Sometimes the problem isn’t that we don’t know what we’ve accomplished. It’s that we’re too close to our own experience to see it clearly.
We are aware of the jobs we have had, of the responsibilities we have undertaken, and of how hard we have worked. Yet when it comes to putting all this experience on a resume, a great many of us end up summarising years of experience into a list of duties which could apply to almost anybody.
That was one of the biggest takeaways from my recent Starter Girlz conversation with Mae Schaefer and Debra Wheatman, co-founders of Craft Career Studio.
We talked about career transitions, AI’s growing role in the hiring process, and why the human story behind your experience matters more than ever.
I’m not a resume expert, but I do understand what it feels like to look at your own life and struggle to connect the dots. Sometimes it takes another set of eyes to help you recognize the value, skills, and experience you’ve stopped noticing because they’ve become so familiar.
Your Resume Is More Than a List of Responsibilities
Many resumes are built around job titles and responsibilities:
Managed a team.
Handled client accounts.
Oversaw marketing projects.
That may explain what you were assigned to do, but it doesn’t tell anyone what happened because you were there.
What did you improve? What problem did you solve? What did you build, change, or move forward?
There is a significant difference between saying you managed marketing projects and explaining that you led a campaign that increased lead generation. One describes a responsibility. The other demonstrates an outcome.
That is the story employers need to see.
A strong resume shouldn’t only document where you’ve been. It should help someone understand where you can go next.
Aspiration and Outcome
One idea Debra shared was that a resume needs to communicate both aspiration and outcome.
Aspiration is where you want to go.
Outcome is the evidence that shows you can get there.
That stood out to me because so often you see resumes written entirely from the past. Job seekers list everything they’ve done but never clearly connect it to what they want to do next.
It leaves the hiring manager trying to figure out how all the pieces fit together.
Your experience matters, but how you position it matters too. The goal is to create a clear line between what you’ve already accomplished and the opportunity you’re pursuing now.
You May Be Underselling Yourself
We also talked about how easily people can minimize their qualifications. Anyone can undervalue their skills or experience, but this can be especially true for women.
A woman may look at eight job requirements, meet seven, and decide she shouldn’t apply. She may dismiss relevant experience because it didn’t happen in the exact same position or industry.
But transferable skills are still real skills.
Leadership doesn’t stop being leadership because it happened in a different environment. Problem-solving, communication, relationship-building, strategy, and the ability to deliver results don’t disappear just because you’re moving into something new.
This doesn’t mean exaggerating your experience or claiming something that isn’t true. It means not making yourself smaller on paper.
Your resume is a marketing document. If you don’t clearly communicate what you’ve contributed, the reader may never see it.
AI Can Help—But It Shouldn’t Replace You
AI is becoming part of nearly every stage of the hiring process. Employers use automated systems to sort applications, scan for keywords, and sometimes reject candidates before a human ever sees their information.
Job seekers are also using AI to write resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles. For example, you can use an AI tool to quickly generate a first draft or brainstorm keywords that match your target role. This can help you get started when you’re feeling stuck or need inspiration.
There is nothing wrong with using technology to help organize your thoughts or improve your structure. The problem comes when the finished product no longer sounds like you.
AI-generated language can be polished while still feeling empty. It can produce the same vague words and phrases for thousands of people, making everyone sound remarkably similar.
That creates a real risk: the more we rely on AI to speak for us, the easier it becomes to lose what distinguishes us.
Your experience has context. It has challenges, decisions, lessons, and results. Those details are what make your professional story yours.
Before using something AI has written, ask yourself:
Is it accurate?
Does it sound like me?
Is it specific to my experience?
Could this same sentence appear on anyone else’s resume?
If it could describe almost anyone, it probably isn’t communicating enough about you.
Sometimes You Need Another Set of Eyes
This may have been the most important part of the conversation for me.
We can become so attached to how we think something should be presented that we stop seeing other possibilities. We repeat the same language, focus on the same details, and continue approaching the problem from the same angle.
Sometimes we’re too close to see what’s missing.
Another person may recognize a pattern in your career that you’ve never noticed. They may see value in an experience you dismissed or identify a strength that feels ordinary to you because you’ve been using it for years. Consider reaching out to a trusted colleague, mentor, or career coach for feedback on your resume. Their perspective can often reveal insights or opportunities you might overlook on your own.
That doesn’t only apply to resumes. It applies to business, relationships, leadership, and almost every transition we navigate.
Sometimes progress requires more information. Other times, it requires a fresh perspective.
Rejection Is Not a Final Verdict
Job searching can be discouraging, especially when applications are repeatedly rejected without any meaningful explanation.
But rejection doesn’t always tell you what you think it does.
A hiring decision can be influenced by timing, competition, an internal candidate, organizational changes, specific experience, or someone’s perception of fit. It doesn’t automatically mean you were incapable of doing the job.
You may need to refine your resume. You may need to clarify your direction or communicate your results more effectively. But you don’t need to allow every rejection to become a judgment about your value.
Treat rejection as information—not identity.
Show Them Where You’re Going
If you’re updating your resume or LinkedIn profile, start with these questions:
What kind of role do I want next?
What have I already done that shows I can succeed there?
What changed because of my contribution?
Does the way I’m describing myself actually sound like me?
Don’t simply list your past. Show how your experience connects to your future.
And if you’re struggling to see that connection, it may not be because it isn’t there. You may simply be too close to see it clearly.
To hear my full conversation with Mae Schaefer and Debra Wheatman of Craft Career Studio:
Watch on YouTube
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Editor’s note: This article was developed from my Starter Girlz conversation with Mae Schaefer and Debra Wheatman and prepared with AI-assisted drafting and editorial review.