Writing a resume or how to write a kick ass resume
Writing resumes is boring and a bit overwhelming at times, especially if you are like me trying to change professions and enter a whole new industry.
Personally ,I have a mental blockage when it comes to rewriting or updating my CV. It just doesn’t flow. I even thought of seeking professional help with this once.
So when an opportunity arose to attend a lecture titled How to make your resume shine, organised by shecodes.org. I decided to go. Here is my overview of the key points of the lecture!
The lecture was given by a recruiter from IBM and she gave us some very good points.
Disclaimer: each market is different. These tips are based on my experience with the Israeli market but I truly believe that these tips can be applied anywhere.
The purpose of a resume is to get you through the door to an interview, until then it’s just ink on paper or bytes on the screen.
Therefore, your resume needs to target recruiters, the same people that spend less than 30 seconds skimming through each CV that lands on their desk.
So how can you improve your odds at being noticed during this fast screening?
Let’s begin with the basics -
Layout
The layout of your resume is important. It’s the very first thing a recruiter sees and he’s looking for keywords to decide if he wants to read more or not.
The layout should be as following:
1. Personal details
Do’s — Full name, phone, email, city
Don’ts — Status ( married, divorced, children etc.)
2. Summary
This is where you can tell a bit more about yourself. Keep it limited to only a couple sentences (3 to 5). Here, you can also mention your goals. For example:
Interested in moving from QA to Web Development
Do — state your current knowledge and experience in general. For example: “I am a full stack developer with knowledge and professional experience in in web & database development and management.”
Don’t — Overuse attributes without having anything to show for it, for example: “highly motivated”, “quick learner” etc. Recruiters are looking for demonstrable skills, not empty buzzwords.
3. Education
Write your formal (universities ..) and informal education (courses, bootcamps, etc).
4. Work Experience (chronologically sorted from present to past)
Do’s -
# Sum up each position in a relevant way. Emphasize the things that are relevant to the position you are applying for.
#Mention the scope of the position ( full time, part time, student, freelancer etc).
#Mention jobs that can shine a better light on your skills, like managing a team of 5 in a restaurant shows that you’re capable of working in a team environment. Being a waiter.. Not so much :/
# Mention the technology stack if it applies and what kind of work environment it was.
#Add your work projects — only the projects that you were paid for doing.
Don’t-
#Use bombastic words or slang, they don’t impress.
5. Professional knowledge
Categorize your skills by strength (basic, medium, advanced).
Make sure to add some personal projects and projects you did for non-profit organisations. These should be not work related projects!
6. Additional knowledge
Knowledge and experience you learned along the way, it’s important to specify where you picked these up.
7. Languages
English, French, etc.
8. Interests
Volunteering , hobbies, etc.
Important!
- Always check for proper grammar and typos.
- If you include a picture in your CV, pick a re presentable one.
- Do not make stuff up on your resume. Make sure you can demonstrate the skills you’re mentioning in your resume. They can and will be asked about during an interview.
- Add a relevant title to the position you’re applying for. Something like Junior front End Developer or Java Senior Developer.
Big No No
- Don’t mention salary expectations in your resume, you might get underpaid if your estimation was wrong!
- Don’t include too many personal details, they’re mainly interested in work related stuff (Married, children, …)
- Don’t use slang, but also avoid using a lot of ‘over the top’ intellectual words
Where to look for jobs:
1. Social media- tech job groups, local city groups
2. Linkedin- jobs tab, groups tab, reach out to recruiters
3. Company website, job fares , professional seminars, Meetups (recruiters go to these as well to look for motivated people!), networking and friends
Finally, sleep on it and review it the next day.Have someone you know read it and make sure to keep it accessible (dropbox, google drive, …), as you never know when you might bump into a recruiter! :)
Last but not least,manage your job search!
1. Be proactive! Make contact, search and initiate yourself!
2. Adapt your CV to the job posting / organization but don’t be afraid to try for jobs where you don’t have the specific qualifications for (For example, they’re asking for 5 years of experience and you only have 2). Just send it anyway and try! Your main goal is to try and get an in person interview and convince them then!
3. Send it out ! Don’t be afraid but be self aware, in other words don’t apply for a C programmer if you only know Python.
4. Prepare for the interview. Read up on the company you’re applying for and know what they do.
5. It is not personal- rejection is not personal, it just puts you one step closer to success
Good luck in the job hunt!!!
P.S. A huge thank you to Simon VDB and Chance Taken for editing and proofreading this article :)
