Creating a resume can be a hell of a job. You need to sell yourself to the company that you would like to work with. You’ll want to present yourself in the best way possible, with all the relevant information highlighted. As a tech recruiter I see many resumes on a daily basis. Some are good, some are bad, but most resumes I see have great potential and could be greatly improved with just a few tiny tweaks. This way you have an opportunity to make the best possible first impression as a developer ánd as a professional.
Perhaps a bit more about me so you know why I came up with these tips. I wasn't a recruiter, I started my professional career as an art director and illustrator. As life went along, I jumped on the nice waves that came along. These led me to teaching, coaching, being a tech festival organizer and I ended up connecting my network. I combine my
app festival with my work as a recruiter. With this perspective and experience I have the privilege to work with one of the smartest groups of people we have in the world, developers.
Four ways to look at your resume
All my experience I use to help you with your cv, mindset and network. The tips I present to you are to empower you as a professional and to get the most out of this piece of paper. The way I look at your cv comes from 4 angles:
The practical: saves time for the one who reads your cv
The EQ: is the right information presented in the right way
Content: do you come across at your strongest way and do I see this in your cv
The layout: Is your CV easily readable and does the layout fit your personality
Let’s get started:
1.Start with you experiences - practical tip
It may sound simple but I see a lot of cv’s starting with anything else but the work experience. And it is so simple, imagine you are on a pile of cv’s and the hiring manager needs to read the whole pile, create a CV that is easy and fast to read. So start with your latest job after the summary and then talk later about your education, project’s, de talen die je spreekt en je skills. Zo zorg je voor een snelle start voor de gene die je cv leest
2. Short cut - practical tip
Share your code
3.Tell the stack and be specific - content tip
A common mistake I see is that developers share a few lines about the tasks they did for a company. Share not only your experience but tell about the stack you have worked on at each specific job or project.
4.Your digital footprint - EQ tip
Talking to a new developer i allway’s try to check his/ her ways. Experience, where did they work and with who. This helps me to understand the person who I'm talking to a bit better since I'm not a coder. Seeing someone who worked with developers I know well, of whom I know that they are good, helps me during a first meeting. Update your social media accounts with your experiences, delete the accounts or share at this account that this is not accurate any more and guide them to your cv.
5.Tell people who you are - content tip
Most developers are like carpenters, they can work with timber, paint the house, repair the roof and fix the car. For a lot of developers this is the same, you can do web development, backend or even another framework next to your main profession. If you want a new job or gig in a certain direction, add this title to your resume. This tells recruiters immediately in which category you would like to be and fit in. So if you like to have a new Android job, tel you are an Android developer, write it just below your name.
6. Max. 3 pages - layout tip
Being precise and sharing your experience is great. I see resumes of 5 or 8 pages and this is quite long. Remember, less is more, experienced recruiters can see in a split second if you are a senior or not.
7. Project’s - content tip
Share your projects, if you have them. Developers, in some cases, are still hesitant about sharing their code, but we would highly recommend that you at least share some of your best work with potential future employers. Want to know more about why we think the pro's outweigh the con's? We wrote a blog in detail about
sharing your code when you apply for a job.
Inspiration
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