New Year, new me. This saying has permeated deeply into our culture. We like the idea of starting fresh, finally tackling those challenges that we pushed off in the previous year and reflecting on what we perceive we can do better. We say, “this year will be different.” It’s no surprise then that we see an uptick of people looking for new jobs right after the holidays. The New Year seems to give people that push that they need to jump into the job search and holiday vacation allows people to start one of the most daunting aspect of the job hunt – their resume.
Thinking about how you make your resume stand out can be very overwhelming. We asked our technical recruiters what they considered to be the golden rules for building the perfect engineering resume.
1. Build a Narrative
Recruiters and hiring managers are interest in your engineering story – the who, what, where and when (leave the Why for your interview).
Your resume narrative should express how you became the engineer that you are today while also clearly expressing where you want to go in your career.
2. Providing Context is Key
Clearly share relevant experience and projects that reflect your programming languages and skillsets. Keep it concise but make sure to put in enough detail that hiring managers can get a sense of how you’re using your hard-earned skills.
Share specifically how your skillsets made a positive impact on your employer’s profits, products, and culture.
3. Show Off Your Side Projects
Recruiters and hiring managers never appreciate a 5+ page resume (although I can’t speak for those in government) but are always interested to see how you use your skills outside of the workspace.
If you do not already have a Github account, a personal website, games or apps, consider sharing your side projects and then share with hiring managers. While they may not always be relevant, they show a passion for engineering that your 9-5 tends not to reflect.
4. How Fluent Are You?
Are you incredibly knowledgeable about Java? Have you only read about and dabbled with Scala once or twice? Make your skill levels clear. Recruiters and hiring managers don’t want to guess and try to read between the lines to figure out how experienced you are in a language – be as transparent as possible.
Are you constantly learning? Hiring managers love to see self-motivated engineers who are continuing to learn more about their preferred language, but also learn new languages and skillsets.
5. Spell Check and Grammar
This might seem obvious, but things fall through the cracks when you’ve been staring at your resume for so long. We’ve seen it all; people misspelling their own name, misspelling technologies that they know and love and sometimes leaving sentences unfinished. Hiring managers absolutely take notice of these mistakes. Don’t be that person.
Ask a friend or family member to read through your resume. It is always good to have a second set of eyes look over your resume.
Resumes take time and effort. Put thought into it. Get creative. Be confident in yourself and what you have accomplished. We believe these 5 tips from our recruiters will help you create a great resume. If you see an opportunity on our job board, reach out to us and ask how you can prepare a perfect resume for that position.
