A resume has one job: to get a recruiter to pick up the phone. Ours land on real desks, and we read a lot of them, so here is what actually earns an interview across hospitality, the trades and the office.

Most resumes are not passed over because the person lacks the skills. They are passed over because the reader cannot see the skills quickly enough. Fix that and you are most of the way there.

Lead with what you did, not where you sat

  • Swap duties for outcomes. "Ran the pass on a 120 cover service" beats "responsible for kitchen operations".
  • Start each line with a verb: led, built, cut, trained, opened, closed.
  • Put a number on it where you can: covers, team size, sites, dollars, time saved. Numbers make it real.

Put the deciding details up top

For hospitality, trades and industrial roles especially, a recruiter checks a few things before anything else. Make them impossible to miss, near the top of the page:

  • Your right to work in Australia (citizen, permanent resident, or visa and its conditions).
  • Licences and tickets: White Card, forklift, RSA, trade licence, driver licence.
  • Availability and notice period. "Available now" is worth a lot.
  • Where you are based and how far you will travel.

Tailor it to the role in five minutes

  • Mirror the words in the ad. If they say "temp crew", do not only say "casual".
  • Move the three or four most relevant points to the top of each job.
  • Trim anything older than about ten years to a single line, unless it is the whole point.

Make it easy to read

  • One to two pages. A hiring manager skims in under a minute.
  • Clear headings, consistent dates (month and year), and plenty of white space.
  • Send it as a PDF so the layout does not move, and name the file with your name and the role.
  • A current phone number and email at the very top. Then check they are right.

The mistakes that quietly cost interviews

  • Typos in the first three lines.
  • A generic summary that could belong to anyone.
  • Gaps left unexplained. A short, honest one-line note is enough.
  • An email address you no longer check.
  • Listing every task and hoping the reader joins the dots. They will not.
We would rather see three jobs described well than ten listed in a blur. Show us what you are good at, and make it quick to find.

Once your resume is doing its job, the next step is being in front of the right roles. Join our talent pool and we will match you as they come in, and give you a straight read on how you are coming across.