A well-written resume catches attention with its simplicity, brevity and professional description of the most important information about you. Remember, it is not an advertising billboard, but your business card. What should an exemplary resume of an IT specialist look like and consist of? Some general advice below.
- The entire document should be readable, esthetically pleasing in layout, neat and clear, as well as consistent in elements, i.e. font, spacing, etc. Before sending it, check typos, errors, read it carefully again. Remember, you do not need to prepare a resume in an hour.
- Your name should be as in your ID card (not using nicknames, diminutives or other names). A very important issue in recruitment is the ability to contact the candidate by phone and email, so be sure that both your phone number and email address are current and error-free. It is a good idea to include a link to GitHub and LinkedIn.
- The most common in a resume is an inverted chronology of events. Start with a description of the most recent, up-to-date information: work experience, education (e.g. postgraduate studies should be placed before the master’s degree).
- Always send your resume in a non-editable form, such as a PDF file, then you are guaranteed that nothing will be disjointed and will be read by everyone as you saved it on your computer.
- Arrange the parts of which your resume should consist in the following order:
- Professional summary
- Professional experience
- Education
- Skills
- Interests and hobbies
- Consent to the processing of personal data
Professional Summary.
Every resume, especially those in English, should start with a professional summary. Abroad, this is a standard element of a resume, and in Poland, there are also more and more resumes containing it. It is a brief description of your most important skills, experiences and professional achievements. You should write in it, in particular, about the programming languages you know and other technologies you use in your daily work. Showcase your most important skills right here.
Work experience.
Both the Recruiter and the Employer are interested first in what you know, and only later in the course of your education. In addition, according to the principle of chronology, it seems more logical to list your experience first as long as it was your last professional activity. Also, when describing your workplace, you can clearly divide your job description into sections on duties and achievements. This makes the “Experience” section more readable and the most important information immediately strikes the eye. Use in it specific names of technologies (including version numbers if possible ) and tools that you use at work, describe your duties in detail. IT is evolving very quickly and it is important for the employer to know how well you have mastered specific technologies and in which versions. Information about a rare technology in your current project can be useful, but before you include it in your resume, make sure what your actual knowledge of it is. Describe your most important achievements in great detail, boasting numbers, specifics. Also list the months of employment. Remember that by writing only the years of employment (e.g. 2010 – 2011) you may arouse suspicion of the employer, as candidates often hide very short periods of employment in this way. In the header write the full name of the position you have worked and are currently working in.
Education.
It’s no secret that experience and skills are the most important section of a resume for IT, but that doesn’t mean you should skip describing your education. Of course, nowadays programming can be learned on your own or in a course, but some employers still require a college degree or a relevant technical school. Technical knowledge, including mathematics and algorithmics, is also useful for IT jobs. Therefore, if you have completed a degree in computer science, be sure to write about it in your resume. However, you do not need to overextend this section. It’s enough that you list your field of study, university, the years you studied and the academic/professional degree you obtained. If you enter more than one item, write the last stage of education at the top.
Skills.
The basis of every programmer’s work is programming languages. Therefore, you should not only list them, but also write the degree of their knowledge in your resume. This is exactly the same for any other specialization in IT. When assessing your skills, remember to indicate your level of knowledge of specific technologies. It’s a good idea to present this section graphically or to describe each program on a scale of 1-10. When it comes to hard skills on your resume, it’s also a good idea to write about your knowledge of foreign languages. After all, the best IT jobs are those for multinational companies, where you won’t move without English! State not only the number of foreign languages, but especially the level of each one. You can do it descriptively, for example, “English – advanced level (C2)” or with the help of a rating module (e.g. stars). The order of listed skills is also an important element – start with those technologies you know best or those that are leading technologies in your specialty. You will then show that you are knowledgeable about the position you are applying for.
Interests and hobbies.
When creating a resume, do not neglect this section. Leaving it blank or vague (e.g. books, sports, music), is not a good solution. The rubric can, for example, be expanded to include a specific range of books you read, and sports to include the disciplines you are most interested in. Remember – write the truth here, don’t make up a hobby that sounds good, because you never know what the people who will interview you are interested in.
Consent to the processing of personal data.
Without a personal data processing clause, a recruiter cannot contact you, even if you are an ideal candidate for the job. In addition, it is a good idea to add information in the clause regarding your consent to the processing of personal data in future recruitment processes. If you are unsuccessful in a particular recruitment process, the employer will keep your resume and will be able to contact you in the future. Very often employers provide a clause in the advertisement or on their website that they would prefer to be included in the CV – it is worth including it.