Writing a Good Technical Resume? 137
SuperMallen asks: "As a newly minted hiring manager, I've spent the last few weeks plowing through the large pile of resumes for one of my open positions. The varying formatting and quality of the resumes has stunned me. People do everything from a short list of jobs and positions to essays on each and every project they ever thought about in a job. Everyone seems to subscribe to the 'here's a giant pile of technologies I'm familiar with at the top' school, but I usually ignore this and go straight for their past work history and glean from there. Surely the Slashdot community can help point out what makes for good formatting and content in a technical resume. I'd love to also see some good sample resumes people have used in the past, and any good websites or book recommendations on how to write these effectively, so we can all spend less time reading and writing bad ones."
Insist on XML, that'l sort em out... (Score:3, Informative)
Paul.
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Paul Hurley [paulhurley.co.uk], Completely Pointless
Re:I know your pain. (Score:3, Informative)
Also, it's "Curricula Vitae", not "Curriculum Vitae", unless he was reading a CV which arrived in multiple volumes.
Re:How is entry-level situation for other ppl? (Score:3, Informative)
First place to start is the resume. Is it eye-catching? If it's not, it's in the trash. You can Google for resumes, and some people have good-looking ones (especially graphic designers, but don't use graphics in yours!). Don't fall into the trap of copying other people's structure either. I suggest a Personal Profile, bullet-point list of achievements, and then your education at the bottom (your degree isn't too hot, you've got it, but they're looking for what you learnt from it, and that's what you are giving further up)
Does it tell them who you are? You have no work experience, which really hurts you, but what did you do at school? Think about what they are looking for. Have you been a team leader? Give an example when you had to communicate something effectively (written or verbal). Do you have teamwork experience? These are the things that your degree isn't necessarily going to prove you have, and separate the wheat from the chaff. You need to let them know.
The second place to look is who are you sending it to? Is it targetted? If you just send a CV to IBM, it's going in the bin. Don't just send it with a cover letter and cross your fingers. Actually apply to a position that exists. You'll need to apply for a position where you are suitable. You probably aren't going to get a graduate job with the big companies, look smaller. Look for grad programs, sure, but also look for small-time positions at universities, IT support for schools or small businesses.
The third thing to look at is definitely that experience problem. Get a job, doing *anything*. Even retail will help, show you can manage your time effectively, communicate with customers to help find what they want (requirements elicitation is a great way of wording that!) There is no job which will not help you resume (apart from stripper). I would suggest looking at recruitment agencies; there are usually temp programming jobs in cities that need a Java or
I hope this helps. I also hope this seems very obvious to you, and this is what you have been doing already
Re:I know your pain. (Score:3, Informative)
Dave
LaTeX (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I know your pain. (Score:3, Informative)
The worst thing about dealing with agencies is their tendancy to treat skills as objects - 'you've "got" linux and bind but you haven't "got" vi so I won't put you forward for this role' - ARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!
Re:My ex was a headhunter... (Score:2, Informative)
12 applicants and 2 of those did as the ad instructed (written and snailmailed application, without diplomas and crap, only a cover letter and a CV).
Most had a messy CV which I have a hard time reading and comparing with others.
One hadn't updated his since 2001.
The worst one was almost 60 pages long and included a huge essay detailing his life. Most pages were just 'diplomas' from every course or training he ever attended. It seemed as if he asked everyone who ever taught him ANYHING to also make some kind of 'proof' for that knowledge. Needless to say, I simply threw it out without even looking at his details.
I want a CV/resume like parent is suggesting plus a SHORT letter, max 1 page with:
* Who you are
* What you currently do
* Why you want to change employer
* Why you suit this job
* What your goals are
I also want applicants to be honest. Telle me of potential weak spots you have, and tell me how you want to tackle them.
Applicants with minor faults look more honest than those perfect candidates. And claiming to have a skill you don't have only makes you nervous and will piss me off when I expect you to be able to do something. If I know I need to hold your hand for a while I will happily do so if you were honest about it.
I don't want to see your diplomas until I ask for them or invite you in for an interview.
Re:How is entry-level situation for other ppl? (Score:3, Informative)
To add on to the advice:
When dealing with recruitment agencies, you need to be persistent. It's a two-way street. You need to follow-up with them. The go-getter who calls is going to stick in their head more than the the stack of CVs on their desk. If they don't have your CV in front of them when you call, offer to e-mail it straight away.
The other part is that you need to be selective about the recruitment agency as well. Make sure they are good. Ask if you can talk to others who have worked for them. You don't want to get bound to some crappy company. And companies vary from region to region, so make sure you find out from someone local what the rep is, not from another part of the country.
I hounded my recruiter for weeks and weeks. And he got me a job, partly because I kept up with him, kept my skills fresh in his mind, and reminded him that I could do jobs he was thinking would be boring for me.
Re:Specify the format (Score:2, Informative)
Get the resumé to the hiring manager (Score:1, Informative)
That's the biggest part of it, in my opinion. My general approach has been to tailor my resumé to the people who will make the final decision, rather than the people who do the initial filtering. As a result, when it does get to the hiring manager, what they see is an accurate and concise description of my qualifications and abilities.
As a result of that, I've generally gotten very little response from companies that have to go through significant filters in HR, but excellent responses the other way - the hiring managers who see it know much more about me before the first interview. Ultimately that saves them time if I'm not right for the job, and it gives them a lot more confidence once they've gotten to 'should we hire him?'
On the other side of things, I just did a quick pass of resumés I've seen lately, and I can see two clear trends in them. One is "gotta pass the filter" and one is "I'm good: hire me." The former may indeed pass HR filters, but it leaves us scratching our heads. "Wait, what is this guy good at?" We generally don't see enough in them to pursue it any further. The latter are more helpful, and we're much more likely to interview their authors.
I put my resume in XML (Score:3, Informative)
I found that you should have a section called 'technical skills' to list all your skills. You can call it skill proficiency, but only if you are proficient in ALL the skills. I switched the name when I got burned in an interview at yahoo, because I put mysql and was expected to be a f'n DBA in mysql, and expected to know all date time datatypes. I'm a developer who has worked with mysql, but have always had dba's that dealt with that crap!
I have also found that using 1 sentance bullet points, which in the xmlresume format they call 'achievements' I think, at least that is what I am using. each line says clearly how you used technology X. Also I think you should use 'active voice' I think it is called ( or is it passiv, I forget ), like 'I created blah blah using C/Java, blah, which resulted in more sales of the product.