11 Ways to Improve Your Technical Resume

Recently I had the privilege to short-list some candidates for a technical interview. Short Listing was not as fun as thought it would be. It took long hours. There were around 230 resumes and only 8 were short-listed for interview.

Now I am trying to gather my thought process from the other side of the road. Hopefully, these will help to make my own(and maybe yours) resume better.

Let’s get started!

1. Most Common Mistake

The position was open for a nodeJS developer (with optional nestJS experience).

But 30% of the Resume’s didn’t even have the word node or javascriptin them. So Not having the relevant experience was the number 1 reason.

Read The Job Description Please!

Don’t just drop a Resume to every job opening you find. Take at least 2 minutes to understand the requirements and before applying.

2. Unnecessary Details

Why would I care about your hobbies that cover 30% of your resume?

Every inch of the Resume is very important. Don’t just fill the voids in the paper. Add experience and projects that really matter.

If you are an absolute fresher and don’t have any kind of experience then you can add them. But for me, they are just a waste of valuable space.

3. Meaningless Objective or Summary

I Don’t think the Objective/Summary section of your Resume adds any value or increases any chance of getting called for an interview.

Most of them are copy-paste anyway. Why bother then?

Don’t just write stuff that nobody cares about. If you absolutely have to write them keep them short and meaningful.

4. Too Long or Too Short

The resume should be short and sweet. Some say it shouldn't be longer than one page.

Don’t get too obsessed about making the resume small!

The following Resume tries to cramp everything on one page by using smaller fonts and multiple columns. It doesn’t look good at all!

So find that sweet spot. I would say 2–4 pages can be a good starting point for you to think about.

5. Demo of Work

Just saying things don’t mean much.

Seeing is believing

You should include some live demo of your work or at least a screenshot link (kept in google drive). It proves that you are confident about your skills.

Here is a good example where the demo links are provided where I can just click and check.

6. Don’t Explain the Project Rather Explain Your Role

Maybe you have worked on a really big project. Don’t try to brag about the size or importance of that project. Rather try to explain your role/impact on that project.

Following is a bad example

Things to keeping in mind

• What part/module of that project did you work on?

• What innovation/improvement you brought to that particular part of the code?

• Why you were an important member of that project.

I think these answers can have an impact on the person who is reviewing your Resume.

7. Take Care of Layout and Spacing

Visual appeal is a very important part of your resume.

Be a little more careful about the font size and spacing. Some text is too short others too big can be visually distracting and have a negative impact overall.

Following is a bad example.

8. Favor Bullet Points Over Long Description

It’s very hard to find out anything when you write your experience or role in a long paragraph. Some might not even read it.

Try to summarize what you are trying to say in 2–3 sentences and put them in bullet points.

9. Use Numbers to Explain Your Impact

If possible try to explain your impact on the project using numbers. Don’t say

I worked on the frontend.

Instead, say

I improved the initial loading time by 30%

It show’s the employer that you really know your stuff.

10. Give Your Resume File a Proper Name

Please take 1 minute to rename the filename before sending it. Don't just send a file named resume.pdf. It is hard to track later and may create a bad impression about you.

Most job applications require you to name your Resume in a particular way. In that case, do that. Even if they don’t mention anything sending a properly named resume shows that you are a professional

So take some extra care.

11. Include Your Profiles

If you are a technical professional then you must have some kind of online presence which is another great place where you can show off your skills.

Try to include your Github, LinkedIn, Stackoverflow, Medium, etc. And try to take some time beforehand to organize them if possible. They can make a huge difference.

If you have a personal website that is a big plus.

Conclusion

These opinions can be highly subjective. I tried to explain my point of view here. Some of the points may not be accurate in others' eyes. Advance apologies for that. Feel free to share your thoughts.

That's it for today. Have a Great Day! :D

Get in touch with me via LinkedIn.