As a Recruiter, I read a lot of CVs every day. And I’ll be blunt, I don’t read it fully. I simply do not have the time, and neither do the Hiring Managers for the position you are interested in. Here are some tips on getting your resume noticed.
Avoid writing a “Generalist” resume!
One of the main reasons CVs gets rejected at the document stage it that all too often is that we tend to write a “Generalist” kind of resume. We make sure to cover all angles to make yourself look like a well-balanced employee.
However, there is a risk that the “Generalist” resume does not quite cover the essentials that the Job spec is looking for or worse; drowns out the essentials with too much “Other” information.
I would like to suggest the following…
Read the Job spec you are interested in and customize your resume to fit the Job spec. Using keywords and phrases directly from the Job spec helps. I am certainly not suggesting to lie or over-inflate your experience, but by using specific words and phrases that the company you are interested uses; I would think it would catch their attention more so than not.
List your Technical Skills on the first page of your resume!
Most Hiring Managers has a check list for the positions they need to fill. For Developers, listing your Tech skills on the first page is the safest way to avoid getting your resume rejected at the document stage. Some resume candidates list their tech skill in their work history and that is fine. But you do run the risk of annoying the Hiring Manager by making him or her sift through your resume for the key skills they are looking for and end up giving up and rejecting it because it was a pain in the butt to read.
They don’t need a Facebook profile like information!
More often than I would like, I get these resume that provides unnecessary information (age, height, hobbies… basically fluffy information that has nothing to do with whether you are capable of doing the job that the Position is asking for. Other than your name, contact info, and maybe current address; all other fluffy information is unnecessary should be left out of your resume. The perception it gives is that you don’t have a whole lot to write about yourself.
I understand for developers that are just starting out, it is difficult to fill out your resume. Try to fill out your work history with relevant experience that pertains to the Jobs spec. In addition, fill in non-related job history in correct chronological order to show you are a responsible adult and a well-rounded individual. And quite frankly, your “Colorful” work history would be a nice ice breaker topic once you get into the interview.
Don’t make your resume look nice with graphics!
Simply put…it just a pain to read. A WORD formatted plain texted Resume is just fine… and less memory when formatted to PDF to send via email. Most recruiting companies format your resume before submitting them to a client and it is a pain in the butt to format a resume that has a lot of graphic design.
Good luck!