Here it is:

Are you trying to please everybody with your resume? Are you afraid of revealing anything that could be misconstrued by someone, somewhere as a potential weakness – i.e. a reason not to hire you?

Then, please, listen closely.

Because what I'm about to share could help you achieve a breakthrough.

When you try to please everyone – and by that I mean, when you try to present yourself as the perfect "rounded" candidate who no recruiter or hiring manager anywhere could ever pick a fault with – you please no one.

Why?

It all comes down to a core principle I teach in Interview Success Formula:

Weakness is the price we pay for strength.

Here's what I mean by this:

Take your biggest strength – your "signature strength".

If it's a real strength, then you can bet your bottom dollar that some hiring manager or recruiter somewhere considers it a weakness.

Because whether the attribute in question is a strength or a weakness depends on the role for which you're applying.

Do you want to know the easiest way to make your resume shine?

(And by that I mean really shine.)

Find out what core strength a company is looking for in their ideal candidate. Then, tweak your resume so that it's focused around this same strength – to the extent that a hiring manager looking for the opposite strength would throw your resume in the trash out of sheer repulsion.

(Remember the "flourless chocolate cake" message I shared before?)