resume-optimizer

---

name: resume-optimizer description: Optimize engineering resumes using proven STAR/XYZ methodologies, ATS best practices, and hiring manager insights. Use when reviewing resumes, improving bullet points, tailoring to job descriptions, or enhancing professional presentation. Keywords: resume, CV, bullet points, STAR, XYZ, ATS, job description, optimize, tailor, action verbs, quantify, achievements

Resume Optimizer

Comprehensive resume optimization using industry-proven methodologies from hiring managers, recruiters, and FAANG engineers.

Instructions

When activated, analyze the resume systematically across multiple dimensions and provide actionable, specific recommendations.

1. Initial Assessment

First, understand the context:

• Read the resume source file (will_cygan_resume.typ for this project)
• Read the evidence base — work-experience/01-linkedin-swe.md, work-experience/02-linkedin-sr-swe.md, and work-experience/99-personal-projects.md are the source-of-truth logs backing every LinkedIn and personal-project claim on the resume. work-experience/ACRONYMS.md glosses internal terms. Each project carries a Relevance Score (1–5 + rationale) — see work-experience/RELEVANCE.md for the rubric. Treat the score as a calibration prior: RS 5/4 material missing from the resume is a buried lead; RS 2/1 material on the resume is wasted real estate.
• Identify the target role (if user provides job description, analyze it for keywords)
• Understand career level (entry-level, mid-level, senior, staff+)
• Note current structure (sections, ordering, formatting)

2. Core Optimization Areas

Analyze and optimize across these dimensions:

A. Formatting & Readability (Critical for 10-second scan)

Check for common mistakes:

• ❌ Two-page resumes (unless 10+ YoE for senior/staff roles)
• ❌ Double spacing (wastes space, confuses ATS parsing)
• ❌ 3+ line bullet points (shows poor conciseness)
• ❌ Professional summaries (AI-generated paragraphs waste space)
• ❌ Oversized margins or massive fonts
• ❌ Broken URLs or inconsistent fonts
• ❌ Headers/footers (ATS parsing issues)
• ❌ Two-column layouts with photos
• ❌ Icons, images, graphics
• ❌ Justified text (inconsistent spacing)
• ❌ Excessive bolding, italics, or ALL CAPS

Enforce best practices:

• ✅ Single page (max 2 pages for 10+ YoE)
• ✅ Single spacing with sufficient white space
• ✅ 1-2 line bullets maximum
• ✅ Standard margins (0.4-0.5 inches minimum)
• ✅ Consistent formatting throughout
• ✅ Clean, single-column layout
• ✅ Modern readable fonts (Calibri, Arial, Bitstream Charter)
• ✅ Black text, 10.5pt+ font size
• ✅ Clear section separation

B. Bullet Point Quality (STAR/XYZ/CAR Methods)

For each bullet point, verify it follows one of these proven frameworks:

STAR Method:

• Situation: Context/challenge
• Task: Your responsibility
• Action: What you did (specific technical actions)
• Results: Quantifiable impact

XYZ Formula (Google's method):

• Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y], by doing [Z]

CAR Method:

• Challenge: Problem faced
• Action: Solution implemented
• Result: Outcome achieved

Bullet point checklist:

• Starts with strong past-tense action verb
• 1-2 lines maximum (use Quillbot/LanguageTool to shorten)
• Quantifies impact when possible (metrics at start of bullet)
• Includes technical details and tools/technologies used
• Avoids personal pronouns (I, we, my, our)
• No periods at end (bullets aren't full sentences)
• Doesn't wrap with only 1-4 words on next line
• Ordered from most relevant/impressive to least

Good action verbs:

• analyzed, architected, automated, built, created, decreased, designed, developed, implemented, improved, optimized, published, reduced, refactored

Avoid weak verbs:

• aided, assisted, coded, collaborated, communicated, executed, exposed to, gained experience, helped, participated, programmed, ran, used, utilized, worked on

Avoid superfluous/awkward verbs:

• amplified, conceptualized, crafted, elevated, employed, engaged, engineered, enhanced, ensured, fostered, headed, honed, innovated, mastered, orchestrated, perfected, pioneered, revolutionized, spearheaded, transformed

Avoid excessive adjectives/adverbs:

• excellent, innovative, expert, revolutionary, disruptive, creatively, diligently, meticulously, strategically, successfully, independently

C. Content Strategy

Work Experience:

• Focus on accomplishments, not job duties
• Highlight technical work and challenges overcome
• Show impact of your work (business value)
• Add context and technical details
• Differentiate yourself - don't be humble
• Order positions by relevance OR impressiveness
• Clearly indicate internships and contract positions
• For sensitive/NDA work: describe technologies without revealing specifics

Skills Section:

