Please Walk Me Through Your Resume

How to Turn an Ordinary Interview Question into a Job-Winning Moment.

“Could you please walk me through your resume?”

It sounds simple enough. But if you’ve ever answered this question by walking step-by-step through your entire career history—only to see the interviewer’s eyes glaze over—you know it’s trickier than it seems.

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Scroll to bottom for self-coaching worksheet.

The truth is, this isn’t just a routine question. It’s a golden opportunity that most candidates completely miss. Instead of passively recounting your work history, you can use this moment to craft a compelling professional story—one that grabs attention, builds credibility, and positions you as the ideal candidate for the role.

In this article, I’ll show you how to turn this common interview question into a powerful, job-winning moment.

The Hidden Opportunity Behind the Question

When interviewers ask you to walk them through your resume, they’re not just looking for a dry recap of where you’ve worked and for how long. They already have that information on paper.

What they really want to hear is:

• The story behind your career moves

• How your experiences connect into a coherent narrative

• Why your path makes you a strong candidate for this role

• And how you think about your own professional growth

This question often comes early in the interview because it helps set the stage. The way you answer it can frame the entire conversation that follows.

Common Mistakes Candidates Make

Before we dive into the strategy, let’s talk about three common missteps:

1. The Chronological Robot

You start with your very first job and give equal weight to every position—even those from over a decade ago that have little relevance now.

2. The Information Overloader

You provide way too much detail about each role, listing every responsibility instead of focusing on what matters to this job.

3. The Unprepared Wanderer

You jump randomly between roles or experiences, making it hard for the interviewer to follow your story or understand the logic behind your career path.

Each of these approaches misses the opportunity to shape how the interviewer sees you—and how well you fit the role.

The Strategic Approach: Tell a Career Story with Purpose

Instead of falling into those traps, approach your resume walk-through as a strategic narrative with four key elements:

1. Frame Your Story

Start with a concise opening that gives your career a clear direction or theme.

2. Highlight Relevant Chapters

Focus on the roles and achievements most relevant to the position you’re interviewing for.

3. Emphasize Growth and Progression

Show how each step in your career built on the last and prepared you for greater responsibility.

4. Connect to the Present Opportunity

End by explicitly linking your background to the specific role and why you’re excited about it.

This approach makes your story feel intentional, focused, and aligned with the opportunity at hand.

How to Craft a Strong Opening

Your opening frames your entire story. Think of it like a headline for your professional narrative.

Here are a few examples:

• If you’ve had a steady path: “My career has followed a path of increasing responsibility in financial analysis, starting in accounting and evolving into investment evaluation for renewable energy projects.”

• If you’ve transitioned roles or industries: “I started in marketing but found myself drawn to the data side of the work. That interest led me to specialize in data-driven marketing and eventually transition fully into analytics.”

• If your background is diverse: “I’ve worked across healthcare, manufacturing, and tech—but the common thread has been leading cross-functional teams through complex transformations.”

This kind of framing gives the interviewer a lens through which to interpret your experience—and helps them see the bigger picture.

The Body: Focus on Highlights, Not History

Once you’ve framed your story, walk through your most relevant roles—but don’t just list everything.

For each key role:

• Briefly introduce the company and your title

• Highlight 1–2 key achievements or responsibilities that relate to this opportunity

• If relevant, explain your reason for transitioning to your next role—focusing on growth or learning, not dissatisfaction

As you move further back in your history, feel free to condense or skip roles that aren’t directly relevant.

For example:

Less effective: “In 2015, I joined XYZ Company as a Marketing Specialist. I managed social media, wrote content, planned events…” (and on it goes)

More effective: “At XYZ Company, I progressed from Marketing Specialist to Senior Specialist, focusing on digital campaigns that increased engagement by 45%. That experience deepened my expertise in data-driven marketing and set me up for my next role at…”

It’s shorter, sharper, and tells a story of results and progression.

How to Close Strong

The conclusion of your resume walk-through is just as important as the opening. This is where you bring it all together and connect your experience directly to the role at hand.

Try something like:

“These experiences have given me a strong foundation in both technical execution and strategic leadership. I believe that combination aligns well with what you’re looking for in this role. I’m especially excited about the opportunity to apply my background in [relevant skill or experience] to help your team achieve [specific goal or challenge mentioned in the job description].”

This does three things:

1. Reinforces your fit for the role

2. Shows that you’ve done your homework

3. Sets up the rest of the interview for deeper, more meaningful discussion

Adapting Your Walk-Through to Different Situations

While the core structure stays the same, you should adapt your approach based on your background and audience:

• For experienced professionals: Focus more on recent, relevant roles. Earlier positions can be condensed.

• For career changers: Emphasize transferable skills and relatable experiences, even if they’re from a different industry.

• For recent grads: Highlight internships, capstone projects, and coursework that demonstrate relevant capabilities.

• For panel interviews: Keep your walk-through especially clear and structured so multiple interviewers can follow your story.

Your goal is to present the most relevant and compelling version of your story for this specific role—not to cover everything you’ve ever done.

Your Turn: Craft Your Own Resume Walk-Through

This week, I encourage you to take time and craft a strategic resume walk-through for a role you’re targeting—even if you’re not actively interviewing yet.

To help you, I’ve created a free Resume Walk-Through Builder, which you can download using the link below.

For a deeper exploration with stories and examples, check out this book: “Future-Proof: Build a Career That’s You.”  It covers many other tools to help you design a sustainable, fulfilling career.

Worksheet

👉 Download the free Resume Walkthrough Builder below. You'll still have to customize it to make it fit your needs, but this should help you get going.

Click here for direct access. ✅ Google doc: click File, then Make a Copy

✅ Microsoft Word: click File, then Download, then choose Microsoft Word (.docx)

✅ PDF: click File, then Download, then choose PDF Document (.pdf)

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