Monthly Archives: October 2015

1 Easy Way to Make Your IT Resume More Effective

There is plenty of advice out there on how to polish your resume to attract IT recruiters and IT staffing companies.  While some advice is mediocre, here is one tip that will definitely get you a lot more attention from technical recruiters and IT staffing agencies: Break up and cut down any big blocks of text in your IT resumes.

Why will this make a difference to IT recruiting companies?  It’s all about making it easier for IT staffing firms to see that you’re a great fit for a job.  When IT recruiting firms are trying to find the best IT professional for a job, they’re looking at hundreds of resumes. It really slows readers down when your resume is full of dense blocks of text—and time is of the essence for IT recruiters.  So make it more likely that IT recruiting agencies will be able to quickly scan your resume and see how accomplished and experienced you are.  Use bullet points that are concise and cut out extra info that’s too technical or unnecessary.  It might just help you win your next IT jobs!

Do This at Your Next IT Job Interviews

IT professionals who are working with technical recruiters and IT staffing companies are probably well-versed in making sure hiring managers can see they’re a fit for IT jobs.  Most IT recruiters and IT staffing firms help their candidates prepare to show they fit the basic needs for a role.  What can really impress your interviewers (and in turn your IT recruiting agencies) is if you can make it obvious that you’re a unique fit for this role.

What does this mean exactly? Sometimes it’s obvious: you’ve got 4 years of experience using a technology when they only ask for 2.  Sometimes you need to be a bit more creative.  Perhaps you have some background in a tangentially-related subject.  (For example, you majored in Biology and you’re interviewing at a Biotech company.)  Maybe you’ve created a kind of database or program that this company doesn’t currently use, but could be useful to them.

The point isn’t to reach–  this will just come across as desperate, disingenuous, and a waste of time.  If you think your IT staffing agencies can help, run some ideas by them.  If you can find some way to show that you’re not just a fit, but an especially good fit for this job, then you’re all the more likely to land it.