Alaina GL Kaiser

WHY DID I CREATE THIS?

If you’re reading this, there’s a high chance that you were affected by a layoff.

You log into your LinkedIn, getting ready to make the dreaded “looking for work” post and updating your banner. All the while, you see tons of messages like this from your network:

“Sharing my support for those affected by the recent layoffs.”

You think to yourself, “I should reach out to these people who want to support those like myself.”

But then the ghosting happens.

There’s a continued silence in private messages. And yet, these public posts continue to go out each time there is a layoff.

So to answer the question, why did I create this? The short answer – I’m tired of seeing a lot of public support that is only performative for people affected by layoffs when it comes to social media.

My goal with this blog is to provide concrete resources that have given me real results and that will help you, too.

LET’S ADD SOME CONTEXT:

I was apart of a mass studio layoff back in December 2025.

Since then, I’ve taken immediate action to meet with career and reemployment advisors to get help with my resume. I jumped on LinkedIn to update my status like many others. I’ve conducted interviews at my last company, so I felt I had a solid grasp of what to expect from a resume.

Over two months, I had applied to over 200+ jobs. I had gotten 2 interviews (one being 3 rounds long), 1 pre-screening, and 1 offer.

The 1 offer wasn’t enough to cover my living expenses.

I felt hopeless.

Shotgunning applications to be the first 10 applicants wasn’t enough. But trying to rewrite my resume for every industry type would take wayyy too long.

It wasn’t until I attended a resume workshop at my local reemployment office through the Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL) presented by Workforce Partnerships that I had an idea of what I wanted to improve, started to see real results.

I went from months and hundreds of applications with inevitable rejections, to getting 2 interviews within 2 days of applying to those job postings.

It was the combination of these talks AND the workshop that led to this huge improvement in my job search.

Rather than just giving individual folks tips as I see posts or get messages, I wanted to create and share the resources that helped me the most in one blog. If you’re a visual learner like me, having examples or a template is a LOT easier to comprehend. Plus, it’ll save you some time recreating the advice each time.

RESOURCES AND FOREWARNING:

1. Start by making a copy of the Template_MasterResume, JohnDoe_MasterResume, and the JohnDoe_MasterMarketingResume documents
2. Follow along the “Application Guide” section below in this blog
   • You should have the Template_MasterResume renamed and filled with ALL of your experience BEFORE you get to the Tailoring section, so that you can create subcategory master documents out of it to save time.
3. I am NOT a recruiter, but the sources I have used come directly from recruiters
4. Using the template alone is NOT enough to get results – following this guide, including the social media section AND tailoring per job description (JD) is essential to increase your chances of an offer.
5. I will not be covering Cover Letters, but you do need one if a job allows you to attach one. The Application Guide will only cover your Resume and briefly some advice on Social Media.

APPLICATION GUIDE

Source

All of the following information comes from Workforce Partnership’s resume workshop, If you live in Leavenworth, Wyandotte, or Johnson county in Kansas, here are their layoff resources that have also helped me a ton.

If you are NOT in Kansas, I recommend looking into free community resources like obtaining a library card or unemployment services provided by your state.

And if you’re an alumnus of a university, give them a call. See if they provide free programs to help you after graduation, like a career advisor, mock interview tools, and more.

The more research and time you take into exhausting all of your options for free support, the higher your chances will be of getting hired again!

Social Media Presence

It’s recommended NOT to post on social media accounts. This is really in regard to anything personal.

LinkedIn is considered a form of social media AND a job board. However, it’s an exception to the no-posting rule.

If you decide to post anything, post on LinkedIn and make sure to:

1. Be positive
   • When recruiters see your LinkedIn, they are getting an insight into your personality. Any negative postings about old colleagues, companies, and more WILL put a bad taste in the recruiter’s mouth and result in an automatic rejection. It shows you could have a problem with lashing out at colleagues, creating workplace gossip, or other problems that the company does not want to deal with.
   • Positive content could be posting pictures of your pets or new accomplishments you’ve achieved, like a recent certification you completed.
2. Engage with others and show genuine interest in them
   • I don’t mean DMing recruiters and asking for a job – I mean commenting on other people’s posts to congratulate them on a new job, providing supporting advice for those in need, or if you do DM, it’s to check in on them to see what they’re up to. People are more than willing to help those in need if they respect boundaries and show support in return!
3. Post content and engage in content based within industries you are interested in
   • This shows recruiters that you’re up-to-date on any new innovations or major progression milestones in that industry, which is highly valuable to companies that want to maintain a competitive edge in the market.

If your LinkedIn fails to meet any of the pillars above, then you need to fix your LinkedIn profile before you continue to the resume portion of this guide. The resume format alone will not help you with getting a job if your LinkedIn presence is absent or negative.

Resume Style

All of the information in this guide and for the template is based on the most common format, the Chronological resume. I will NOT cover Functional or Combination/Hybrid resumes.

