GET YOUR RESUME OUT OF THE ‘NO’ PILE

Most standard rules for resume formatting don’t apply in the information technology industry, particularly if you’re a consultant with a lot of projects under your belt. While length is still a factor (see tip 4), organization and including right details are the most important things for you to pay attention to when tailoring your resume.

Format your resume in an easy to follow layout

• Start with a summary of your skills and work history.
• Follow it with a list of your technical skills.
• Describe your work history in detail. Your goal is for your most relevant qualifications to be easy to find. They should jump out at the hiring manager or recruiter looking at your resume.

Detail your relevant work experience and accomplishments

• Use your bullet points to demonstrate how you used your technical skills on a project (like we’re doing).
• Don’t misrepresent your work history by listing skills or accomplishments you don’t have.

Tailor your resume for every job you want to get

• Yes, this takes time. But you want a job, right?
• Highlight your most relevant skills and experience
• Cater your resume to the job you want without misrepresenting your technical skill.

Match the length of your resume to your experience

• It’s a myth that you need to keep your resume to one page. Resumes for IT professionals with several years of experience, should usually be 2-3 pages long.
• To keep it to this length, summarize your last 2-3 years in detail.
• Unless your accomplishments from an older job are directly related to the job you are applying for, only list your job title, the company you worked for, and the technical environment.

You don’t want to be eliminated from consideration simply because your resume is 8 pages long. Keep it down to the appropriate length for your relevant experience.

Have someone proofread your resume for you after you’ve run spell check on it

A resume with spelling, grammar, punctuation, or capitalization errors should never see the hands of a recruiter, HR person, or hiring manager. Here are a few specific things to keep in mind:

• Don’t use informal language, symbols (&) or ‘etc.’ (IT acronyms are OK.)
• Use present tense for your current role and use past tense for everything else.
• Catch words that shouldn’t be capitalized. Note: spellcheck probably won’t catch this. Absolutely no spelling mistakes.
• Employ consistent punctuation. Either always include the period at the end of the bullet point, or never do.

There’s never a guarantee when you send out a resume that someone will look through it and see what a great fit you are for the job. But you optimize your chances when you submit a resume that is easy to follow, tailored to the job you want, and free of errors. Take the extra time to get it right. It might just be what gets you the job you want.