How to Put Your Hackathon on Your Resume
Calling on folks that have ever participated in a hackathon! Check out these quick tips that explain how to add your hackathon project to your resume. If you would like to stand out with recruiters and employers, read below! Interested in the next TechTogether hackathon? Click here for more info.
According to TechTogether 2021 Employment Report, 38% of TechTogether hackathon attendees have a TechTogether hackathon project on their resume.
Why add your hackathon project to your resume? Hackathon projects can help a candidate demonstrate their skill-sets and ability to work collaboratively. Unlike internship or academic experience, you are in control of the skills you want to show off to employers.
Unique hackathon projects can also help a candidate’s resume stand out and give the resume some personality. So, how does one add their hackathon project to their resume? Read below to find out!
How to Strategically Organize Your Resume
Recruiters and employers spend an average of five to six seconds looking over potential candidate’s resumes! Within those seconds, it’s imperative that your strongest project or work experience makes a great first impression.
Your resume does not need to be entirely decked out aesthetically. However, your resume should flow in a way that aligns with your work trajectory while quickly highlighting your most impressive work.
Add your hackathon project under a “Projects” section in your resume. Depending on what you want to highlight, this can go on the top or bottom of your resume. If you have solid and relevant internship experience, we also recommend placing your project experience towards the bottom of your resume as well.
Perfect Your Project Description
Recruiters were not there with you at the hackathon, seeing you build your fantastic project! Make sure to clearly and thoroughly write out the description of your project. Ensure your recruiters understand: (1) What the project is. (2) How you built it. (3) What you achieved if applicable through the project.
For example, “Developed a chrome extension using HTML, CSS, Javascript, and Java that helps users save money on their electricity bill” won Capital One’s Best Financial hack out of 100 project submissions.
Avoid These Common Resume Mistakes
If you’ve built more than one hackathon project, make sure you’re strategically picking the most impressive project and adding that to the top of your resume. We recommend selecting the project(s) that are most relevant to the role(s) you are applying for.
Lastly, and we cannot stress this enough, make sure your resume is no longer than one page (no exceptions) and that it’s easy to read. If you are having trouble shortening your hackathon project description, ask a friend or school counselor to help you!
Extra Steps to Help Recruiters
Depending on the company you’re applying to, employers can receive thousands of resumes daily. If you’re applying for software engineering roles, it is likely that a recruiter is also going to look at your GitHub profile. If you added your hackathon project to your resume, make sure you add it to your GitHub as well and pin it to your profile page. This makes it easier for recruiters to (1) confirm that you actually built the project you said you did and (2) look into how you built it.
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