• Name it "Skills" (not "Technical Skills" or "Relevant Skills")
• 3 lines or less, single column format
• Order skills from most important to least
• Separate into categories: Languages, Technologies, Tools, etc.
• Use commas to separate (not pipes, hyphens, dashes)
• Proper capitalization (SolidWorks, JavaScript, PostgreSQL)
• Include languages you could theoretically interview in
• Repeat skills mentioned in bullet points
• NO soft skills (teamwork, leadership)
• NO assumed skills (Microsoft Word, typing, IDEs, OS, Git hosting sites)
• NO descriptors like "Expert in" or "Professional in"

Projects Section (if needed):

• Name it "Projects" (not "Personal/Academic/Technical Projects")
• Don't use word "project" in titles
• Include 2+ meaningful projects
• Link to GitHub/portfolio (only if well-maintained)
• Each project has bullet points (not paragraphs)
• Order by relevance and impressiveness
• Should solve real problems with actual users
• Not just tutorial projects or school assignments

Education:

• No coursework unless extremely specialized
• No high school
• Graduation date only (not date range)
• "Expected May 2025" if currently student
• Bachelor's and Master's (note apostrophe placement)
• GPA if >3.75 (2 decimal places max)
• Remove GPA after first full-time job (unless very impressive)

D. ATS Optimization

Critical ATS facts:

• ATSs are databases run by humans, not AI filters
• 98.4% of Fortune 500 companies use ATS
• Recruiters manually review applications
• Keyword searching is primary qualification method
• Both PDF and Word work fine (recommend PDF for formatting)

ATS best practices:

• Use exact job title from posting in resume (10.2x more interview requests)
• Include keywords from job description naturally throughout
• Use both acronyms and full terms (AWS + Amazon Web Services)
• Standard section headers (Experience, Education, Skills)
• Avoid tables, text boxes, headers/footers
• Simple formatting that parses cleanly
• Industry-specific terminology when relevant

E. Common Mistakes to Fix

Content issues:

• Listing job duties instead of accomplishments
• Including irrelevant personal information
• Unprofessional email addresses
• Outdated or irrelevant skills
• Excessive job hopping without growth pattern (5+ jobs in 4 years)
• Unverified links (broken GitHub/LinkedIn)
• AI-generated content (auto-reject)

Formatting issues:

• Words getting hyphenated/wrapped
• Sub-bullet points cluttering resume
• Apostrophes, ampersands, slashes excessively
• Abbreviating months with digits (9/2013)
• Using hyphens instead of en dashes for date ranges
• Bullets extending past right-aligned dates
• Including full URLs (use: github.com/username not https://www.github.com/username)

3. Job-Specific Tailoring

When user provides a job description:

Step 1: Analyze job description

• Extract required skills (must-haves)
• Extract preferred skills (nice-to-haves)
• Identify key responsibilities
• Note company values/culture signals
• Find repeated keywords and technologies

Step 2: Resume mapping

• Match your experience to requirements
• Identify gaps and how to address them
• Reorder bullets to highlight relevant experience first
• Add missing keywords where authentic
• Adjust technical details to match their stack

Step 3: Keyword integration

• Include exact job title in resume
• Mirror language from job description
• Use technology names as they appear in posting
• Include industry-specific terminology
• Natural integration (not keyword stuffing)

4. Output Format

Present findings organized by priority:

🔴 Critical Issues (Must Fix)

• Formatting problems that hurt readability
• Weak bullet points lacking STAR/XYZ structure
• Missing quantification opportunities
• ATS parsing issues

🟡 Improvement Opportunities

• Stronger action verbs
• Better quantification
• Reordering for impact
• Skills section optimization

🟢 Enhancement Suggestions

• Job-specific tailoring recommendations
• Additional technical details to include
• Portfolio/GitHub improvements
• Strategic positioning

For each recommendation:

• Location: Section and specific bullet/line
• Current: What it says now
• Issue: Why it's suboptimal
• Improved: Specific rewrite suggestion
• Rationale: Why the change works better

5. Special Considerations

Career Level Adaptations:

Entry-level/new grad:

• Section order: Education → Experience → Projects → Skills
• Focus on projects if limited work experience
• Emphasize fundamental engineering skills first
• Include relevant coursework if truly specialized
• GPA if >3.75

Mid-level (3-10 YoE):

• Section order: Skills → Experience → Education OR Experience → Skills → Education
• Focus on technical depth and business impact
• Show progression and increasing responsibility
• Move education to bottom
• Remove GPA

Senior/Staff (10+ YoE):

• Can extend to 2 pages maximum
• Include brief summary (2 sentences max)
• Mention "soft" achievements and influence
• Make earlier experiences more concise
• Separate resumes for management vs IC roles

Career changers:

• Include brief summary explaining transition
• Link to working projects and source code
• Be concise about past experience
• Keep to 1 page
• Focus on transferable skills

6. Typst Resume Context

IMPORTANT: This project uses Typst, not LaTeX or Markdown

Project Structure:

