There is one primary mandate to writing technical resumes that get the attention and interest of the reader.

A resume must be written in clear, concise language that directly states what you’ve done and the value you’ve provided.

Your resume is your marketing collateral, and for IT professionals it is one of the most important assets in your job search. Make sure you get it exactly right.

Writing Your Resume

When a person tries to incorporate language to enhance their achievements, they can get off-track and begin to ramble. The resulting sentence may be incomprehensible as in the real life example shown here.

• Increase employee value by utilizing systems and methods which assign individual experts not only to solving problems, but to designing automated solutions to repeated problems after only a few repetitions, thereby allowing the business to repeatedly sell individual problem solving abilities as high-value services.

If you are scratching your head and thinking, “What?” you are not alone. This bullet item from an actual resume is long winded and utterly confusing. At first glance, and perhaps even at second, you have no idea what the person has done. More importantly, at this point, the reader is likely to just move on to the next resume. You’ve lost the opportunity to make a positive impression.

You may consider hiring a resume writer to edit your resume and ensure no mishaps. But a writer with little or no technical experience may simply condense language without clarification. They don’t have the expertise to understand the real-world situation, nor do they have the ability to capture the heart of the achievement. The example below shows what a non-technical writer might produce. It is certainly more condensed, but not particularly understandable or engaging.

• Increase employee value by utilizing systems and methods to assign experts to design automated solutions, enabling the business to repeatedly sell problem solving abilities as high-value services.

If you decide to hire a writer, select a person with experience in writing technical resumes – someone with real IT work experience. Good writers write about the things that they know. Without clear direction and a solid understanding of the end result, uniformed writing is confusing and misleading.  A resume writer with depth of knowledge and experience with technical roles, responsibilities, techniques, processes, and best practices will make your achievements come to life. This newly crafted statement truly captures the value of the achievement.

• Maximize employee value by packaging expertise as commodity solutions to common and repeating problems.

Concise, compelling, and intriguing … Isn’t that what you want your resume to be?

 

Summary

 

Take the time, make the investment, and get involved in making your resume a true reflection of your expertise. It speaks for you when you’re not present. Make sure it’s saying the right things.

Article contributed by Jennifer Hay:

With over 15 years of experience in IT and career counseling, Jennifer specializes in creating high-impact resumes, cover letters, and social networking profiles for Information Technology (IT) professionals.

Jennifer’s credentials include an ACRW, CPRW and CRS. She is currently the only resume writer who possesses the distinguished CRS+IT.

Read more about Jennifer at: IT Resume Service