes in Hong Kong, Thailand, Germany, and the United States.

He’s currently Senior EA to the Founder and CEO of Capacity – a fast-growing, artificial intelligence software company.

Jeremy’s passion is to help you lead well, resist burnout, and automate before you’re automated.

Jeremy lives in Kansas City, MO with his wife and 2 boys. To connect with Jeremy or learn more about his training resources for executives and assistants, visit LeaderAssistant.com.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

00:00 JEREMY

Whether you’re looking for a new job or you want to be ready when you need to look for a new job, crafting a resume that stands out is a very important skill, especially in this day and age of AI generated content, AI tracking systems, AI

00:21 Jeremy

software that reviews and reads and filters and scans resumes. So that’s what this conversation today is about. This is a recording from a webinar that I hosted with my friend Al-Husein Madhany, all about how to confidently craft a resume that stands out. Now, this isn’t just a generic resume conversation about how to build a good resume. This is specifically for executive assistants, executive business partners, administrative assistants, chiefs of staff, and other administrative professionals like yourself. So I hope this conversation is helpful. Now, if you want to dive in a little bit deeper and actually get the template, the resume template,

01:08 JEREMY

and the video walkthrough course where Al-Husein takes you through every line of the resume template and helps you craft that perfect resume. You can check out the course at leaderassistant.com/resume.

01:26 JEREMY

That’s R-E-S-U-M-E.

01:30 JEREMY

And you can actually get 50% off. So it’s $197 for the course.

01:35 JEREMY

Again, it includes video walkthrough, the full template that you can copy and make it your own. And then a line by line video walkthroughs training you how to

01:46 JEREMY

really make your resume stand out in this crowded space of executive support. So leaderassistant.com slash resume to check out the course. And it’s generally $197, but you can get 50% off if you use the code CRAFT when you check out.

02:06 JEREMY

So go to leaderassistant.com slash resume, click enroll now and add the coupon code CRAFT, C-R-A-F-T. Again, the coupon code is CRAFT and it’ll take 50% off of the course.

02:21 JEREMY

And this is lifetime access, so definitely worth getting in. That way you’re ready, again, whether you’re looking for a job now or you want to just be prepared and have your resume up to date whenever you need it. So leaderassistant.com slash resume. Use the code CRAFT to get 50% off. I hope you enjoy the conversation, and we’ll talk soon.

02:50 SPEAKER_02

The Leader Assistant Podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become confident, game-changing leader assistants.

03:08 JEREMY

So my name is Jeremy Burrows. I’m super excited to have you here. I have been an executive assistant for going on 20 years, and currently I’m senior executive assistant at an artificial intelligence software company called Capacity. I’ve been there since day one. I was hired number one. We launched the company in January 2017. Now we have over 350 employees and plus 100 contractors all over the world, headquartered based in St. Louis, Missouri.

03:44 JEREMY

But I work remote from Kansas City, Missouri. And yeah, I’ve been…

03:50 JEREMY

Been working with my CEO for, this is the start of our 10th year. So very, very fun to be right in the middle of the AI revolution. And I love being an assistant still.

04:05 JEREMY

But I also wrote a book called The Leader Assistant. And I host a podcast called the Leader Assistant Podcast. All of that information is in our circle community or at leaderassistant.com if you want to check any of that out.

04:21 JEREMY

I am a little under the weather today, so I apologize if I have to mute or cough or all of the above and kind of push through this webinar. But I’m super excited to have you today. We’re going to talk all about how to confidently craft a resume that stands out. And I met Al-Husein recently. Matt Haney years ago, we were both assistants, both in the AI space.

04:52 JEREMY

His journey has been very similar to mine and very different at the same time.

05:00 JEREMY

He was an assistant and chief of staff at Facebook and PayPal back in the day. He was involved with a lot of the reorganization of the executive support roles at Facebook, for example.

05:15 JEREMY

And he then moved into the AI space and was really doing a chief of staff type role to the executives there and then transitioned into more of an HR role. So what I love about having Al-Husein on this webinar today is he was an assistant for years has worked with assistant teams he has hired assistants as an hr person and he’s even on the side he has a recruiting and training business with assistants as well so he’s been an assistant he’s hired assistants

05:58 JEREMY

He’s had assistance, but he’s also very, very ingrained in the HR world. So his company that he was part of got acquired last year in the AI space, and he was very, very involved in a ton of hiring.

06:16 JEREMY

They hired, I think, I can’t remember what Al was saying. I remember following along throughout that journey, but

06:22 JEREMY

When you joined, there was only 100 or so employees. And then when you left, there was 700 or something like that.

06:29 AL-HUSEIN

70 to 700.

06:31 JEREMY

70 to 700. So that’s a lot of hiring. That’s a lot of resumes. That’s a lot of interviewing. That’s a lot of reading resumes. That’s cycling through resumes, having interviews, hiring people, making good hires, making bad hires, all the HR stuff.

