5 Resume Tips for Information Technology (IT) Professionals

[Reyed Mia (Apprentice, DIU)]

5 Resume Tips for Information Technology (IT) Professionals

Understand Attention Span:
Across all fields, job listings often get hundreds or even thousands of submissions.

Hiring managers often just skim resumes. If your application is just a block of text, you are likely to get discarded without the manager ever reading it. Break up your resume with categories, such as education, work history and skills. Create bulleted lists to neatly summarize key information. Lists and categories make resumes more visually appealing and easy to read.

Limit Length:
Similarly, hiring managers do not have a lot of time to spend reading resumes. Keep that in mind and try to limit your resume to one page, but two at the absolute most. Use your resume to highlight your biggest achievements; if you still have work experience on there from high school or even college, take them off to save space.

Highlight Accomplishments, Not Tasks:
Most resumes read like a list of tasks, such as "updated company software, used problem-solving skills to troubleshoot, created database." While this tells a company what you did each day, it does not do anything to set you apart or highlight what you bring to the job.

Instead, focus on your accomplishments and mention them as specifically as possible. For instance, if you created a program that simplified processes and saved employees time, that is important to mention. Any instance where you delivered results ahead of deadline, under budget or exceeded expectations is something to highlight.

Proofread and Edit:
Just because you are in IT does not mean you can have spelling or grammar errors in your resume. Make sure you thoroughly proofread your resume before submitting and have a friend review and edit it for you.

Remove Interests:
Unless your interests directly relate to your work, employers likely do not care if you're passionate about soccer. Take out the interests section of your resume; the only exception is if your outside volunteer work corresponds with your work. For instance, if you created a program for a local non-profit to manage donor information, that is relevant to include on your resume.

Job searching can be very difficult, and writing a strong resume can be one of the hardest aspects of looking for a new role. Particularly in IT, where the industry changes every day, resumes need to reflect current trends in the business. By following these tips, such as breaking up your resume to be more visually appealing, limiting the length of your resume, highlighting your achievements and editing, you can create a strong resume that sets you apart. In a highly technical industry, your resume can be a powerful tool to get an employer's attention.

Source: https://www.thebalance.com/information-technology-it-resume-examples-2063601