Answers to the Main Questions / Write a resume

Should a resume say what you did or what you can do?

InsightGuidanceAI amplification

Insight

The reader cares what you can do for them. Past-first summaries describe what you have done. Da Vinci-style summaries state generally what you can do for a future or target employer — without packing proof into the summary. On a Da Vinci-style Resume, the overall summary states who you are and generally stated capabilities as employer value; each career experience opens with a short capability-forward experience summary; bullets supply the evidence (capability labels on the current or most recent role). Every fact must come from your notes.

When to use this. You have evidence of what you can do, not only a list of duties, and you want the document to read as “here is the value I can create for you.”

Guidance

  1. Write the overall summary: who you are professionally, then generally stated capabilities as the value you can deliver (no metrics or proof anecdotes in the summary). Targeted → recipient needs; untargeted → career trajectory.
  2. List 4–8 capabilities a hiring manager for this role would pay for—grounded in your evidence, not in what the posting alone wants.
  3. For each role, write a short experience summary stating a capability for a future/target employer — leave proof for the bullets.
  4. Under the current role, pair each capability with one proof bullet from real work.
  5. Older roles: consequence bullets only, no capability labels.
  6. Target a posting by reordering and rewording for emphasis — not by adding facts.

AI amplification

Optional. Copy this into ChatGPT or a similar tool if you want a first draft. Replace the [PASTE] sections with your own material. The work stays in that tool; we do not save it here.

Prompt to copy

Rules: Do not invent employers, job titles, dates, metrics, team sizes, or outcomes. If something is missing, ask me or write [unknown]. Keep hedges such as "approximately" and "more than" exactly as I stated them. Never turn a qualitative result into a number.

Draft a Da Vinci-style (future-first) resume from my evidence and this job posting.

Rules:
- Overall summary: who I am + generally stated capabilities as employer value. Do not put proof, metrics, or accomplishment anecdotes in the summary.
- Each role: short experience summary stating a capability for a future/target employer — no embedded evidence; proof goes in bullets.
- Current/most recent role: capability labels plus proof bullets.
- Older roles: proof bullets only.
- Infer capabilities only when supported by my evidence; never invent to match the posting.
- Use only facts in my evidence. If the posting asks for something I did not evidence, omit it or mark [not in notes].

Job posting:
[PASTE]

Evidence (resume, notes, or both):
[PASTE]

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