06:46 JEREMY

So anyway, that’s why I brought him along for this webinar. That’s why we’ve worked together extensively.

06:52 JEREMY

for several years now. He’s the guru on the HR resume interview side of things.

07:00 JEREMY

And I’m just happy to have him here. So with all that to say, I’m gonna share just a couple of quick things and I’ll catch up in the chat as Al-Husein kicks off his resume stuff. But there’s this news going around about the consulting firm out of Australia that laid off a bunch of assistants.

07:21 JEREMY

And they basically said, we’re going to offshore and outsource the work that these assistants were doing to low-cost offshore labor companies. And I posted on LinkedIn that I would share my thoughts on this webinar because I was busy. My parents live across the street. Their sewer line collapsed. I was dealing with that for the last two weeks as kind of the general contractor for making sure everything was going okay over there as we tore up their yard.

07:53 JEREMY

But the thing that I wanted to say about the instance there is

07:58 JEREMY

Twofold. First, like many other assistant thought leaders in the space have said on LinkedIn, there’s a certain element of a perception of the assistant and what we do in our roles is not valuable. Right. And so when a finance team or the leadership team looks at the numbers and they say, oh,

08:22 JEREMY

Where can we cut costs? We need to cut costs. Well, let’s just outsource assistant tasks to cheaper labor, right?

08:32 JEREMY

So there’s obviously this disconnect and there can be this disconnect on what we do as assistants and how we bring the strategic value, but people don’t always see that and don’t always understand that. But at the same time, there are assistants out there who are doing tasks that are not strategic and that are not high impact tasks. And they have either ignored

08:59 JEREMY

innovation and technology like artificial intelligence and automation, or they’re slow to adapt it. And so they’re still manually accomplishing tasks that are being more and more automated as time goes on.

09:15 JEREMY

So that’s kind of the two sides of that where, yes, there are people that don’t understand what we do and that don’t understand the impact we have. But there are also assistants out there that don’t understand it either and that are just doing tasks that can be automated with AI or offshore talent that can do a lot cheaper.

09:32 JEREMY

On the flip side, I will say that at a high level, my concern, yes, is that I want… My book is called The Leader Assistant. I want people to see assistants as leaders, right? I want you to see yourselves as leaders as well. So I’m definitely passionate about that. For any of those of you who have followed me for a long time, you understand that. But on the other side, I actually think the news that came out about this team laying off all of these assistants…

10:00 JEREMY

I actually think that’s more of a result or a surface level issue. I think underneath the root of it for that specific news and that specific story is that this was a consulting firm that was doing these layoffs. My two cents is that the consulting firm is freaking out because they see that AI is going to take the consultant’s job.

10:30 JEREMY

they see that they are going to have to adapt very quickly because AI is becoming a very good consultant to a lot of people. And so I would just encourage you to see it, yes, see it as, listen, we should see ourselves as leaders. We should try to help others see the value that we bring, and we should try to do more strategic tasks and be strategic partners with our executives. But we should also recognize that there are certain industries that are getting obliterated by AI. And there are certain industries that are going to essentially not exist or exist at a very, very small capacity compared to what they are now.

11:15 JEREMY

Yes, be frustrated and be vocal about, hey, listen, we are doing more than just calendar, email, travel, and other duties as assigned. We’re actually strategic partners. But also, just don’t be ignorant to the fact, if I want to encourage you in this way, to be blunt, don’t be ignorant to the fact that certain industries are getting hit very, very hard by AI. Yeah. So all that to say, stay encouraged.

11:48 JEREMY

There’s a lot going on in the market. There’s a lot of opinions. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world. What we’re going to focus in on is how can you specifically

11:59 JEREMY

set up a resume, whether you’re looking for a job now or whether you’re going to have to look for a job, you’re forced to look for a job soon, unfortunately, with a lot of layoffs going on, or you just want to look for a different job because you realize you’re in an industry that’s dying in this AI revolution age.

12:16 JEREMY

We want to help you craft a resume that stands out. And that’s what Al-Husein is going to dive into and help out with. So Al-Husein, thanks for joining us. And we’re excited to craft a resume that stands out.

12:29 AL-HUSEIN

Well, it’s great to be here, everyone. Thank you so much for having me, Jeremy and Leader Assistant. So great to see so many familiar faces and names across the EA universe. I’ve just added my LinkedIn to the chat. Feel free to add me.

12:44 AL-HUSEIN

Happy to add value wherever I can. As Jeremy mentioned, there are

12:52 AL-HUSEIN

layoffs coming, but I want to temper that with also some other news that is not actually front-page news, but is something that I’m familiar with and those who are putting their ear on the ground are also familiar with. This is a direct quote from Andreessen Horowitz. Mark Andreessen, who’s the co-founder and CEO of A16Z, who is…

13:19 AL-HUSEIN

who, A16Z being the number one venture capital firm in the world, on a public podcast, he said recently, we love our assistants and our administrators and we can’t work without them.

