8 Surefire Ways to Improve Your Resume

If you are about to enter the IT job market or haven't touched your resume in over a year, now is a good time to give it the once over.

We've written plenty of articles on how to compose a killer resume, but this one is all about the little tweaks that can transform an existing one.

Put your robot head on

For all their accuracy and efficiency, even the most sophisticated AI-driven applicant tracking system (ATS) screens candidates largely by matching words on resumes with those on job descriptions.

You may have taken great care in providing the most relevant, evidence-based examples to sell your credentials to a literate human, but if you've not included the words the machine is looking for, your carefully crafted resume may never see it past the digital shredder.

Before hitting that send button, go through the job description with a fine-tooth comb and pull out those words and phrases in the 'essential attributes' section that relate to the role. If they're not also in the first few sentences of your resume, add them in. You should also include the company name and job title there and as many of the desirable attributes as possible. You could even download a free ATS and run your resume through it as a test.

Spelling is vital. Don't miss out on your dream job because your '25 years of experience in Pthyon' didn't impress the machine algorithms!

Upgrade your resume template

There's nothing wrong with knocking up a resume on a Microsoft Word doc, but there are so many options to download a nicely presented template that it's well worth spending some time browsing.

Services such as Canva and Google Docs provide free resume templates which can be filled in online and then downloaded in your preferred format. Alternatively, you will find plenty of downloadable templates designed for use with Word, Apple Pages, Adobe Acrobat or your preferred word processing software.

A word of warning: don't get carried away designing a graphics or code-heavy resume. These can slow down upload time and present parsing issues for ATS software.

Are you putting your best foot forward?

Too many high-potential candidates bury their most valuable skills and attributes under mountains of irrelevant information and then wonder why they never get that interview.

The best remedy for this is to write a fresh summary for every role you apply for. Pull out the most relevant two or three skills and include them in this summary which should sit right at the top of your resume, underneath your name and contact details.

This bespoke summary will act as an advertisement for the rest of your resume, in which you will include more detail and examples.

Add your LinkedIn address

By adding your LinkedIn address to the top of your resume, you are effectively providing the employer with two resumes for the price of one.

If you haven't got a LinkedIn profile, seriously consider signing up for one because recruiters and employers often use LinkedIn as part of the recruitment process. In addition to adding your career and employment histories, you can input courses and skills, even asking contacts to endorse those skills for some social proof of your capabilities. Hammer it into your workflow to keep your LinkedIn profile updated with new skills, accreditations, and course certifications. That way, you can always refer to LinkedIn whenever you need to freshen up your resume.

Avoid adding Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., unless your profiles are strongly related to the role you are applying for (e.g., the company's social media management team). If you do add them, check them for controversial content first.

Be your own toughest interviewer

The most rigorous interviewers probe candidates for details by constantly asking for more information. If they come across a vague statement like, 'I'm known for my attention to detail,' they will ask questions such as, 'Who has praised you for your attention to detail?', 'Give me an example of when your attention to detail led to concrete benefits?', 'How do you envisage your attention to detail helping you in a role with us?' 'How would you balance attention to detail with the need to be flexible and reactive?'

Rather than wait for a real interview, why not interrogate your own statements now? A good technique is to take each statement and ask yourself, 'Why should an employer care about this?' Keep asking until you've satisfied your inner critic with the answer.

Audit for action words and active voice

Action words, which are dynamic verbs such as boosted, succeeded, and spearheaded or drive, manage, and transform, have a positive effect on employers. They describe what you have done in previous roles and what you intend to do should you join their workforce.

The active voice places you (the subject) in front of the action word, followed by an object. It is a powerful writing technique that is more likely to impress the reader. For example, 'I played a key role in the project's success' sounds a lot more confident than, 'The project was a success, and I played a key role.'

Run through your resume to make sure you have enough action words in there and that you are using the active voice wherever possible.

Stock up on stats

Many candidates can talk a good talk; fewer have the evidence to back up their claims. While you're not expected to provide verifiable sources on your resume, employers do love to read facts and figures that could potentially be validated.

If you can quantify your results with a dollar figure, numerical gain or percentage increase, you will create more of an impact than relying on the bare bones of the achievement. If you don't have precise figures, an honest estimate is the next best thing.

For example, instead of writing, 'The tweaks I made to our project management system led to an increase in deadlines met,' it would be more effective to specify a 98% or 'almost double' increase.

Go through each of your pieces of evidence and insert some meaty stats where possible.

Review regularly

Finally, make an entry into your calendar to repeat this refresh process on a regular basis. If you are actively seeking work, you might want to set a reminder for every two weeks. If you are filing your resume for later use, revisit it every month or quarter. At the very least, you should review your resume on an annual basis.

The team at Myticas hopes to help you with your next career jump in the IT sector. Contact us today to find out more - and please do subscribe and / or add your comments below.