Last Reviewed: March 13th, 2008      Last Updated:   March 13th, 2008              *Why we show the Reviewed and Updated Dates

Information Technology Resume Tips  or IT Resume Tips

The number one rule that all of the tips below point to is:
#1 Resume Rule:      Easy to Edit with Specific Keywords.

Overall Format

Style:
The best format for resumes is the old standard work history format. The "new" standard, which some resume professionals are touting, that is the Performance or Accomplishment based resume, is very frustrating for the IT or computer world.

The Performance or Accomplishment based resume is where work history is replaced by accomplishments made through your career.  EG:

Successfully brought Microsoft from a small 12 person company to the Mega Monolith it is today.
Invented the transistor which revolutionized the world.
Successfully negotiated a world peace treaty and save the rain forests in my spare time..    etc

Whereas the Work History format is the "old" standard of:

CPM Manufacturing         1975 - 2004
CEO
Promoted from Programmer to CEO of what was to become Microsoft Corporation.
Tools used:  Marketing V1.0,  C, Basic, Visual Basic,

AT&T        1950 - 2005
Chief Scientist
Led the team which discovered the transistor.
Responsibilities included:  Team lead, research,  instrument procurement, presentations to the board.
Tools Used:  Fortran, Java, MS Project

Word Wrap and Tables:
Do not use hard carriage returns to get the word wrap exactly where you want it.  This consumes huge amounts of time for the recruiter to remove all of your carriage returns so they can reformat the resume to their needs.  Let the word processor wrap the lines of a paragraph.  Only use carriage returns for specific paragraphs and headings.

Tables are bad.  They can make your resume look good, but most recruiters don't care about the look they are looking specifically at the content.  Reserve the great looking resume for your direct hire situations.   

Specific Areas

Summary:
The Summary at the top of your resume should or better yet must, match the body of your resume.  If the summary states 12 years of Active Directory experience then you must use the terms Active Directory in the work history to show where the 12 years are. Do not assume that because your work experience lists Windows Server that it is given you worked with Active Directory. It must explicitly state Active Directory.

Work Experience:
This section should be in reverse chronological order, starting from the most recent job to the oldest job.  This area should have company, dates of employment, titles and list responsibilities and accomplishments.  At the end of each job there should a tools and technologies section that should match your summary. If you are applying for a Cold Fusion job then it should specifically mention Cold Fusion in this area.  Do not assume the recruiter or the end client will apply the "of course rule".   The "of course rule" is where the candidate says, well of course I used this here because I did this - everybody knows that.  No, not everybody knows that or wants to take the time to figure it out.  Very few people will actually read your resume word for word, most people will scan your resume looking for specific words and phrases.

File Format

NO PDF's or HTML formats
HTML and PDF's do not work for HR departments, or staffing and temp agencies. These agencies have to translate your resume into a working resume for their particular agency and specifically to the client. That means working with you to reword it, putting it into a client requested format or system, highlighting specific keywords, and replacing your direct contact information with agency contact information. This means the agency must edit your resume and it can't do this easily if it's in PDF or HTML format. Reserve these formats for your direct hire needs.   Although HTML is editable it is not word processor friendly for the Recruiter.

WORD or RTF:
What the agencies would like is a word resume or a rich text format (RTF) resume.   They will have tools to work with those formats and can do quickly what needs to be done.   Recruiters are almost always on deadlines and will unfortunately take the easiest resume first, not always the most qualified if the most qualified cannot be reformatted in time for the deadline.
Most word processors on Linux, Macs or Windows will write an RTF file at the very least.   If you do not have a word processor try the free one - openoffice  from openoffice.org