13:35 AL-HUSEIN

So it is very much an industry-specific thing. It is not necessarily a blanket, all EA roles are being automated away.

13:47 AL-HUSEIN

Those that are in growing industries will have roles, and those who are in shrinking and automated industries will not. The reason we’re doing this is

14:00 AL-HUSEIN

webinar is really to serve the community. The reason why Jeremy and I connected all those many years ago was we both had this

14:10 AL-HUSEIN

I’m a firm believer that one should only work with people that they enjoy spending time with and who have shared the same values. And Jeremy and I share those same values of service and giving back to the community.

14:23 AL-HUSEIN

And so as somebody who has traversed being an administrator, an executive assistant, an executive business partner, a chief of staff,

14:33 AL-HUSEIN

And now a chief people officer and an HR leader and somebody who is responsible primarily for recruiting of talent in companies and somebody who is hired as a consultant to companies when it comes to their talent profiles. I thought one way I could give back to the community is by resurrecting the resume course that we had created so many years ago and spending some time there on recruiting. going through why I still think it’s very relevant.

15:02 AL-HUSEIN

As I said earlier, it is not a blanket EA automation thing. It is actually an industry thing.

15:16 AL-HUSEIN

And I’m actually seeing executive assistants being hired across a few industries, which I can talk about today.

15:24 AL-HUSEIN

Of course, the one I come from is technology, and that’s one in which they have the highest margins. And so that is one in which the executive assistants will always be available.

15:32 AL-HUSEIN

Those are the type of companies that Marc Andreessen, through his company, A16Z, invests in. OK, so let’s dive into it. In the chat, please let me know what you think the purpose of a resume is.

15:46 AL-HUSEIN

So just one word, two words, what’s the purpose of a resume?

15:52 AL-HUSEIN

Why do we have resumes? Especially for an executive assistant in 2026, if you are applying for a job, let’s say you’re applying for a job through LinkedIn, or let’s say you’re applying for a job because your friend said, hey, I work at this company, we’d love for you to consider working with us. What is the purpose of the resume?

16:17 AL-HUSEIN

Some people say your availability to share your professional background, what you can bring to the table to highlight your skills, to highlight who you are, to get noticed, to get introduction. Yeah, so some people are touching upon it. The primary purpose of a resume in 2026 is actually just marketing.

16:42 AL-HUSEIN

It is marketing and it is the only goal is not to get a job. Let me repeat that. The goal is not to get a job. Your resume is to get your foot in the door to have a conversation with a human.

16:55 AL-HUSEIN

That is the goal. The goal is to get a conversation with a human and to beat out the other hundred people that the recruiter is recruiting. the other 100 resumes that the recruiter had to look through on Monday morning at 9 AM when they wanted to be doing something else.

17:15 AL-HUSEIN

So the purpose of the role and the purpose of the resume is to have a conversation. Remember, and a lot of what I’m sharing with you today and the templates that you’re going to see and the templates in my course are specifically for when you apply to a role outside of an executive recruiting firm or outside of a recruiting firm.

17:38 AL-HUSEIN

This is when you apply directly to the company and you are dealing directly with those HR and recruiting individuals at that company.

17:49 AL-HUSEIN

So the purpose is to create curiosity in the mind of the reader so that they want to have a conversation with you.

17:59 AL-HUSEIN

Which means what? It means that your goal in creating the resume is to be memorable.

18:08 AL-HUSEIN

To be memorable.

18:10 AL-HUSEIN

Now remember, what is a resume?

18:13 AL-HUSEIN

A resume is literally 8 and 1 half by 11 piece of paper with just black and white.

18:18 AL-HUSEIN

It’s just black and white. You cannot send over a Snapchat real. You can’t send over an Insta real. You can’t. It’s literally super old school, 8 and 1 half by 11.

18:33 AL-HUSEIN

black and white.

18:34 AL-HUSEIN

So how do you show up as memorable, and how do you pop, and how do you create curiosity in the mind of the recruiter who has 100 of these things to review in black and white? And that is the purpose of this course, and that is the purpose of this phone call and the webinar.

18:50 AL-HUSEIN

The reality is, recruiters, myself being one, I have timed myself. And this is a well-known fact, that recruiters only spend eight seconds reviewing a resume.

19:04 AL-HUSEIN

Not 18, not 38 seconds, eight seconds per resume. So you have eight seconds to get a dopamine hit from a 30-year-old recruiter, maybe 26, maybe they’re female, maybe they’re male, who spends their time scrolling up and down and left and right getting other dopamine hits on this thing.

19:34 AL-HUSEIN

So how do you do that? And that is the purpose of this course. And that is the purpose of this call is I’ve seen so much talent out there. You all are so talented.

