Resume Writing Tips By Bob

[rare idol]

Context: I have gotten a lot of requests for reviewing resumes in my DMs & in threads recently and wanted to give some general advice for tech resumes that I have given to people in the past. If you have further questions feel free to post here!

Comprehensive List of Tips for Writing Resumes in the Tech Space.

This is entirely Bob’s opinion and advice. It is important that you get many perspectives on your resume and things may differ depending on what country you are applying in or types of companies. This is for larger Fortune 800 level companies largely based on US employment.

Format

• Page Count: As a student or new grad, only have 1 page.

Explanation: Imagine if you were running applications where you wanted to train someone from scratch for a role you were an expert in. Let's say middleschool/highschool aged students were applying for that position. They give you multiple pages worth of information and skills simply listed that said they were qualified. Now lets say you have to read through hundreds of them. How likely are you going to believe that highschool and middleschool aged students have two pages worth of a biography relevant to a role you would be hiring for? This is how experienced professionals view students looking for jobs It is not expected that you know a whole lot and if you do, you're likely overqualified for internships / new grad roles.

• Margins: Make them at the very least half an inch. Do not make margin sizes differ left/right or top/down. If you have two inch margin on the left, have a two inch margin on the right. It is disorienting and odd to view two inches on the left with a half an inch margin on the left or 2 inch on the top but half an inch on the bottom.
• Simple is Better: ATS (Applicant Tracking System) is a way that resumes get filtered. Sure they are getting better but why take the chance with a fancy formatted resume that a primitave or in-house ATS can't categorize or filter your resume appropriately? It might be less fun but simple formats in one column and with simple fonts and basic spacing is your best bet for properly passing ATS. If you NEED to demonstrate your fun self, have two resumes. One for ATS and another for in person events & networking opportunities where you KNOW a human will have it in hand.
• Make it Accessible: Will anyone have problems reading your resume under certain lighting, dimness, color contrasts, or because of disability? If your resume has color in it, make sure it doesn’t fall in the combo colors that are detrimental to color blind people for reading a resume (such as greens/reds, or Grays and blues) or that it can be read by hard of seeing individuals. Making things accessible means more eyes can view it.

Overall Presentation

• Have a Purpose: What are you going to be applying to with this? If the scope is very large (from underwater basket weaving to personal financial advisor for example) , lessen the scope to be more specific or make different versions to fit different scopes. Generalist resumes as a student is considered a RISK.

Explanation: If you want to hire / pay someone to learn crocheting from you (an expert crochet person) for your crocheting business who would you pick:
A. Person who has a little Crotchet interest, a little bit of retail interest, a little bit of painting, and some music making on their resume
B. Person who has gone to knitting cons, built cosplays, participates in crochet forums, has learned basics of crocheting, has had an etsy shop around crocheting small things.
Obvious Answer: Person B. Why? This person is MORE likely to stick around with your business long term. They are also more likely to enjoy crocheting. Sure A might like it and may stick around but they are a risk strictly looking at their resume. Their outcome and desires are unknown which makes them riskier to employ for LEARNING (aka new grad and intern roles).

[rare idol]

Education

• Placement: As a student or recent grad ALWAYS put your education first. This is important because during this time your education is the most relevant for job apps.
• Extra information: Performance, GPA, Deans/Presidents/Honors list, etc. you should include here.
• Education Levels: You don’t need to put highschool information. It is assumed you have a highschool diploma if you’re in a 4 year university getting a degree. For community colleges/trade schools, if you attended these in the past and are now at a 4-year, do not list it, it isn't needed and people who (wrongfully) view community/trade in a lesser light this can hurt you.

Projects & Experience

• Advertise You: Your project is probably very cool I am sure but I can guarantee you that it isn't so cool that the recruiter or engineering manager are going to want to use it based on your description. You need to advertise why your experience building x is reason enough to hire you to build y at my company. Advertise your skills / expertise not the project. Listing that something is a mobile app, web app, chat bot, game, etc can be enough of a description of what it is.
• Make it Specific: Is the sentences you’re writing or bullet points a fancy way to say nothing or too complicated to say something simple? Read sentences/bullet points on their own to someone and if you have to come up with excuses or explanations for that bullet point, chances are it isn’t self explanatory/simple/useful/etc.
• Brag: Are you making your skills/knowledge seem less exciting or less important? Are you downplaying any points? The skills/knowledge/experience you place on your resume should make you look better. Do not point out faults in yourself (even if you have some) on your resume. As far as the place you’re applying to is concerned, you are perfect. Avoid passive language like "I was given the task to do x" vs "I did x" or "the performance was increased" vs "I increased the performance"
• Prove Skills: Anyone can list they know something or have a quality but how can you prove that on your resume? Describe your skills used with the "how, why, what, and impact"

Explanation: "i built a car engine software" vs "Implemented software for a car engine where I implemented the blackboard pattern in order to allow for interruption and correction from knock back and for stabilizing fuel air ratio and maintaining the Stoichiometric ratio where every 14.7 grams of air was paired with 1 gram of fuel." No one would deny that the second statement demonstrates an understanding of what they did and proves they are capable of reproducing it with ease conceptually. It also shows they know how to communicate technical concepts.

• List Relevant Items: Did you work a retail/fastfood/sales job while as a student? As cool as it might be, it can be a distraction and muddy up your resume. Recruiters & Hiring engineers don't really look for or care about your grocery store job. If you needed to hire a baby sitter, would you care about the candidate's etsy shop for cosplay props much, or their job at mcdonalds 6 years ago? Prob not, you really only care if they are cpr certified, have experience with kids, demonstrated responsibility, etc. Like at most its a "cool" moment at worse its more words to skip or make someone stop reading. This applies to irrelevant projects, club experience, etc.
• Order Appropriately: What is the most important points you want to emphasize? For example for non-leadership roles, don't put leadership experience first on your bullet points. People often overestimate the value of leadership, collaborative, and communication skills.
• Have Substance: Consider your experience level to others at the same level. Do you have similar experience level or are you behind? Ex. By Senior year of a BS degree I expect full projects made outside of the classroom with marketable industry standard concepts & skills. If you feel you're behind, work on more skills rather than feeling bad.
• Title Appropriately: Consider your audience. If your project's name is "Red Wagon Winners" I think you and I can agree in not knowing what that means by itself. Say "Web App" or "Two Player Action Shooter Game" etc. to specify.