published: 18 Sep 2018
3 min read | website: www.ebr.com.au
- Include a thorough summary. Your technical summary should contain every technology that you know and can confidently discuss. When an employer is scouring job boards for candidates like you, these terms are often what they will be looking for! Make sure to organize this section so it makes sense to someone without a technical background, by organising it into subcategories.
- Be impactful when describing projects. When describing your projects, focus on ownership and positive impacts. Describe specifically what you contributed if it was a team effort. Your projects are proof of your skills, so be bold with these statements!
- Avoid listing mundane tasks. When describing previous job responsibilities, avoid listing menial tasks, and focus more on highlighting ownership, implementation and improvements you made. Include specific examples to prove your positive impacts where you had them.
- Include links to your online profiles and projects. If your resume's reader wants to dig a little deep and look further into your background, give him or her a place to navigate! Within your header, be sure to link to your LinkedIn, GitHub and/or portfolio. If you feel comfortable doing so, include links to your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and/or Snapchat as well to enhance your online branding. And within your projects section, include links to the projects in case your resume's reader wants to view the projects firsthand.
- Be brief and concise. Hiring managers are extremely busy and typically only have around ten seconds to read a single resume, so be brief and impactful with each of your bullets. Lengthy paragraphs and run-on sentences will go unread, so exercise succinctness. Keep in mind that you only have a short amount of time to make a positive impression, so be focused in every statement you include.
- Avoid going over the top. When trying to make an impression on an employer, it's tempting to embellish. But by embellishing your skills and work experience, you risk acquiring a reputation as a dishonest candidate. And it won't take long for a hiring manager or engineer to suspect that you embellished if you can't back up all the claims you made on paper.
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