19:43 AL-HUSEIN

And yet you’re not getting those phone screens. You’re not getting those calls because you are under representing yourself on paper, under representing yourself on eight and a half by 11 pieces of paper with black and white. And it’s a travesty. It’s a travesty. You have so much talent and so much experience and you’re not letting it come through.

20:04 AL-HUSEIN

So going back to this recruiter, let’s call her Michelle. OK, Michelle is the recruiter. Let’s say she’s 28 years old.

20:11 AL-HUSEIN

Again, it’s Monday morning.

20:13 AL-HUSEIN

The job description went live two weeks ago, and now she’s reviewing all the resumes that have come in, and it’s well over 100. And the question is, how do you get from her scrolling through these hundreds of resumes, eight seconds each,

20:31 AL-HUSEIN

for her to say, oh, this one’s interesting. Let me have a phone call with this person.

20:39 AL-HUSEIN

This resume is interesting, but I’ve decided I think I want to have a phone call with this person. She can’t have a phone call with all 100. She can’t have a phone call with the 200 who have applied. Her job is to whittle it down from the 100 or 200 who have applied down to 20. And she’s going to contact those 20 people and say, look, we need to have a phone call with these 20 people.

21:06 AL-HUSEIN

The only way to get in that stack of 20 is to make sure your resume pop, to make sure your resume is memorable, and to make sure it attracts the attention of the recruiter and the curiosity of the recruiter. And I would go as far as to say, give that recruiter a dopamine hit. Show them something they’ve never seen before.

21:30 AL-HUSEIN

All right.

21:32 AL-HUSEIN

The purpose of that piece of paper that we’re going to go over today, this eight and a half by 11 piece of paper in black and white with no emojis on it, with no color on it, right? The purpose is to tell your story, but not tell all your story, but to create

21:53 AL-HUSEIN

enough curiosity that the recruiter is like, wow, this is interesting. I want to talk to this person on Monday at 9 a.m. for 20 minutes. I’m willing to do that because I’m intrigued by what I’m seeing on the resume. I’m intrigued because it does not look like the other 99 resumes I’ve seen this morning. I’m intrigued because it is speaking something, it is saying something to me that this person is very intentional about who they are and what service they’re providing and how they’re marketing themselves.

22:25 AL-HUSEIN

Your resume is not just a storytelling device. It’s not just marketing. It’s not just to get an interview. It’s also, and I go into this in my salary negotiation course and in the coaching I do, it is also to, it’s how salary negotiation begins. Salary negotiation begins with your resume.

22:48 AL-HUSEIN

It does not begin at the end of the interview process when they give you an offer. The salary negotiation piece begins with the review of your resume. Recruiters and the best HR leaders understand what your value, your worth in US dollars is as soon as they look at your resume. They’ve already put in their head how much they will have to pay this person.

23:18 AL-HUSEIN

The best recruiters do that. I do that, and I train my entire team to do that. And if I’m doing that, and I learned this from the best, I’m sure this is something that’s well known.

23:28 AL-HUSEIN

So it’s not just to tell your story. It’s not just to drive a dopamine hit in the recruiter’s mind so that they want to have a phone call with you.

23:40 AL-HUSEIN

It’s also the beginning of salary negotiations. And even more importantly, it is a story about your future.

23:47 AL-HUSEIN

It is the story about the future that you want and the future you want, particularly in that company. Okay.

23:55 AL-HUSEIN

So there are five tenants to every resume. And if you take the course, if you see them and, you know, Jeremy will of course show them in about show a resume in about five, 10 minutes here.

24:08 AL-HUSEIN

And we can go through some of them, but let me just tell you quickly the five tenants of the resume. But before we go into that,

24:15 AL-HUSEIN

What is the one thing that a recruiter, again, I’m not talking about executive recruiters. I’m not talking about recruiting firms. I’m talking about a recruiter who sits inside a company and you’ve gone to that company website and you’ve applied through their careers page or through LinkedIn. I’m talking about those type of recruiters because those type of recruiters are very different than executive recruiters or recruiting firms. And I know this because I’ve worked in both. OK? And the process is very different. And so the resume should look very different.

24:42 AL-HUSEIN

And the first thing that the recruiter, Michelle, 28 years old, is going to do when she has whittled the stack from 100 or 200 down to 20, and she said, OK, this one is curious. This one looks interesting. This one looks interesting. Pass on these others. This one. What is the first thing she’s going to do

25:07 AL-HUSEIN

Before she sets up an interview, a phone screen with those 20 people, the first thing she’s going to do is she’s going to review your social media.

25:18 AL-HUSEIN

Okay? If you don’t think this is happening, I’m sorry to say you don’t live in the modern world.

25:27 AL-HUSEIN

The first thing she’s going to do is she’s going to review your LinkedIn and

25:31 AL-HUSEIN

And not just your LinkedIn page experience, accolades, education. No, she’s going to look at all of your posts from the last three years, maybe one year.

