How to Write a Resume

A resume is a marketing piece that speaks for you if you cannot be there in person. In most cases it is the first thing a hiring manager sees. They see your resume before they see you. And, if you want them to see you it is in your best interest to make your resume a strong story.

How do you go about writing a resume? Resume writing is a fine art, and something you can master. To begin, write down your technical skill sets, i.e. programming languages, operating systems, databases, modules, any programs you are intimately working with and have some familiarity with. Include the latest software versions you have worked on as well. Or if you are doing hardware design include the materials you are working with, the types of designs you are doing, technologies you are working with, the size of the designs, software used, model numbers, and so forth.

Write down your degrees and certifications and when and where you obtained them.

Then, start with your most current job. Go through your day mentally and write down everything you do on a daily basis. Next, write everything you do on a weekly basis, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, every 6 months and every year. Some tasks are done daily and some are done to summarize or plan for future tasks. (These are tasks that do not occur daily, but are important to bring up to the hiring manager.) Be sure to include all of the software you use, the designs you are doing, technology you are working with and so on. Include if you are working with end users, vendors, management, anyone you work with on a regular basis if it is important to the nature of your job.

Go through this process with every job you have performed for the last 10 years. Hiring managers are most interested in what you are doing now, not what you did 20 years ago. They want to hire someone who is current with the latest technology. For jobs greater than 10 years back, you can briefly summarize things, unless they highlight a skill that is important for the hiring manager to know.

Next, make sure you have all dates organized on the resume. Write your resume backwards, starting from the most current job and moving to the least current. Include start and end dates, including the month and year you began and ended your job. If there are any gaps in your job history, explain the gaps.

Now you are ready to make your resume. Formatting your resume is important. Make sure everything is uniform. Do not throw in too many different fonts and type styles. Also, make sure the type styles are easy to read. Do not put all of your type in CAPS. Make sure you space things appropriately to make them stand out. Bold things to make them stand out, but do not bold too much or they will not stand out.

Make sure you use spell checker. In addition to using spell checker, have a few friends review your resume for spelling errors. There is nothing that kills your chances quicker than not knowing how to spell things or sloppy formatting.

How to do resume writing is not complicated, it is systematic. If you take the time you should end up with a winning resume that tells the hiring manager why they should hire you instead of someone else.

Job Interview Questions

Take time to prepare for job interview questions and answers in advance. What would you ask if you were a hiring manager? Reviewing interview questions ahead of time and phrasing the question and answer will help you visualize yourself being successful in the interview.

Study the company’s website in great detail before going to the interview. Decide how your area of expertise will fit into the company. Ask yourself why they selected you over someone else for the interview. How can you make a difference to the company and the product line?

Search the internet to find a resume of someone with skill sets similar to yours that has already worked for the company. Then review what that person was doing. Here is an example web search. C# C++ “insert company name here” 2008 inurl:resume.

Google sample job interview questions.

Review and organize in advance to the interview. This will help you visualize yourself working at the company.

Be prepared with your own list of job interview questions. The customer is not only interviewing you. You are also interviewing the customer. Make sure you ask what you need to know to identify if you are selecting the right company and the right work atmosphere.

Doing all of this you will help you answer the interview questions with ease.

There are a few common questions you should consider. Why do you want to leave your company? Why did you leave your last company? Where do you see yourself 5 years from now? What are your career goals? If I were to ask your boss about you, what do you think he/she would say? Why? Why do you feel you are qualified for this position?

There are also behavioral interview questions. How do you respond to pressure on the job? If one of your peers were promoted over you how would that make you feel? Why? Tell me about your attendance? Do you like working better on your own or in a group? Tell me about a time when you turned a bad situation around? What did you do? How did it make you feel? What are your hobbies?

Being prepared with job interview questions and listing the interview questions in advance will groom you to stay calm and focused during the interview.

