How do you stand out when you’re competing with hundreds of other people for a single job? That’s the reality for IT professionals ever since job boards and social media platforms have simplified the application process. Yes, most applicants will be woefully underqualified, but you still need to distinguish yourself from the other frontrunners.
So, if you want to increase your odds of landing that coveted dream job, it’s imperative to improve your technical resume. But with the evolution of applicant tracking systems and AI generated content, what worked yesterday probably won’t work tomorrow.
Standing out on your technical resume, then, isn’t only about listing buzzwords. It’s about using technical language in a way that tells a story and showcases your unique value. Here are some tips for improving your technical resume so you can stand out from your competition.
The biggest resume mistakes technical candidates make
With the volume of resumes technical recruiters see, most can quickly articulate what separates the good from the bad examples. When surveyed, recruiters point to these fixable flaws as the most common technical resume mistakes.
The placement of your tech skills is the first issue. An applicant tracking system will find your keywords regardless, but recruiters want to see your tech skills consolidated in one place as well as spread in relevant places throughout your job history. That way, they can easily check off minimum requirements and see how you put those technologies into practice.
Another mistake is neglecting your soft skills. The State of Tech Hiring 2024 survey found that 81% of technical recruiters said soft skills were as important as technical skills, especially as technology evolves at unprecedented rates. Skilled tech leaders know tech skills can drop in popularity or relevance (e.g. Ruby didn’t take over coding), so soft skills can better reflect the adaptability, drive, and collaborative spirit of a candidate, which don’t ever go out of style.
Technical resumes also need to emphasize quantitative information. An analysis of the resumes of 12,000 U.S. based professionals found that 81% of candidates failed to provide quantitative information within the document. Whenever possible, it’s important for you to show the real-world impact of your actions. The best candidates are doing more than just filling a seat – they’re making a mark.
How to improve your technical resume to stand out from the competition
Based on that data, as well the experience of our own technical recruiters at w3r, we’ve compiled some tips for improving your technical resume. Implement these changes, and recruiters will definitely start taking you more seriously.
1. Align your resume to the job description
Sending out identical clones of your resume to every organization is a big mistake. Both human recruiters and AI assistants are looking for specific keywords to prioritize resumes that align with the job description. Which means you need to draw out whatever skills, experiences, or successes the description is asking for and state them clearly.
Make a list of the keyword phrases included throughout and make sure that you include them and any related and relevant terms from your actual career. Technical recruiters will not only see that you’re a potential fit, but you’re serious enough about the position to take the time and write a tailored resume.
2. Swap your objective statement for a summary
Recruiters do want to get to know your goals, but we can find that out during our conversations with you. Taking space to map out your career goals when you’re better served summarizing what you can do, reemphasizing your technical skills, and highlighting your most impressive career successes is a much more valuable use of critical resume real estate.
3. Quantify your accomplishments
In our experience, job tenure doesn’t correlate to success. Exceptional people who’ve been with a company for two years can accomplish more than others do in ten. Especially in the fast-moving world of tech, you can make huge positive impacts in a short period of time, if you have the knack and the drive.
So make sure to include those accomplishments and quantify your success. Here are some examples:
Instead of saying, “I wrote 10 applications with Python,” say, “I wrote an internal application with Python that improved team efficiency by 30%.”
Instead of saying, “I implemented a comprehensive data analytics platform for XYZ Insurance company,” say, “The analytics platform I implemented helped XYZ Insurance company reduce fraud by 45%”
Showing that you know the impact of your work gives recruiters and employers a sense that you think holistically and can achieve tangible results across functions.
4. Use bullet points, not paragraphs (in moderation)
A recruiter’s busy schedule guarantees that they won’t have the time to parse through huge blocks of paragraphs to pick out the juicy details of your career. For that reason, it’s best to remove them altogether. Instead, use bullet points to improve scanability and reader comprehension.
Coming back to our earlier points, make sure that each of these bullet points offers a blend of technical skills, quantitative information, and comprehension of the job ad. For example, Cybersecurity Analysts all protect data and systems, but the tools and technology you’re using as well as the impact you’ve made are what will catch a recruiter’s eye.
5. Add personality to your resume
Skills and experience may get you the job, but personality will help you keep it. When you go to work every day, you’re part of a team. And part of teamwork is making sure everyone’s personalities mesh and managing conflict when it inevitably arises.
So don’t hesitate to show who you are—even if it has nothing to do with tech. For example, a tech recruiter from Capital One writes, “I will never forget the time I had an applicant with a single line on her resume that mentioned she built and ran an alpaca farm from the ground up. I wasn’t sure if her tech background was the exact fit for the role, but clearly I HAD to reach out regardless because she sounded interesting.”
Think about personality as the “spice” that enhances the resume’s overall flavor. If you go overboard, you’ll spoil the dish. So, use these sparingly, but don’t be afraid to show who you are. Who knows? You may connect with a recruiter who has the same interests as you, and build a relationship that might find you an incredible job.
6. Include personal projects, open source, and blogs
While, yes, technical recruiters want to know what you’ve accomplished in your paid roles, we’re also interested in other skills you bring to the table. So, if you have side hustles, personal projects, open source successes, or technical blogs, be sure to include those.
Showcase your GitHub, Behance, or ResearchGate results to show your creativity, forward-thinking nature, or analytical mind. These will give us a more holistic view of who you are and the overall value you bring to a role.
7. Limit your style and formatting
Remember: resumes should be clear and easy to read. While you want it to be eye-catching, don’t go overboard. You don’t want to make a technical recruiter have to hunt for the information we.
Additionally, most resumes are uploaded straight to an applicant tracking system, which means it’s converted into searchable data fields anyway. Fancy design or stylistic choices tend to be lost on algorithms (and can even botch the uploading process).
After improving your technical resume with these stand-out tips, take the next step and start putting yourself out there. Check out our current technical job openings right here.
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