Stop Losing Economist Job Offers Because of Your Resume
Identify and correct the critical mistakes that keep hiring managers from seeing your analytical expertise.
Common Mistakes That Kill Your Chances
Each mistake includes why it hurts, how to fix it, and before/after examples
- Fails to showcase specialized economic expertise
- Gets filtered out by keyword‑based ATS scans
- Provides no measurable value to the reader
- Replace the objective with a concise Professional Summary
- Highlight your sector focus (e.g., macro‑policy, financial economics)
- Add 2–3 quantifiable achievements that demonstrate impact
Objective: Seeking a challenging position where I can utilize my skills.
Professional Summary: Macro‑economist with 5 years of experience shaping fiscal policy for a central bank, delivering forecasts that improved budget accuracy by 12 %.
- Clutters the resume with low‑value information
- Dilutes focus on real‑world economic analysis
- ATS may miss core competency keywords
- Create a "Key Skills" section with tools and methods (e.g., econometric modeling, Stata, R)
- Summarize coursework only if directly tied to the job description
- Use bullet points to highlight applied projects
Coursework: Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, International Trade, Economic History, Statistics, Calculus I, Calculus II, Philosophy.
Key Skills: Econometric modeling (Stata, R), Forecasting, Policy impact analysis, Data visualization (Tableau), Advanced Excel, Python for data science.
- Hiring managers can’t gauge your contribution
- ATS scores lower when numbers are absent
- Resume looks like a duties list rather than achievements
- Start each bullet with an action verb and a metric
- Show percentage improvements, dollar values, or model accuracy gains
- Keep each bullet under 2 lines
- Conducted economic research for the department. - Prepared reports for senior staff.
- Led a team of 3 analysts to develop a macro‑forecast model that reduced forecast error by 15 % and saved $200 K annually. - Authored policy briefs influencing a $5 M budget reallocation for infrastructure projects.
- Creates a sloppy visual impression
- ATS may misinterpret date strings, causing parsing errors
- Hiring managers waste time deciphering timelines
- Standardize dates to "MMM YYYY" (e.g., Jan 2020 – Dec 2022)
- List locations as "City, Country" or "City, State" consistently
- Align dates to the right margin for easy scanning
Economic Analyst Federal Reserve Bank 2018 – 2021 Washington, DC
Economic Analyst – Federal Reserve Bank Jan 2018 – Dec 2021 Washington, DC
- Economists are judged on scholarly output; omission undervalues expertise
- ATS may miss key research keywords
- Recruiters miss evidence of thought leadership
- Add a dedicated "Publications & Research" section after Experience
- List up to 4 most relevant works with concise citations
- Include impact metrics (citations, journal impact factor) when available
(No section for publications)
Publications & Research - "Monetary Policy Transmission in Emerging Markets," Journal of Economic Dynamics, 2022 (Citations: 45). - Co‑author, "Fiscal Multipliers Post‑COVID," IMF Working Paper, 2021 (Impact Factor: 4.2).
- Use a professional email address
- Include a headline with "Economist" and specialization
- Add a concise summary with 3‑4 impact metrics
- List key analytical tools (Stata, R, Python)
- Show quantifiable results for each role
- Standardize dates to MMM YYYY
- Provide up to 4 relevant publications
- Tailor keywords to the job description
- Save as PDF with searchable text
- Run through an ATS checker before sending
- Standardize headings
- Insert quantifiable impact statements
- Add relevant economic keywords
- Convert dates to MMM YYYY
- Optimize layout for ATS