Q1 IT Unemployment Rates 2011

Q1 IT Unemployment Rates 2011

•         Computer hardware engineers: 2.8%

•         Chief executives (includes CIOs): 2.9%

•         Computer systems analysts: 3.4%

•         Computer and information systems managers: 3.5%

•         Network and computer systems administrators: 4.4%

•         Software developers, applications and systems software: 4.6%

•         Web developers: 5.1%

•         Computer programmers: 5.3%

•         Computer support specialists: 7.6% 

 Based on a compilation of IT staffing benchmarks from several leading industry organizations.

A Few Career Tips

Career guidance is simple. 

Be smart, be motivated, be effective and be nice.  If you have all of those and you are strong in your area of expertise you will get the job.

Stay in touch with the latest and greatest in your area of expertise.  Employers are always looking for new ideas and new ways of doing things.  This is essential for growth.  If you are up on the latest in your field you are valuable.

Stay true to your dreams.  If you are doing something you enjoy you are usually quite good at it.  Candidates who get the jobs are the ones who have real passion for their area of expertise. 

Limit job hopping.  The most sought after employees are the ones who have job longevity.

Try not to appear too cocky.  Most companies are looking for team players. 

If you have any tips feel free to share. 

How to Write a Technical Resume

Technical resume writing is a fine art.

A resume is a marketing piece that speaks for you when you cannot be there in person.  In most cases it is the first thing a hiring manager sees.  This means your resume must tell a convincing story.

Begin by jotting down your technical skill sets, i.e. programming languages, operating systems, databases, modules, any programs you are intimately working with and have some familiarity with.  Include the latest software versions you have worked on.  If you are doing hardware design include the materials you work with, the types of designs you create, technologies you work on, the size and speed of what you are working on, software tools used, model numbers.  Write down your degrees and certifications and when and where you obtained them.

Start with your most current job.  Go through your day mentally and write down everything you do on a daily basis.  Next, write everything you do on a weekly basis, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, every 6 months and every year.  Some tasks are done daily and some are done to summarize or plan for future tasks.  (These are tasks that do not occur daily, but may be important to a hiring manager.)  Be sure to include all of the software you use, the designs you are modeling, technology you work with.  Include if you are interfacing with end users, vendors, management, anyone you work with on a regular basis if it is important to the nature of your job.

Go through this process with every job you have performed for the last 10 years.  Hiring managers are most interested in what you are doing now, not what you did 20 years ago.  They want to hire someone who is current with the latest technology.  For jobs greater than 10 years back, you can briefly summarize things, unless they highlight a skill that is important for the hiring manager to know.

Make sure you have all dates organized on the resume.  Write your resume backwards, starting from the most current job and moving to the least current.  Include start and end dates, including the month and year you began and ended your job.  If there are any gaps in your job history, explain the gaps.

Formatting your resume is important.  Make sure everything is uniform.  Do not throw in too many different fonts and type styles.  Make sure the type styles are easy to read.  Do not put all of your type in CAPS.  Make sure you space things appropriately to make them stand out.  Bold text to make it stand out.  Do not bold too much or nothing will stand out.

Make sure you use spell checker.  In addition have a few friends review your resume for spelling errors.  There is nothing that kills your chances quicker than not knowing how to spell things or sloppy formatting.

Resume writing is not complicated, it is systematic.  If you take the time you should end up with a winning resume that tells the hiring manager why they should hire you instead of someone else.

Computer Recruiter

A Computer Recruiter specializes in an area specific to a computer application or architecture.  When a company requires a computer consultant it is important to drill down and be more specific about what they are looking for.  Are they looking for IT, software development, software test or engineering?  A computer consultant can mean just about anything.

Computer consulting requirements vary, but in all cases when a customer is seeking a computer staffing agency they are looking for something very specific.   

Is it hardware or software design?  Identify what the candidate does on a daily basis.  Find out how much experience they must have for each attribute.  What degrees, certifications do they prefer?  What will the final product be?  What industries will it be marketed to, and how will the end user utilize the product?  

Ask what the "must have skills" and the "dream list skills" are.

Areas of expertise within computer staffing companies vary so when selecting a computer recruiter  it is important you detail what you need and ask lots of questions to ensure they can provide that person to you.