About me
I'm Cole Thomas.
I have always had a passion for entrepreneurship. But 5 years ago, I would have never guessed I would be running a resume-writing company full-time.
I graduated with a degree in English literature and my plan was (and still is) to go to law school. However, after undergrad, I felt that I wanted more real-life experience before pursuing a career in law.
I had one criterion for my job in the interim: I had to find a job where I could learn and build skills valuable to the rest of my career.
And that’s why I ended up working for a Canadian headhunting agency.
What better than a company that lets me see behind the curtains of the corporate world? I got to trace how career success functions in professional environments—over and over.
In my job there, my primary task was building keyword combinations that pulled the right candidates out of databases based on the client’s required skillset.
In doing so, I screened about 60,000 resumes.
I was the "algorithm" that everyone imagines screens their resume.
But as I counted my way to 60,000—one by one—I noticed that most candidates missed significant opportunities to represent themselves better. Resumes weren't appropriately formatted; many focused on the least relevant details to the candidate's career; they were rarely tailored.
I now had this extensive keyword knowledge across all industries: engineering, information technology, finance, business, sales, human resources, accounting, construction, etc.
Plus the writing chops to package those keywords within a meaningful narrative. I knew I could write application packages presenting the most relevant possible version of that candidate for any specific job.
Most resumes are full of simple, cliche remarks about "collaborating with the team" when they could have described the large accomplishments of the candidate.
Resumes need to quantify and qualify achievements.
The candidates who had stood out to hiring managers had evidence-based resumes, and they told a story—across all their experiences—that was cohesive and clear.
That story also aligned with the company’s values and goals.
A good resume anticipates questions the hiring manager will ask and answers them.
And so, as my friends and acquaintances asked me more frequently for resume help, I kept offering it.
Quickly, I realized that my skills were valuable to a broader audience than just friends, so I launched my company.
I wanted to use my experience to help others land their dream jobs by creating resumes and cover letters that spoke to the hiring manager better than the other applications.
And now here I am; I have been running my company full-time since May 2023.
And I love my job. Helping people excel in their career search has been extremely rewarding.
I know already that I will continue this business through law school. I plan to hire someone to take some of the work off my plate and allow me to continue to work with clients in addition to my studies.
So, how can I help you in your career search?
10 Facts About Cole Thomas
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Loves long-distance running.
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Has 4 siblings (3 of whom are sisters).
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He is an ex-beekeeper who will return to the hobby when he buys a house.
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Nose doesn’t work 90% of the time…yup he's a mouth breather.
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Grew up on a farm in rural Canada.
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Believes Beatrice chocolate milk is the superior chocolate milk.
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Brags too much about his homemade sweet potato gnocchi which he only made a handful of times (but apparently it's phenomenal).
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Loves to write in his free time but hates sharing his writing (that doesn't apply to his customers' resumes though; do not worry.
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Will 100% talk too much about the most recent book he read just so you know he read a book.
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When asked at his preschool graduation ceremony what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said a firefighter. Sometimes dreams die I suppose.
