It’s human nature to make a judgment about someone when you first meet them. Most of the time, it happens within 10 seconds!
When you apply for a job, your CV is probably the first point of contact between you and your potential new company.
Also, how you write your CV gives an impression of how you will write emails or work documents: be simple, clear, and concise.
Let’s go straight to the point and hack it out with the resume review checklist. We will focus on people in IT. But let’s start with checks that can be applied regardless of your industry:
Essentials
☐ I Specified contact information (phone and email), and it’s easy to find and well-highlighted
☐ I specified the city in which I live, or
If you are applying for a job that is outside your country, do you need a VISA or a special work permit to operate in a specified country?
☐ I specified all the necessary info
☐ I specified only the relevant contact info, omitting full address, second phone number (if not strictly necessary), or other irrelevant contact info.
Tip: The way you protect your data gives you a taste of how you will protect someone else’s data. GDPR is everywhere now, show you care about data privacy!
☐ I wrote an introduction or a summary of myself
Tip: techmeot.io doesn’t have a specific section for awards, personal achievements, research, hobbies, courses, etc. they can be specified and contextualized in the Summary section.
☐ I specified my current (or desired) job title
Language
☐ I ran a spell check on all the fields of my CV
☐ I used a first-person implied (first person + avoiding the use of first-person voice with personal pronouns (I, me, and my)
Why? The alternative is to write in the third person, but it would sound like you are writing about another person. Including first-person pronouns (I, me, my, we, our) is not recommended, either.
Why? Employers value concise, results-oriented writing, so excluding the pronouns has emerged as a way to focus on action — the verb — rather than the subject, the pronoun.
☐ I used the verbs consistently: I used present tens for my current experience and past tens for the sections I’m no longer doing
☐ I used gender-free and inclusive terms
For example, do not say “Mastering data science” or “Reported to the chairman”.
☐ I avoided buzzwords
For example, avoid outdated words such as ninja, rockstar, hard worker, etc.
☐ I used action verbs, positive and engaging words
For example, avoid “responsible for”, “experience in”, “I had to”. They sound old and “passive”; use action verbs instead. Look at the difference:
- I had to configure a custom object because our sales team was complaining about the functionality.
VS
- I proactively created a custom object to make our sales team more efficient.
Other good examples:
- Researched ways to improve website performance, KPIs, and other analytics.
- Consulted with outside parties to identify creative solutions to everyday business challenges.
☐ I ran an ATS check. For example https://www.jobscan.co/
Readability
☐ I wrote sentences less than 25 words long
☐ I wrote a CV that fits in 2 or 3 pages and/or takes 2 or 3 mins to read
☐ I specified the job experiences in chronological order, descending
☐ I formatted my CV in a proper and printable (yes, still there sometimes!) way
For IT CV
☐ I wrote my resume focusing on a specific career goal, as opposed to a one-size-fits-all document
☐ I specified Soft skills that are relevant to IT
Good examples: Problem-solving, Communication, Leadership, and Negotiation. Also, be prepared to tell a story about them during the interview.
☐ I specified Hard skills that are relevant to IT
Good examples: Apex Programming, Mulesoft Developing
Avoid using generic ones, like Microsoft Office, …..
☐ I highlighted measurable figures when possible
People in IT like numbers!
- Size of the team you managed,
- Years of experience with a specific product or product or issue
Example:
- “Created an SEO strategy that improved organic search traffic to the corporate blog by 58% YoY.”
- I planned and implemented a strategy to reduce the technical debt and achieved a reduction of 20% in 1 year.
For Salesforce
☐ Salesforce is spelled “Salesforce”. Avoid “Sales Force”, ” SalesForce”, “SF”, “SFDC”, etc
☐ I specified my certification with their original name
☐ For each experience, I highlighted the main Cloud(s) I worked with (Sales, Service, Marketing, Commerce, etc
☐ I highlighted measurable figures when possible
Tip: Think about Salesforce-specific measurable things:
- Number of users
- Number of markets served
- Number of integrated systems
