Strategy Simplified S23E11: 400 Bain Resumes Reviewed – 3 Mistakes She Saw Every Time
May 20, 2026
Maile Dyer, a former Bain manager who reviewed 400+ resumes and ran recruiting decisions, shares the three resume sins she saw most: structure, content, and formatting. She explains why impact beats task lists, how to use CAR and numbers to show results, and which formatting cues signal attention to detail. Short, practical fixes to make consulting-ready resumes stand out.
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Use A One Page Four Section Resume
- Structure your resume with a clear heading and four sections: education, experience, leadership, personal.
- Put education first if you're a student; otherwise lead with experience, allocate ~40% to experience and keep to one page.
Prioritize Real Estate On One Page
- Keep your resume to one page and prioritize relevant content; only go to two pages for decades-long careers.
- Allocate roughly 25% education, 40% experience, 20% leadership, 15% personal to show balanced strengths.
Decide Structure Before Using AI
- Use AI to help write bullets but finalize structure and section allocation yourself before generating content.
- Structure choices (what to prioritize and section lengths) are hard for AI and must be decided first.