A resume or CV (Curriculum Viète) is the basis of landing your dream job. Your professional resume is the key to getting selected for a job interview and shows your skills to get the job. However, building a resume is not an easy task. One needs to have an attention-grabbing and thought-provoking resume highlighting the skills, experience, and achievements to gain an employer’s interest and obtain an IT interview. Different IT jobs are available in both the private and government sectors. Candidates require IT-related knowledge, skills, experience, and qualifications in order to apply for these jobs. These include support technicians, network administrators, telecommunication specialists, systems managers, cloud architects, security researchers, analysts, and many more.
Employers have positions requiring different experience levels and different skills. These skills are related to security, programming, systems and networks, data analysis, DevOps, Cloud Computing, and Machine Learning. There is intense competition among IT job seekers today, and your well-built resume can give you an edge over other candidates. A well-written resume will help you effectively catch the attention of a recruiter/hiring manager and impress him in the first go. Thus, providing you with an opportunity to be called for an interview. If you perform well in the discussion, and you are a fit for the position, you may get your dream job.
Let’s learn how to write an impressive and attractive resume that brings you success.
1. Choose the right resume format
Use the resume format that best communicates your technical skills and abilities. Reverse-chronological structure and functional structure (a skills-based format) are the two main resume formats used for job seeking.
The reverse-chronological resume template is suitable for people with a strong track record of relevant work experience. It involves presenting your work history with the most recent position on the top, followed by the earlier ones.
A functional structure precisely matches a candidate’s abilities to the requirements of the job role the candidate is applying for. It is a practical method for those who have made a career change or have gaps in their work history.
After choosing the format, you should tailor your resume to the job you are applying for. For this, you must carefully read the job description to find the relevant keywords for including them in your resume.
Another worthy consideration is to keep sufficient white space on your IT resume so that the recruiter or hiring manager can easily read it, which increases your chances of getting an interview. When writing a resume, “less is more.” Leave the deep details on experience for the interview.
2. Contact details
Begin your IT position resume with a contact details section. It should include your full name, professional title, address, mobile number with country code, and email address. You should also include a working time zone if you apply for a remote position. Moreover, you can include links to your social media profiles, professional websites, or online portfolios relevant to the application. Avoid mentioning sensitive data items like SSN and religious or political affiliations in the resume, as they are not required and inappropriate.
3. Introductory Paragraph/Summary Statement
An excellent resume for IT jobs should begin with an engaging introductory statement at the top of your resume. Keep your summary statement short and impactful. It should summarize all key elements from your background in 3 to 5 sentences.
Start tailoring your resume for the specific position you are applying for. Include the keywords you found earlier in your resume, so it can be effectively tracked by ATS (applicant tracking systems) and get noticed by the hiring managers.
To add strength to your resume, mention your achievements and use numbers as evidence of the successes. For each achievement, use the challenge, action, result format as appropriate.
4. Skills
After evoking the hiring manager’s interest with a crisp summary statement, it is time to showcase your skills to become the ideal candidate in the eyes of the manager. Rather than blindly adding skills-centric keywords from a predetermined list, carefully search the IT job description for essential skills, and present them in bullets in your resume.
A job may require soft skills like communication, leadership, business knowledge, etc., apart from hard skills. So, mention them as well in your resume and provide examples where possible. These are often covered in interviews as well.
5. Work experience
In the work experience section, write your most recent role followed by earlier ones. List every work experience in chronological as well as functional order: –
Job title, company’s name and location, and dates of employment. Below every work experience, list your key responsibilities and accomplishments in bullet points, and lastly, mention key technologies used on various projects during your tenure with that company.
6. Academic history
In this section, mention your key academic accomplishments in this order: –
Degree, diploma, or certificate earned (or pursuing)
Name of the educational institution
Dates
Related Coursework
7. Certifications
If you have earned any certifications, mention them proudly in your resume in bullets that will help to impress your tech employer. Follow this pattern while mentioning the credentials: – Certificate/Course Name, Awarding Organization, and Year.
8. Include other sections
To add additional value to your IT resume, include other sections highlighting your skills and accomplishments. Some good examples are Organizational Memberships, Volunteer Work, Human Language skills, and Online Profiles of IT projects you are working on.
9. Some other worth considering things
Some other things to focus on while writing a resume is to keep it engaging, concise, and impactful. You also need to incorporate basic design elements and attractive color combinations in the resume. Moreover, write an impactful and impressive cover letter.
Follow these important and valuable resume-writing tips shared by experts of Xyber IT, a leading IT Staffing firm serving the IT talent procurement needs of organizations across the US. These insightful tips will help you create an attractive and irresistible resume that lands you the interview and, eventually, the job of your IT dreams.