25:43 AL-HUSEIN

If she sees anything political, she may decide to pass on your resume. Why?

25:52 AL-HUSEIN

Why? Irrespective of what your politics are. Even if your politics are that of the firms that you’re applying to. It’s because you don’t know the politics of the leader that you’re supporting and the principle that you’re supporting.

26:09 AL-HUSEIN

Let’s say you apply to a big company. Let’s say you apply to TIAA-CREF. Let’s say you apply to the US government. Let’s say you apply to McKinsey. Let’s say you apply to Deloitte. Let’s say you apply to a health care system, like in Pittsburgh, which has over 100,000 employees. Irrespective of what the health care system’s politics are locally, your specific principle that you’re supporting within that $100,000, 100,000 person corporation

26:40 AL-HUSEIN

may have very different politics. The recruiter knows those politics and is trained to view and understand what those politics may be.

26:51 AL-HUSEIN

And more than that, what the recruiter wants to know is that you could be an ambassador to your executive while not being political. An ambassador for the work, for the professionalism of the work, not of the

27:10 AL-HUSEIN

Politics.

27:11 AL-HUSEIN

Professionalism is what they want.

27:14 AL-HUSEIN

You are an ambassador to your executive in professionalism, not in politics. Okay. Second thing that the recruiter is going to do, and it’s been a very political minefield over the past many years in America, which is why I recommend that if you, executive assistants should stay apolitical.

27:38 AL-HUSEIN

Because your job is to be professional, fundamentally. It’s not to take on the politics of your organization.

27:43 AL-HUSEIN

Leave that to your executive and the HR team or the marketing team or whoever else. That is not your role.

27:50 AL-HUSEIN

And perhaps that’s a minority perspective, but I’m telling you what works and what HR is looking for. Because as you’ve seen with the last election, politics goes left, it goes right, it goes crazy. It’s better just to be safe.

28:04 AL-HUSEIN

Second thing that they’re going to look for is they’re going to find you on Insta, on Facebook, on Snapchat, and on TikTok.

28:09 AL-HUSEIN

And they’re going to look for political messaging there. And if you have anything there that is challenging, they may pull you out of that list.

28:24 AL-HUSEIN

So irrespective of your resume. All right.

28:29 AL-HUSEIN

So before we get into the five tenets of the resume, I just wanted to lay that out there that in the world of social media, in the world that we live in now, in a world where you can literally just go into Gemini or Grok, and I’m not talking about the free versions, I’m talking about the paid versions. which a lot of my team members have.

28:48 AL-HUSEIN

And they can go in and say, please create a political profile for this individual who’s just applied for this executive assistant role. And they, Grok, on Twitter, which is basically Twitter, can actually go through all of your ex-posts and understand where you fall politically.

29:03 AL-HUSEIN

This is what they’re doing. So stay apolitical.

29:07 AL-HUSEIN

Stay political. Stay apolitical.

29:11 AL-HUSEIN

There’s questions about public accounts and private accounts. I’m not going to get into that.

29:16 AL-HUSEIN

What I know is I used to work at Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp. The real question you have to ask yourself is, do you believe that those messages are encrypted or not? Because people can still pull a profile or a bias, a leaning of you as an individual, irrespective of your public or private posts.

29:46 AL-HUSEIN

OK, the five tenets of a resume. you remember the purpose of the resume is to pop it’s to create curiosity it’s so you don’t look like everyone else and the reason we’re doing this call is because i’m seeing so many of you being so talented and you’re just literally like tripping over yourselves unfortunately because of your social media posts because of the way you’re presenting yourself on this black and white piece of paper uh that it’s it’s it’s it’s unfair uh and so you know i’m hoping that this helps first

30:28 AL-HUSEIN

No grammar and no spelling mistakes.

30:33 AL-HUSEIN

No grammar and no spelling mistakes on your resume. So people are talking about in the chat about what if you’ve shared political things in the past on social media, et cetera. Look,

30:44 AL-HUSEIN

You have your own conscience. I’m not going to tell you what to do here. I’m telling you from an HR leader’s perspective who used to be an EA, who used to be a chief of staff, who’s hired, who’s interviewed thousands of people in my life.

30:58 AL-HUSEIN

I will tell you that it is very important for you just to be principled for yourself and what you decide and how you want to live your life.

31:12 AL-HUSEIN

My job here is just to help you get a job. And I’m telling you what I’ve seen get in the way of people getting jobs.

31:19 AL-HUSEIN

I don’t know if the recruiter has a left-leaning bias or a right-leaning bias. I don’t know if the company you’re applying to has a left-leaning bias or a right-leaning bias. I don’t know if the principal you’re supporting or going to support, voted Republican or Democrat or is independent. I don’t care. My job is to try and get you a job. And I’m just showing you what I’m seeing happening right now live in the world we’ve been living in the past few years of how

31:45 AL-HUSEIN

Unfortunately, so many of you have been dropped out of these recruiter top 20 picks because of what you’ve been sharing politically. All right, the first thing is no grammar and no spelling mistakes.