Software

After trying several different programs, including Google Docs and Overleaf, I have settled on using Microsoft Word online. For best results, please use Microsoft Word.

Formatting

All of this has been applied to the templates at the smallest size for each formatting tip possible, but note that you will need to adjust the formatting depending on how much experience you have in order to fit everything into the page limit.

1-2 Pages

Recruiters will spend around 30 seconds scanning your entire resume, so keep it within 1 page minimum or 2 pages maximum.

NO Headers, Footers, and Photos

This could create Applicant Tracking System (ATS) scanning complications and mess with your overall formatting.

Choose an ATS safe font: Arial, Calibri, Garamond

Times New Roman is also a common pick.

Set your font sizes: headings (12-14), body (10-11)

This also ensures your content is not too small to read. I’d say the only real exception to this rule is your first and last name at the top of your resume, as that should be the biggest element.

Margins should be between .5″ to 1″

Adjust based on how much room you need to fit the 1-2 page limit.

Use Bold, Italics, All Caps

Use this for emphasizing headings or other information that you want to make standout.

List your skills using bullet points

Do this by subcategory of your skills, NOT every single skill you have.

Spell out abbreviations or acronyms

Do this the first time the word(s) appear, followed by parentheses of the abbreviation. Then you can use the abbreviation moving forward.

Emphasize your contact information

Put it under your name or job title. Use symbols like slashes or dots to separate out your contact information.

Use Month/Year format for dates

Two options: Jan 2025, or January 2025. Personally, I prefer Jan 2025 to save room on the resume and because it looks nicer to me, so that is what the templates use by default. But feel free to change this if you would like!

Keep it simple – no colors

White pages, black ink. Because some places still print your resume, or you may want to print yours for conferences and in-person interviews!

Skeleton

Organized from top to bottom of your resume, here are the sections you need, with some optional ones for filling up space OR to add further relevancy and value to the role. The master resume template follows this order as well, but some of the sections may differ from this ordered list.

1. First Name, Last Name
   • I like having my name in all caps because bots and scammers tend to copy-paste this rather than using the proper capitalization. WARNING: This can mess with autofill via resume on applications and force you to retype your name in proper capitalization. But I think it’s worth the extra second to correct.
2. Your Job Titles
   • Workforce Partnerships says this is optional, but personally I do include this.
   • For the Template_MasterResume, I list out EVERY job title that I could think of that would apply to me. We need this for the Tailoring phase later, where this will change from Your “Job Titles” to “JD Job Title” later.
3. Contact Information
   • Email address
     • Ensure it’s professional, like your last name, first name. If that’s taken, I like to add the first letter of my middle name(s).
     • Domain-wise, I prefer Gmail myself. But you could use Outlook. I would avoid using others like Yahoo or Proton due to how commonly used the other email domains are.
   • Phone Number
     • Exclude parentheses and area code, as I’ve noticed auto filling applications via your resume messes this up.
   • LinkedIn
     • I hyperlink this to keep it short.
     • Make sure to edit your LinkedIn hyperlink so you can remove those pesky numbers in the URL.
   • Portfolio
     • Only if applicable, but I have found that having one is better than not having one, even if your job isn’t necessarily creative.
   • Address
     • Not your full address – this should just be your City, State (abbreviated), and your Zip Code.
4. Summary, 3-5 sentences
   • List your job title based on the JD, years of experience, industries, and skills.
     • Even better if your skills are also keyword from the JD that apply to you!
   • If you recently completed a certification, you could list this here, too.
5. Skills: Hard Skills, Soft Skills, Technical Specifics
   • Washington State University covers the difference between Hard Skills and Soft Skills well.
   • In the template, the Technical aspect of Hard Skills is separated on purpose to make it stand out.
6. Experience
   • In the master template, I list ALL of my work experience like it’s LinkedIn. This important for later when we create subcategory master resume templates that you can read more about under the Tailoring section.
   • Title and Month/Year
     • Use spaces from the space bar to align the Month/Year perfectly to the right-hand side of the resume. Remember, we are avoiding the use of tables for ATS reasons!
   • Company Name, City, State (abbreviated)
   • 3-5 Bullet Points of Work You’ve Done
     • Be honest: Recruiters WILL ask you about specific bullet points if they have concerns about clarity or if they want you to demonstrate your understanding.
     • Highlight your achievements: Did you save the company a bunch of money? Did you increase profits for the company? Maybe they recognized you via an award. Make sure what you list shows how you were impactful to the company you worked at previously.
     • Quantify your achievements: List numbers like percentages or currency format if you can.
7. Education
   • Do NOT list your high school if you have a higher degree.
   • While you could make a separate section for Certifications, I prefer to list them under Education.
   • Degree – Major and Month/Year Graduated
     • You can exclude the year graduated if it was a very long time ago to avoid age discrimination
     • Only list GPA if you are a recent grad (i.e., within the last year)
   • School Name, City, and State (abbreviated)
8. (OPTIONAL) Volunteering
   • Only if applicable and if it supports your resume or helps fill in blank space.
   • Volunteer and Month/Year
     • Or whatever title they give you
   • Organization Name
   • (OPTIONAL) Bullet Points
9. (OPTIONAL) Associate Affiliations
   • This is basically a professional way of saying clubs or community organizations that you participate in.
   • Only if applicable and if it supports your resume or helps fill in blank space.
   • Member and Month/Year
     • Or whatever title they give you
   • Organization Name
   • (OPTIONAL) Bullet Points

