A Facebook director explains how to make your résumé stand out

pulse

June 27, 2017 8:21 PM

Jeff Reynar, director of engineering and New York site lead at Facebook, says the best résumés are about the stories they tell.

Don't bother agonizing over buzzwords.

Crafting "the perfect" résumé to get yourself noticed among a stack of other qualified candidates is an exercise in self-doubt.

Am I using "power words"? Are these the right action verbs? Did I choose the best industry buzzwords?

But obsessing over the nomenclature on your résumé is an ineffective way to spend your time, according to Jeff Reynar, director of engineering and New York site lead at Facebook.

"I think that the myth about buzzwords is a thing that needs to be dispelled," Reynar told Business Insider in June. "You should focus on telling a clear story about what you've done, and in a cover letter explain why you think you'd be a great fit for Facebook and what you want to contribute when you join," he continued.

Reynar's perspective should hold some weight if you're looking to get a job at Facebook. He reviews between 50 and 100 résumés across range of different disciplines each year.

"I think the best résumés are ones that just showcase what you've done," Reynar said. "And what we tend to look for is people who are passionate about an area ... and who have done great work. It doesn't really matter how you describe what you've done as much as [that it] comes across really clearly that you've done something important that its impactful, and done it well, and that you're eager to bring those skills to Facebook."

Candidates should still take their résumé writing seriously and watch out for typos or strange formatting, he said. But overall, keep résumé writing simple.

The most important thing is that it tells a "clear story about who you are and what you've done," Reynar said.

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