31:57 AL-HUSEIN

Okay, I should not have to say this to executive assistants, but unfortunately, I feel like I do. If you’re not using Gemini or Grok to actually review your resume, I would encourage you to do so for those things specifically. Number two, less is more. If your resume looks like this, The recruiter is not going to ask you for a phone screen.

32:23 AL-HUSEIN

Less is more. There is no white space on this piece of paper.

32:28 AL-HUSEIN

Remember, the goal is not to put every single thing you’ve done on a piece of paper.

32:34 AL-HUSEIN

It’s to create curiosity in the mind of the recruiter so that they go to your LinkedIn profile so that they then can actually get more detail if they want. Remember, LinkedIn, technically, according to the law, is not a resume. It is a social media company. It is not a resume. It is a social media company, okay?

32:54 AL-HUSEIN

So less is more. So you have eight seconds for a recruiter’s eye to say, where should I land on this piece of paper? And if I’m a recruiter, my eye doesn’t land anywhere. It’s everywhere, okay?

33:08 AL-HUSEIN

So every line that you have in the resume has to kind of pop and be intentional, and every line has to grab the recruiter’s attention.

33:17 AL-HUSEIN

Number three, limited formatting but intentional bolding. So you want to limit the formatting that you have.

33:27 AL-HUSEIN

So it doesn’t mean bold every line, underline every major category. No.

33:35 AL-HUSEIN

You should limit the bolding. limit the bolding, limit the formatting, and it should be very intentional. Why? Because eight seconds, you have eight seconds for a recruiter to create a impression based on a black and white piece of paper.

33:51 AL-HUSEIN

And if things are bolded, you’re distracting them, you’re distracting their eye.

33:57 AL-HUSEIN

And they’re not printing it out, by the way, they’re seeing it on a screen.

34:00 AL-HUSEIN

Okay. Okay.

34:02 AL-HUSEIN

And this is before they go to your LinkedIn and see your picture and see all the other stuff. So you’ve got to make it count. Those eight seconds have to count.

34:11 AL-HUSEIN

So I would encourage you to not bold more than six to 12 things on a resume. Six to 12 things max. No underlining and only bold six to 12 things.

34:24 AL-HUSEIN

Number four, metrics. If you are applying to a job and it has no metrics,

34:32 AL-HUSEIN

We will be showing some examples. And you can also see them in the course. If you’re applying to jobs and you do not have metrics on your resume, you will not be hired. Data is the new gold.

34:45 AL-HUSEIN

Data is the new gold. Yes, you should bold. Six to 12 things you should bold. Data is the new gold. So you have to measure. If you’re not measuring what matters, the principles that you’re supporting, by the way, are measuring everything. They’re being asked to measure everything. So if you’re not measuring things yourself,

34:59 AL-HUSEIN

and you’re not including hard numbers, metrics are hard numbers in your resume, it’s a fail, okay? I need to see in a data sense what you have done, distill it into data.

35:16 AL-HUSEIN

And lastly, the fifth tenet is your resume should be AI compliant.

35:21 AL-HUSEIN

What does that mean?

35:23 AL-HUSEIN

It should be machine learning and artificial intelligence compliant. It means that if you are applying to a large corporation, call it a multinational, a company with over 20,000 people, maybe 40,000 people,

35:37 AL-HUSEIN

I’m not talking about a company with less than 1,000 people or less than a few thousand people. I’m talking about companies with over 20,000 people, over maybe 10,000 people. Believe me when I say that your resume is being fed through a computer and it is being matched against the job description and it’s given a number.

35:56 AL-HUSEIN

So like large companies, the ones I’ve worked for in the past, Google’s got over 100,000 employees.

36:04 AL-HUSEIN

Facebook Meta has over 100,000 employees. Well, they have to hire 50 software engineers, 20 executive assistants, 100 salespeople.

36:16 AL-HUSEIN

What they’re doing is they’re feeding your resume through a machine, and it’s spitting out a number. And it’s basically saying, compared to the job description, this person’s resume is a 98. They’ve hit 98% of all the things that are listed on the job description. Or this person’s resume is a 28%.

36:33 AL-HUSEIN

We’ve asked for an eight years experience. We’ve counted it all up. They only have seven.

36:38 AL-HUSEIN

Fail. We’ve asked for in the job description that they’ve supported a technology company. They have not supported a technology company. Their score is low. Fail. So before the recruiter is even seeing the resume, for larger companies, again, companies with over, say, 10,000 employees, they’re feeding it through an AI system. And the AI system is spinning back a number and then whittling down the first batch for the recruiter.

37:03 AL-HUSEIN

I would even go as far as to say, going back to number four in terms of metrics and data, if you are not using AI in your current role, and I don’t mean just like converting your Google searches to AI searches. I’m talking about actually using AI.

