September 22, 2010

The do’s and don'ts of resumes for tech positions

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By Kristen Fife
NWjobs

Q: I'm interested in the do's and dont's when sending a resume for tech positions. What puts a resume on the bottom of the stack or in the recycle bin?

Kristen says: Resumes are a job seeker's sales and marketing tool. There are some general guidelines in resume construction across all industries.

The most common mistake candidates make is not targeting their resume. By targeting, I mean making sure that everything on your resume has valuable details on it that point to hard functional skills and experience. In other words, show, don't tell. For example, "Great oral and written communication skills" is generic, whereas, "Extensive experience creating technical documentation and presenting original content at security industry conferences" is targeted.

People also misunderstand how to use "keywords." Many people think that a list of industry buzz words (often listed as "competencies") is an appropriate use of keywords; it isn't. For keywords to be valuable, they need to be used contextually.

Functional resumes (which are organized by groups of skills) are a fast way to throw yourself out of consideration for almost any job; hiring managers want to see a progression of your skills in the context of your professional history (also known as a chronological resume).

Statistics are especially valuable to include (using dollar amounts, percentages, size of teams and projects). Also, a professional summary at the top of a resume helps orient your reader and takes the place of the mostly outdated "objective."

In the technology sector specifically, recruiters and hiring managers are looking for up-to-date technologies (a list near the top is usually helpful), high-impact projects, and a list of the tools/processes/technologies you use per project. Repeated use of technology terms also helps ensure your resume comes up higher on a Boolean search.

Technology professionals are some of the biggest offenders for including graphics, such as certification logos, on their resumes. Stick to plain text and never go smaller than a 10 point font. Corbel has been shown in usability studies to be the best font most professionals use (although most of the san-serif fonts are easier to read on computer screens).

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