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Creating an
IT resume is not always an easy task. There is usually a
lot of information to convey. Candidates putting
together their own resume for the IT industry often make
a few critical mistakes that can cost them dearly in
today's job market, especially if their job search
strategy is not up to snuff.
Mistake #1: Too Much Information
The
primary mistake made by IT professionals is in simply
providing way too much detail. Most candidates load each
thought, bullet, or statement with as much technical
mumbo jumbo as they can. For example, it is common for
candidates to show the technologies they used in each
position. In addition, they will list all the
technologies they used for individual projects for which
they were involved.
It may
prove beneficial to list some key technologies that are
relevant for the position you are now pursuing to
communicate your level of understanding. As an example,
if you are pursuing a position with a firm that has an
extensive network of employees who operate remotely in
the field, it would serve you well to incorporate
technologies like secure VPN, Citrix Presentation
Server, and other related tools. However, to list things
like Visual Basic, MS Office, and HTML within the
specific bullet point will serve as more of a
distraction than anything else. After all, who wants to
read a bullet point that describes a project that takes
up five lines of text?
To
address this issue, I recommend that you simply prepare
a technical proficiencies or technical skills section at
the end of your resume so that a prospective employer
can reference a single list to get a flavor for the
technologies with which you are familiar. Unless the
technology is of the upmost importance in demonstrating
your knowledge and ability in a particular area, do not
include it in the job description or the job
achievements sections.
Mistake #2: Being Too Technical
One of
the biggest mistakes made by IT directors and executives
is that they are too technical. Now you will want to be
careful here, as titles can be deceiving. IT executives
at small companies may very well need to be a hands-on
technical expert to successfully meet their job
requirements. However, a job as an IT director or
executive at a large company will be inherently less
hands-on. As a result, the resume that a candidate
prepares for that target should not be too heavy on
technical information. Yes, it is important to convey a
technical understanding. But one thing that concerns
recruiters and hiring managers if a job seeker has a
detailed technical resume is that they won't know how to
back off and manage the operation from a strategic
standpoint because they will be stuck in the morass of
the day-to-day technical support issues.
Mistake #3: Not Incorporating Keywords or Buzzwords
Many IT
professionals have a strong feeling of contempt for
peppering keywords or buzzwords throughout the document.
One of the main reasons is that anyone can include
keywords like infrastructure management, enterprise
solutions, and lifecycle management in a resume, but few
can perform these activities effectively. As you conduct
your job search, you may even find this sentiment echoed
by many IT hiring managers.
There is
one problem, however. Most technical hiring managers
will receive a short list of candidates for a particular
position after they have been screened and funnelled
through the HR department. Most HR representatives do
use keywords to help match your resume and
qualifications with the position requirements. Having a
specific keywords or core competencies section helps the
HR folks to quickly and easily match up some of your key
skills and experience with those listed on the
requirements document. These will help get your resume
through the initial screen and into the hands of the
hiring manager who can then read through your work
history section that should back up your claims in the
keyword section.
Developing a strategy that addresses each of these 3
common mistakes when creating an IT resume will put you
well on your way in a competitive job environment.
My company is called No Stone Unturned, and I am an MBA
and certified professional resume writer (CPRW). I have
been a career consultant since 2002 with an additional 8
years of corporate hiring experience. You can check out
my website that offers tools such as the
No
Nonsense Job Search Strategy guide and other
Job
Search Tips.
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