37:20 AL-HUSEIN

I would encourage you to start using AI. And I would encourage you to utilize AI and have stories of AI usage in your resume and in your interviewing.

37:32 AL-HUSEIN

A quick sidebar here. Like I said, I’ve been an executive assistant, and I’m now an HR leader.

37:41 AL-HUSEIN

Every interview that we do in my company, we ask every candidate, how do you use artificial intelligence today in your role? And if they do not have an answer, we do not move them to the next round, even executive assistant roles.

37:59 AL-HUSEIN

Even executive assistants that we’ve hired in the Philippines.

38:04 AL-HUSEIN

So I’ve hired executive assistants in the Philippines. I’m asking this question to them as well. So you better believe I’m going to ask it of Americans.

38:13 AL-HUSEIN

So this is the way the world is moving. And it’s very important that you have a vignette, a story about that and how it has impacted your job in a very positive way.

38:25 AL-HUSEIN

Okay. All right.

38:29 AL-HUSEIN

So we can move now to the next. So those are like the kind of core tenants of a resume. Now we’re going to move to like the seven sections of your eight and a half by 11 piece of paper that is in black and white that has to create a dopamine hit to Michelle, who’s 28 years old, who scrolls up and down and left and right on this thing all day. And you’re trying to get her attention. So she calls you and puts you in the pile of people she wants to have a phone call with.

38:53 AL-HUSEIN

And by the way, when you have that phone call with Michelle or that Zoom call or Teams video call, and you don’t show up the way her expectation is you will based on the words on your resume, that’s also a fail, which is why you need to have stories, vignettes around every line of your resume, right? As a quick sidebar here, what’s the number one question recruiters ask you that I ask you when I interview you for a role? The first thing we do is say, walk me through your resume.

39:23 AL-HUSEIN

It’s the easiest question. Walk me through your resume. You’ve probably heard it 100 times. Tell me about yourself. Walk me through your resume. Tell me about your latest experience. Why are you looking?

39:36 AL-HUSEIN

If you don’t have a story that pops and is memorable to that question, it’s a fast pass. So your resume has to answer that question And when the recruiter asks you that question in the phone screen, when you go from the 300 people to the 100 people to now the 20 people that she’s having an actual conversation with, if your answer to her question is not memorable and does not resonate in a way a story should,

40:21 AL-HUSEIN

the recruiter is likely gonna pass, okay?

40:23 AL-HUSEIN

All right, so the seven sections of your resume, right? Now, why do, like I’ve created this resume template and Jeremy will show an example here.

40:34 AL-HUSEIN

This is a resume template that has seven sections in it. And this is the stuff that you’ll see in my course, right?

40:42 AL-HUSEIN

There’s seven sections. There’s a top section, your bio data section. There’s a second section called the attribute section.

40:49 AL-HUSEIN

The third section is the core skill set.

40:52 AL-HUSEIN

The fourth is notable impact. Notice the reduction in terms of bolding.

41:00 AL-HUSEIN

The fifth is the walk me through your resume section.

41:05 AL-HUSEIN

the experience. The sixth is your education. And the seventh is your passions, right?

41:11 AL-HUSEIN

All right. Notice like, just, just, just, just the section terms. I’m not talking about hobbies. I’m talking about passions. I’m not talking about, um,

41:22 AL-HUSEIN

I’m not listing every single thing I’ve done here in terms of experience. I’m listing the relevant experience for the role. If they want more, they can go to LinkedIn. I’m not talking about, I’m talking, I’m using phrases like impact. I’m using, I’m not, I’m not using phrases like experience, right? I’m using phrases like impact and notice like even things like my, my first name or my, the, you know, my name is not bolded.

41:47 AL-HUSEIN

I don’t have an address on my resume. I do have a city.

41:51 AL-HUSEIN

I don’t have a Yahoo email address. I don’t have an Outlook email address. I don’t have a AOL email address. I have a Gmail address.

42:02 AL-HUSEIN

If you have a Hotmail address, a Yahoo address, go get a Gmail address. People have biases and they want people who are technologically forward.

42:14 AL-HUSEIN

Again, my job here is not to make you feel bad. My job here is to get you a job. And I’m telling you the reality of the world. Michelle, who’s 28 years old, doesn’t have a Yahoo email address.

42:29 AL-HUSEIN

Probably has a Gmail address. Most companies are either on Outlook or Gmail.

42:36 AL-HUSEIN

Most corporations in America. iCloud address is fine.

42:43 AL-HUSEIN

Notice Proton is great. Anything that’s superhuman is great. Anything that is tech forward.

42:52 AL-HUSEIN

Tech forward. Anything that gives you an edge.

42:56 AL-HUSEIN

Anything that gives you an edge.

