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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