Create Your Resume for Google: Tips and Advice

Main ideas / lessons conveyed

• Resume formatting should be simple, consistent, and easy to scan (clear fonts, spacing, and design).
• Include only relevant information for the specific Google internship/role; avoid unnecessary sections.
• Accuracy matters most: always check for typos.
• Recruiter-focused organization: use clearly delineated sections; Education first for students/recent grads, Experience first for industry professionals.
• Tailoring is key: mirror language from the job description and highlight relevant keywords.
• Use metrics and impact instead of long descriptions; prefer concise, result-focused bullets.
• Technical resumes require extra signals: list programming languages, include GitHub/open source, and incorporate class/personal projects plus engineering-specific experiences.
• A strong resume follows best-practice section content: Education, Experience, optional Leadership/Awards, and an optional “About me” section.

---

Methodology / step-by-step guidance

1) Overall resume basics (all candidates)

• Keep formatting simple and consistent
  • Use consistent font, font sizes, and spacing for quick scanning.
  • Black ink is safest, but other readable colors are fine.
  • Prefer PDF formatting.
• Header / contact info
  • Include contact information and email at the top.
• Objective statements
  • Not required.
  • If included, ensure it’s relevant to the specific role.
• References
  • Not needed.
• Length
  • Business and internship roles: 1 page
  • Engineering roles: up to 2 pages
• Use bullet points
  • Use consistent formatting/structure.
  • Avoid long paragraphs.
• Core quality check
  • Always check for typos (noted as “perhaps the most important tip overall”).

2) Additional basics for technical/engineering candidates

• List programming languages near the top
  • Ensure you’re comfortable interviewing on each language listed.
• Show open-source involvement
  • Include your GitHub profile or other prominent open-source work.
  • Emphasize contribution and engagement in the open-source community.
• Include relevant project types
  • Add personal or class projects.
  • Include experiences related to open source, mobile app/web development, hackathons, and coding competitions.

3) Resume structure / section ordering

• Use clearly delineated sections so recruiters can quickly find information.
• Order depends on background:
  • Student/recent grad: Education first
  • Experienced professional: Experience should take up the bulk
• If you have multiple experience categories:
  • Consider subsections for each category (e.g., internships vs. projects, research vs. work).

4) Education section (what to include)

• Include more detail for more recent education.
• For students/current students:
  • List all post-secondary institutions
  • Include degrees and majors
  • Put the most recent education first
• Dates
  • Include actual graduation date or anticipated date
  • Use month + year format (e.g., May 2017 instead of Spring 2017)
• GPA (if applicable)
  • If you’re a current student/recent grad, include cumulative GPA
  • Note: while GPA matters, Google evaluates the overall package.

5) Experience section (what to include and how)

• Experience can include more than jobs:
  • Student examples: academic research, teaching/tutoring, personal projects, student/class projects
• Technical/engineering additions:
  • Open source contributions, mobile app/web development, hackathons, coding competitions
• Ordering and content format:
  • List all items in reverse chronological order
  • For each job/internship include:
    • Employer
    • Position
    • Dates employed in month + year
  • Keep bullet point descriptions concise and clear
  • Streamline wrapping onto the next line by only one or two words
• Bullet style
  • Start bullets with action words (e.g., created, designed, debugged, negotiated, developed, managed)
• Tailoring to the job description
  • Read the job description and use its language
  • Optionally bold/italicize keywords to highlight match areas

6) Impact-focused bullet formula and examples

• Emphasize results/impact:
  • Use metrics and examples
  • Keep descriptions concise
  • Prefer data comparisons/averages for context
• Recommended framework (explicitly mentioned):
  • “Accomplish X as measured by Y by doing Z”
• Examples provided:
  • Technical/engineering example
    • “Increased server query response time by 15% by restructuring API”
    • Other impact types mentioned: adding new hardware, algorithmic improvements, caching answers, implementing machine learning
  • Business example (builds context step-by-step)
    • Start: “Grew revenue from small medium business clients by 10% quarter over quarter”
    • Enhanced: “Grew revenue from 15 small medium business clients by 10% quarter over quarter by mapping new software features as solutions to their business goals”

7) Leadership and awards section (optional)

• Include:
  • Relevant leadership positions
  • Awards
  • University honors/scholarships
• Use metrics to strengthen statements.
• Example progression given:
  • “Selected as one of 200 participants…” (initial)
  • “Selected as one of 230 participants nationwide…” + more context (final)
  • Context includes leadership potential and academic success

8) Final “About you” / extra section (optional)

• Purpose:
  • Share anything else recruiters should know (especially for students)
• Include (especially if student):
  • Student groups
  • Multicultural involvement
  • Academic, community service, social organizations
  • If leadership role: highlight impact using the “Accomplish X as measured by Y by doing Z” framework
• Optional links:
  • Link relevant publications, papers, patents, and conference presentations
• Add any other meaningful extracurricular activities/experiences.

---

Sources / speakers featured

• Jeremy — “technical recruiter at Google”
• Lizzy — “business recruiter”