42:58 AL-HUSEIN

Notice I’ve typed out the entire LinkedIn. I did not shorten it to just like, you know, just the word LinkedIn with a hyperlink. No, I typed out the whole LinkedIn. Why? For AI. Also notice I don’t have an address.

43:10 AL-HUSEIN

If the job is in San Francisco and I live in San Jose, I need a resume that says San Francisco. Okay. Why? Because the recruiter is going to say, oh, San Jose, that’s over an hour commute. Pass.

43:22 AL-HUSEIN

OK, you need to make sure in those eight seconds the recruiter is going to choose you for that 20 minute conversation. You’re basically giving her reasons to cross your name off of a list. She’s looking for reasons to cross your name off of a list.

43:41 AL-HUSEIN

OK, also, when you have, nobody cares about your name, by the way.

43:48 AL-HUSEIN

So stop bolding your name. Stop wasting formatting on your name.

43:53 AL-HUSEIN

Michelle only cares about your name when she sets up the interview. She doesn’t care about your name. She doesn’t care how you spell it. She doesn’t care how cool it looks and how big it looks and if it’s bolded. She doesn’t care.

44:06 AL-HUSEIN

You’ve got to prompt her psychologically, subliminally, to start thinking about you positively as she walks through your resume. So you give her these attributes.

44:19 AL-HUSEIN

And this is all surrounded by white text. Notice it’s all white.

44:24 AL-HUSEIN

It pops. Jack of all trades, service heart, chaos tamer, I save you time, period. All of this pops. It really screams at her.

44:35 AL-HUSEIN

Surrounded by white text. Then you have the core skill set section. And I can go into more detail there in the course. You also have the notable impact section. I can go into more detail there. This is where you must have metrics. Here’s some example of metrics.

44:53 AL-HUSEIN

I’m conscious of time. I’m getting pinged by Jeremy about the time, so I need to quicken this. Of course, all this is detailed in the course. I want to just highlight a couple of things.

45:07 AL-HUSEIN

You have to create a connection with the recruiter.

45:12 AL-HUSEIN

You have to create a connection with the recruiter.

45:15 AL-HUSEIN

Because at the end of the day, people want to work with people they like and that they have a connection with.

45:21 AL-HUSEIN

So use your passion section to do just that. Research.

45:27 AL-HUSEIN

The recruiter on LinkedIn. Say you apply to a company that’s like, I don’t know, 500 people. And they have like two recruiters. And you go on their LinkedIn and then you find them on Facebook and you notice that they both have dogs. Okay, so you love dogs too. So put it in the passion section.

45:43 AL-HUSEIN

Right?

45:44 AL-HUSEIN

Connect with them. Give them something to talk about outside of the core job.

45:52 AL-HUSEIN

Right? Say something that is, you know…

45:58 AL-HUSEIN

sparks curiosity you’re into biohacking put in biohacking okay nobody cares like i’m a film producer and it was emmy nominated i don’t nobody cares about the name of the film it’s just that it was emmy nominated so i put in the word emmy nominated right so that’s something that’s really interesting that most executive assistants don’t have right if you’re applying to a fintech firm a finance firm and you’re into crypto put in crypto

46:27 AL-HUSEIN

Right? Create some kind of immediate bond with the human on the other side.

46:38 AL-HUSEIN

So these tips, to answer the question, are helpful for getting through both an ATS and human screening, but specifically for when you are applying directly to the company, not going through an executive recruiting firm, or you’re applying to the company via LinkedIn.

46:56 AL-HUSEIN

OK, the last thing I’m going to say here before I give it up to Jeremy as we’re coming up on time is remember, you have eight seconds to create differentiation between you and 99 other resumes.

47:16 AL-HUSEIN

The goal of the resume is to secure a phone screen. The goal is not to get a job. It’s not to communicate everything you’ve ever done.

47:25 AL-HUSEIN

Let that be the second link that they click on when it’s LinkedIn or the third link when they go to your Facebook page, et cetera.

47:33 AL-HUSEIN

The goal is to capture the recruiter’s attention, capture their curiosity. So they’re like, wow, this person is so cool. I want to spend time with them. I want to spend 20 minutes at 9 a.m. on Monday morning talking to this person.

47:48 AL-HUSEIN

That’s the goal. A good thing for you to consider is creating a resume.

47:57 AL-HUSEIN

Maybe you create one like this. Show it to somebody who is 28 years old, 30 years old, and say, what does this resume say to you?

48:07 AL-HUSEIN

And get their immediate reaction and don’t let them look for longer than eight seconds. And I will guarantee you, if you take your traditional resume versus this one or one like this, they will probably more want to have a conversation with the person whose resume looks like this. Thank you.

48:26 JEREMY

All right. Thanks again for tuning in. I hope that was helpful. Again, go to leaderassistant.com/resume. Use the promo code CRAFT, C-R-A-F-T, at leaderassistant.com/resume to get 50% off the resume course.

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