The tech industry is always evolving and what employers are looking for in a rock-solid resume is changing as well. Hiring managers are always tweaking their standards for what to look for in a strong employee and the methods they use to make these determinations are evolving as well. With this in mind, here are 5 tips you should know to write a job-winning tech resume in today’s world.
1. Emphasize your hard skills more than your soft skills
Usually, mentioning soft skills like strong communication or teamwork is a huge plus in the eyes of many employers. However in tech, most employers actually place little value in soft skills and instead, focus almost all of their attention on the hard skills applicants know. In fact, many hiring managers may be turned off by applicants who list too many soft skills on their resume – reasoning that the applicant may only be mentioning these skills because they have nothing else better to put on their resume. While it’s still okay to list out the soft skills that may be most applicable to the job, it’s ultimately your hard skills that will tip the scale.
2. List your skills in order of relevancy
If you’re applying to a job as a software engineer or developer, chances are you know a plethora of various programming languages and software. In what order you list those skills on your resume is important. More often than not, hiring managers make the assumption that the skills you list first are also the ones you have the most experience and expertise in. In order to increase your chances of the job, it would do yourself a favor if you mentioned the skills you have that are also most applicable to the job first. In doing so, that will make you out to recruiters as an ideal fit for the job.
3. Consider hiring a professional resume writing service
You’re expertise is in technology so it makes sense that you’re not an expert writer. With that being the case, it can be wise to consider hiring a resume writing service to do the job for you. Resume writing services employ resume writers who typically have a background in HR and recruiting. With their aid, often times you’ll be able to receive a resume far better crafted then if you had written it yourself. Resume writing services can get quite expensive though, so it’s important to decide for yourself whether it’s worth it. A recent resume CNBC article has been written detailing what you should know before choosing one.
4. Don’t shy away from two-page resumes
You may have read advice somewhere online that you should always limit your resume to a single page or less. However, recent resume research has found that two-page resumes may actually be favored among HR professionals. This revelation changes how you should approach writing your resume. Instead of having to carefully pick and choose what the most important highlights in your career are worth mentioning, you can now opt to just include it all now that two-page resumes are preferred. This also means you should include all the technical skills that you’ve developed in your arsenal instead of mentioning only those that seem the most relevant.
5. Focus on achievements, not duties
It’s natural to write about the day-to-day activities of your past jobs. While this is okay to do, a much more impressive approach to writing your resume is to focus on your achievements. The reality is, more often than not, hiring managers already know what you do on a daily basis based off your job title. Detailing your job duties then become redundant information to them. Instead, it’s much better to mention your career highlights, whether it be designing an app that was downloaded hundreds of thousands of times in the course of just a couple of weeks or writing a software that generated thousands of dollars in revenue.
When writing your resume, be sure to put yourself in the employer’s shoes. Think about what they are looking for and what type of person they’d like to hire. Then make yourself out to be that ideal job candidate with your resume.