• Source file: will_cygan_resume.typ (Typst markup language)
• Template: @preview/modern-cv:0.8.0 (imported from Typst package registry)
• PDF output: will_cygan_resume.pdf
• Development: just dev or typst watch will_cygan_resume.typ
• Compilation: just compile or typst compile will_cygan_resume.typ
• Testing: just ci (or uv run scripts/run-local-ci.py) before pushing

Typst Syntax Reference:

• Official docs: https://typst.app/docs/reference
• Syntax guide: https://typst.app/docs/reference/syntax/
• Styling: https://typst.app/docs/reference/styling/
• Scripting: https://typst.app/docs/reference/scripting/
• Context: https://typst.app/docs/reference/context/

modern-cv Template Functions:

1. resume-entry - Job/project/education entries:

#resume-entry(
  title: "Job Title",
  location: "City, State",
  date: "Month YYYY – Month YYYY",
  description: "Company Name",
  title-link: "https://url",
)

2. resume-item - Bullet points under entries:

#resume-item[
  - First bullet point
  - Second bullet point
  - Third bullet point
]

3. resume-skill-item - Skills section:

#resume-skill-item(
  "Category Name",
  (
    "Skill 1",
    "Skill 2",
    "Skill 3",
  ),
)

4. github-link - GitHub repository links:

#github-link("username/repo")

When Making Recommendations:

1. Always use Typst syntax (not Markdown or LaTeX)

   • Bullets use - inside #resume-item[ ] blocks
   • Links use #github-link() or raw URLs
   • Section headers use = Header Name

2. Reference line numbers from will_cygan_resume.typ

   • Example: "Line 34: Current bullet could be improved..."

3. Maintain template structure

   • Don't suggest breaking out of #resume-entry() / #resume-item[] patterns
   • Keep skills in #resume-skill-item() format
   • Preserve section order (Work Experience → Projects → Skills → Education)

4. Provide complete code blocks showing exact Typst syntax:

// ❌ Current (Line 34):
#resume-item[
  - Worked on payment systems using Kafka
]

// ✅ Improved:
#resume-item[
  - Architected payment processing system using Kafka and Samza,
    handling 50K+ QPS with 99.9% reliability for 2M+ daily transactions
]

5. Consider PDF rendering
   • Bullets should fit cleanly on 1-2 lines when compiled
   • Test changes with typst watch to see live preview
   • Ensure text doesn't overflow or create awkward line breaks

Example Current Resume Structure:

#import "@preview/modern-cv:0.8.0": *

#show: resume.with(
  author: (
    firstname: "Will",
    lastname: "Cygan",
    email: "[e-mail]",
    github: "wcygan",
    linkedin: "wcygan",
    positions: ("Senior Software Engineer",),
  ),
)

= Work Experience

#resume-entry(
  title: "Senior Software Engineer",
  location: "Chicago, IL",
  date: "March 2024 – Present",
  description: "LinkedIn",
)

#resume-item[
  - Bullet point 1
  - Bullet point 2
]

Typst-Specific Tips:

• Use proper en dashes – (not hyphens -) in date ranges: "March 2024 – Present"
• Escape special characters with backslash: \$2M+ for dollar signs
• Multi-line bullets are allowed - Typst handles line wrapping automatically
• Comments use // for documentation

7. Reference Materials

Typst-Specific Documentation:

• See TYPST-REFERENCE.md in this skill directory for complete Typst syntax guide
• Always consult when making Typst-specific recommendations
• Reference for modern-cv template functions and parameters
• Includes common issues, debugging tips, and best practices

Available in /advice directory:

• Engineering resume best practices (r/EngineeringResumes wiki)
• Tech Interview Handbook guidance
• ATS myths and realities
• Direct hiring manager perspectives
• SRE interviewer insights
• What employers look for in candidates

Use these sources to:

• Validate recommendations against expert consensus
• Provide authoritative citations for advice
• Understand hiring manager psychology
• Optimize for real-world hiring practices
• Ensure Typst syntax is correct when suggesting changes

Tools to Use

• Read: Read resume source file and reference materials
• Grep: Search for specific patterns or keywords
• Edit: Make surgical changes to resume content
• Write: Create comprehensive analysis reports
• Bash: Use jq/yq for structured data analysis if needed

Example Activation Scenarios

This skill activates when users say:

• "Review my resume"
• "Help me improve my bullet points"
• "Optimize my resume for this job description"
• "Make my resume more ATS-friendly"
• "Improve my action verbs"
• "Tailor my resume for [company/role]"
• "Check my resume formatting"
• "How can I quantify this experience better?"

Success Metrics

A successful optimization results in:

• ✅ All bullets follow STAR/XYZ/CAR structure
• ✅ Strong action verbs throughout
• ✅ Quantified achievements (when possible)
• ✅ Clean, ATS-friendly formatting
• ✅ Relevant keywords naturally integrated
• ✅ 1-2 line bullets maximum
• ✅ Single page (unless senior with 10+ YoE)
• ✅ Clear technical details and impact
• ✅ Passes 10-second scan test