Content

Ensure clear headings for each section of your resume

Example: EXPERIENCE/WORK EXPERIENCE, EDUCATION, SUMMARY/PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Avoid exaggerating your experience or fluffing yourself up

Bragging language can be used during the interview, but we want to be straight to the point with your experience on your resume. Keep it ACHIEVEMENTS focused.

Exclude personal pronouns like I, Me, My

This keeps it focused on your work experience and skills, makes things a bit shorter to squeeze in as much info as you can, and allows you to utilize strong action verbs.

Start each bullet point of your experience with a strong Action Verb

If you’re unsure what type of action verb you should be using, this resource not only gives you examples but also organizes them by impact category (i.e. Leadership, Technical, etc.).

Use past-tense for past experiences, and present-tense for current experiences

If you don’t work at a place anymore, use past-tense when describing your work experience. If you are volunteering or doing a side gig right now, then make sure it’s in the present-tense. TopResume provides some good examples on when to use which tense.

Address gaps in your employment history

These would be things like a career break or becoming a full-time caregiver for a family member that you intentionally took time off from working. I WOULDN’T recommend listing a recent layoff because that is something out of your control.

Use spell check

Misspellings can push away recruiters or mess with your keywords when going through ATS, so make sure everything is grammatically sound. Personally, I recommend Grammarly.

Tailoring

Now that the basics are out of the way, this is THE MOST IMPORTANT part of the application guide. While Workforce Partnerships focuses on one master resume that you can copy, I found that the additional step of the subcategory master resume speeds up your application process even more in the long run.

You can decide which approach you want to take, but I am biased toward making subcategory master resumes since this has been working for me.

So, remember that Template_MasterResume that you filled out with ALL of your job titles and work experience, using the advice from the previous sections, and then renamed to be your name? You need this to create your subcategory master resumes.

If you didn’t do that, then pause here to complete it and come back when you’re ready!

To better explain what I mean by subcategory master resume and then later the JD tailored resume, here is how I define it:

1. Master Resume: This is like your LinkedIn. It has ALL of your work experience throughout your lifetime (yes, this will be a lot of pages, but you AREN’T going to submit this to anyone). Your skills are going to have SO MUCH content that it could be a page alone. You’ll probably have 3-5 job titles listed alone at the top of your resume and they may not even be in the same field or industry at all – and that’s exactly what we want for the next phase. Refer to the JohnDoe_MasterResume if you need help. EX: Titles – Project Manager, IT Specialist, Librarian | Skills – Scrum, Waterfall, Agile, Active Directory, Windows OS, Technical Troubleshooting, Customer Service, Budgeting, Program Coordination
2. Subcategory Master Resume: This is where you’re going to duplicate the Master Resume and focus on one generic job role/title. We then start to remove any experience that is clearly not related to the job role, as well as skills that are not typically expected for that role. Refer to the JohnDoe_MasterMarketingResume if you need help. EX: Title – Project Manager | Skills -Scrum, Waterfall, Agile
3. JD Tailored Resume: You’re going to copy the subcategory master resume that best matches the JD you’re applying to. This is because we are going to use it as a starter template. HOWEVER, you need to make a few key changes:
   • Change your title to match the JD role title
   • Remove skills that the JD does not mention and add skills that you do have that the JD does mention as part of your keyword strategy
   • Modify your summary to emphasize the JD title, JD keyword skills, and JD industry
   • EX: Title – Game Producer, | Skills – Scrum, Backlog Grooming

It sounds like a pain, but once your Master Resume and your Subcategory Master Resumes are in place, then creating copies for your JD Tailored Resume becomes quicker than you think.

Once you adjust, you’ll be able to send 10 or more of your JD Tailored Resumes a day to apply for jobs! Just be sure to give this strategy some time and stay consistent with the guidelines.

Conclusion and Contact

Hopefully, your inbox has started to fill with legitimate interview requests.

If not, it’s important to keep in mind that switching up a few things here and every couple of months that you’re unemployed may be necessary.

Reach out to your recruiter, mentor, or employed friends for a second pair of eyes – they may see something that you don’t!

If you have questions about this guide OR if you would like to see more content like this that I have not covered (i.e. Tracking your Job Applications Effectively, How to Write a Cover Letter, What Should I Apply to?, etc.), feel free to contact me on LinkedIn or via email.

And tag me on LinkedIn when you get that new role so I can congratulate you!