In today’s competitive IT job marketplace résumés are flowing fast and furious as many qualified candidates fight for too few open positions. In this environment, it is important to ensure your CV stands out from the pack and doesn’t get thrown in the trash.
Here are few worthwhile tips to prevent your résumé from getting tossed by an IT recruiter.
1. Short is Sweet
Even if you have loads of relevant experience, try to keep your résumé to one page — two pages at the most. When parsing through potentially hundreds of candidates, hiring managers don’t have the time to read War and Peace.
2. Focus on Achievements Instead of Experience
Try to emphasize the tangible achievements in your career, instead of merely listing a chronological array of job duties. Recruiters are interested on how you will positively impact a company’s bottom line.
3. Bullet Point those Technical Skills
Place a bullet-pointed list of your current technical skills towards the front of the résumé. This gives recruiters looking through tons of candidates an easy to way to see if your skills fit the open position.
4. Don’t Go Crazy with the Font Choices
Getting out your inner graphic designer mojo on a résumé probably isn’t a good idea if you are a software engineer or network administrator. Stick to one font — preferably Times-Roman or a Sans-Serif choice — and occasionally use bolding and bullet points to draw attention to important information.
5. Don’t Age Yourself
If the open position is for an iOS developer, the recruiter probably isn’t interested in your 30-year-old experience in COBOL on an IBM 3090. In many cases, it is wise to only put 15 years worth of experience on a technical résumé.
6. No Hobbies or Outside of Work Interests
Only list extracurricular activities that are relevant to your career. A recruiter is more interested in a Toastmasters or a local technical users group membership than your favorite video games or golf handicap.
If you need any additional advice in writing a technical résumé that will get you noticed, talk to recruiting experts at APN Consulting. They are one of the top IT staffing companies in the New York area, and can help put your career on the right path.