Machine Learning Resume that got me shortlisted for Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Uber, Samsung, Intel, and Others
A list of things to focus on your resume, an example CV, and template.
I graduated with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in the Summer of 2021 and started applying for Machine Learning/Data Science jobs in the Spring of 2021. Initially, I didn’t pay much attention to my resume and started applying with one that I have had for a long time. I realized that even though I had applied to plenty of jobs, the number of responses from recruiters was very few. That is when I decided to update my resume both in terms of content and looks. After updating the resume, I started getting more responses which eventually led to five full-time machine learning offers.
Your resume is your first impression to the recruiter. On average, a recruiter spends 10–15 secs on a resume before deciding to further read it or ignore it. Hence it's absolutely necessary to make these 15 seconds count in your favor. This can be done by making the useful information easily accessible when the document is quickly skimmed through. I list a couple of suggestions that helped me achieve this followed by my resume.
A couple of suggestions
- Concise: Your resume should NOT be more than 2 pages long
- Compact: Your resume should NOT have too many white/empty spaces. It should be
- Resourceful: Make use of hyperlinks for your LinkedIn profile, your professor’s webpage, your GitHub projects, etc.
- Coherent: Same formatting across the entire document
- Updated: Keep on updating your resume. Add last update and page number tags
- Tailored: Modify your resume to reflect relevance to the job description highlighting the important keyword
A complete guide on the Dos and Dont’s of a resume can be found below
Sharing my resume
Below is the screenshot of my resume. The resume is made in LaTeX, and the pdf file has embedded hyperlinks on relevant key phrases. It also has the last updated date at the bottom to help the recruiter know if he or she is reading an outdated resume. Since I was pursuing a doctoral degree, I explain in detail what my research is and cite relevant papers. Since I was applying for ML-related jobs, I made sure that the word “Machine Learning” appears in my resume at multiple places.
Template:
A great LaTeX template similar to above (in fact even better) by Joseph Hale can be found below
https://github.com/jhale1805/expressive-resume.
Summary:
Putting yourself on a piece of paper can be a difficult task. The key objective of your resume is to attract the recruiter's attention and make him/her realize that you are a good fit for the job.
