When you are looking for a job in the information technology field, you'll face tough competition. Employers care deeply about the skills and experience you have, as any hiring company wants to make sure you're up-to-date and able to provide the latest in technology services. Your resume needs to make you stand out from the crowd, and showcasing your years of experience is the key to creating a resume which is a cut above the rest.
To make sure your resume gets noticed and to maximize the chances your experience will get you an interview, there are a few simple steps you can take to clean up your resume.
- Eliminating generic or vague words. Anyone can use generic terms to sound impressive, but hiring managers can see through this type of puffery and will disregard it. You should eliminate any vague terms or generic descriptions on your resume which don't serve to specifically demonstrate a skill or ability you have that makes you right for the job. Go through every word on your resume and determine if it’s vital to the document. If you have friends or colleagues who you trust and value their opinion, show them your resume and ask for honest feedback.
- Focusing on your most recent career. Companies who are hiring are going to look at your career trajectory and at what you've been doing most recently. If your most immediate job has prepared you for the open position, they are far more likely to hire you. Be sure to highlight the skills you've exhibited in this recent position and to show the level of responsibility entrusted to you in order to come across as a candidate who is ready to take on new tasks.
- Highlighting results. You don't want to just say what you can do, you want to show what you can do. Include quantitative data demonstrating the results that you have achieved for employers in past IT positions. It’s easier for a new employer to understand “improved response time by X” instead of a generic analysis. Another area to really be specific is with team projects, which are extremely common in the information technology world. What was your role? How did you contribute? What was the result?
- Focusing on what's important. You should provide the most info about your most recent and your most relevant work experience, but you don't want to have a long list of bullet points for every job – this is just going to make the reader tune out. Hiring managers receive dozens (sometimes hundreds) of resumes for every open position. Don’t give them a reason to put your resume on the bottom of the pile or in the trash can. Get to the point and sell yourself quickly!
When you have a great resume, you need to make sure it gets in front of the right people. Working with an IT staffing firm is key to finding the best opportunities within information technology. Give Technology Partners a call today at 877-636-1331 or contact a leader in information technology recruitment.
