A resume will not get you a job, but a brief, tightly focused and clearly written resume can be your ticket for the all-important interview with a hiring manager, says John Reed, executive director of Robert Half Technology (RHT).
“The key really is to present your qualifications in a way that very succinctly highlights the expertise that you bring to table,” says Reed.
Thousands of applicants submit their resumes to RHT each week, but Reed estimates that many of those resumes submitted are too long, vaguely worded, sloppily organized, and marred by typos and inconsistent employment dates.
RHT staff recruiters review each resume submitted—on a computer screen. A resume has only a matter of seconds to deliver information about an applicant’s technical and “soft” skills and experience.
“Brevity is important,” says Reed. “Your resume should quickly and cleanly outline the technical skills and the soft skills that you bring to the table—that’s paramount.”
Reed’s recommendations for a successful resume are:
1. Keep it short: Limit your resume to one or two pages, max.
2. Organize it: A resume should include:
An Objective: One to three sentences that describe the ideal role or type of position you are seeking—so there’s no mystery about what you want. For example: “I am seeking a position as a mobile application developer for an advertising, marketing or public relations firm.”
Professional Skills: List your specific technical skills such as experience with hardware, network structures, software, operating systems, databases, programming languages, etc. CompTIA and other related IT certifications and degrees should be included in this section. “This hard technical stuff has got to come through loud and clear, and be written very cleanly and crisply, as one of the first things spelled out in your resume,” said Reed. “Soft” skills—personal attributes involving communication, leadership, or teamwork skills, for example—should NOT be listed in the “professional skills” section, he contends.
History of Professional Experience: Document the chronological history of your employment, starting with your current role and working backwards in time—but not too far back. “If you’ve been in IT for 30 years, working for a lot of different companies, only list your most recent experience over the last 10 years,” says Reed. “Going back more than 10 years will dilute your resume, unless you think that your older employment experience will help you win your target job.”
Key Accomplishments: Within your employment history, highlight three or four key accomplishments —any way that you helped to increase productivity, reduce cost or bring value to your employer. Highlight your “soft” skills within the information about accomplishments. To talk about leadership ability, for example: “Led department team to improve technical support processes, reducing tech support costs by 20 percent.”
3. Keep Focused: Only include the most important information in the resume. Omit excess words and detail. Don’t use gimmicks, slang or unprofessional language. Zero in on your target employer or job in your resume information and approach, Reed says. “So, for example, your objective might read: ‘I’m looking for a network administrator job in the health care industry.’”
4. Get Feedback: Hand a copy of your resume to several peers, saying, “Can you review this and tell me what you think?” Use their feedback to tweak the resume. If you are working with a recruiter, have the recruiter give feedback. “That will give you a great starting point,” says Reed.
Follow Up! After you submit a resume, follow it up with a phone call or an email. Speak to the recruiter to make sure he or she understands your background and the kind of role you seek. Every job seeker has ultimate responsibility for his or her career, but Reed adds that recruiters at firms such as RHT “can be a tremendous resource, helping to review your resume, providing interview tips and insights into companies that you are interested in. Know what they can do for you, and take advantage of it.”