Your resume is more than just your work history. It’s a highlight reel of your skills, career milestones, and professional accomplishments. Hiring managers, technical recruiters and potential employers sort through a plethora of resumes each day to make the right placements. Every time you apply for a position, you have a small window of opportunity to make your professional case and secure a ticket to the next round of the hiring process. Focus on a few key points to build your best resume for the tech job of your dreams.
Accuracy is Everything
Imagine you’re a technical recruiter or a hiring manager, and you see the resume of a candidate who fits your requirements. Once you make contact with the candidate, your first goal will be to validate the information on their resume. How likely will you be to bring someone in for an interview if you catch them in a lie? Any amount of inaccuracy, whether you’re stretching your job responsibilities or leaving out a job because you were fired for cause, is going to undermine the positive attributes you bring to the table. Always be honest on your resume – white lies may help you get a call from a recruiter, but they’ll be able to tell if you’re embellishing your coding skills or covering up that you didn’t finish your degree.
Appearance Matters
It might sound obvious, but proofreading your resume is incredibly important. The last thing you want is for a hiring manager to love your technology skills and be impressed by your career path, but turn you down for the position due to spelling errors, poor formatting or a lack of consistency in your resume. Don’t leave room for any doubts about your level of professionalism to arise. Keep your resume visually clean and easy to read with consistent spacing, fonts, and bullet points.
Show Some Personality
In the world of technology, strong skills matter the most. That being said, it’s important to remember that behind every resume is an individual. Make sure this comes through when you create your resume for a position. As you highlight your work history, include details that speak to your personality as well. Are you a member of any professional organizations? Do you donate your time to a volunteer cause? Most companies want to know they are hiring a well-rounded person, so don’t be afraid to add relevant associations or organizations to your resume.
Keywords Matter
Keep in mind that the people reading your resume don’t know anything about you except what you demonstrate to them. Make sure your resume tells your career story in a clear and concise way. Since it’s impossible (and not recommended – resumes should be concise) to include every single piece of information about your career, use keywords that help hiring managers and recruiters get a quick understanding about your experience and show the value you bring to the table.
Ask a Professional
Your resume is one of the most important parts of your tech career journey, and refining it to the specific opportunity you’re applying for can be a challenge. Don’t hesitate to ask for assistance from a technical recruiter. They are experts at putting together a resume demonstrating how your specific strengths relate to the requirements of the job you are targeting. Reach out to a reliable IT staffing firm and benefit from their experience in promoting talent like yours.
Do you have any great tips for creating an effective resume? Share them with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!
