Here's every mistake (or advice) I can think of when building your resume based on my humble experience reviewing more than 500 resumes as Head of Engineering at a tech company.
Shortlist your skills
Please don't mention every technology, framework or language you've ever encountered or studied in college. Yes it might show that you're familiar with C#, Java, PHP, .NET, MySQL, Oracle, C, C++, HTML, Python, CCNA, TCP/IP, Photoshop.
But let's be real, it also signals you're a "jack of all trades and master of none". It might not be true, but it hurts you more than it helps you.
Break down skills by proficiency
This one is more of an advice and less of a mistake. Instead of breaking down your skills by category (e.g Databases, Frameworks, Networking ...). It's usually better to break it down by proficiency (e.g Familiar with, Experienced in ...)
Here's how it looks like in real life:
- Proficient in: Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Docker
- Experienced with: Postgres, React, Git, Javascript
- Familiar with: Kubernetes, Redis, Angular, MongoDB, ElasticSearch
Add details to experiences
If the "experiences" block on your resume is basically names of companies and dates, your chances of getting your dream job just went down by 50%.
Instead try to write 3-4 sentences under each experience explaining what the project was about, how you were involved (as an individual) and some of the things you achieved on the project. If you can mention stats (optimized page response time by 30%), that's even better.
Avoid spelling and grammar mistakes
Why should anyone care about typos if you're applying for a technical role? Well two things:
- It shows a possible lack of attention to details. If you're gonna make typos on your resume, there is a high chance you gonna leave typos in emails, technical documentation, Slack and everything in between. There is exception to this rule as anything else in life, but it's more likely to be true than not.
- It shows a possible lack of proficiency with whatever language you're using.
What can you do about this? Besides auto-correct, use Grammarly (it's free) or have a friend review your resume before you hit send.
Move "Education" block to the bottom
This is especially true if you're applying to tech companies in Morocco or abroad. Start with your experiences (professional and personal), then move to skills and language proficiency, then finish with education. When it comes to hobbies, keep it reasonable but also original.
Keep it visually simple
If you're applying for a technical role, your resume can look as simple as a README on Github. But here's my favorite resume template of all time.
A good resume, first and foremost, should be easy to read, informative, interesting, typos-free then maybe visually beautiful.
And yes, your resume might stand out if it's all colorful and original, but then again, your experiences, skills and side projects should take care of that.
Keep it to one page (Preferably)
If you have less than 6-10 years experience. Please keep it to one page.
If you keep jumping between jobs and can't fit everything into one page, focus on the experience that are most relevant for the job role you're applying for. Also you might wanna skip some of those internships.
Make it relevant (Preferably)
Doesn't mean one resume per company, but also it doesn't have to be one resume to rule them all. If you're applying to multiple job roles or companies in different industries, it might be an interesting idea to create multiple variations.
For example if you're applying to companies in banking but also a tech startup, you might want to create one resume variation where you highlight more your experience with banking software. And then another variation where you highlight more your experience at a similar tech startup.
I hope this helped. If you have questions, I'd love to answer them in the comments or you can reach me directly via zack@gemography.com
Previously published at https://dev.to/gemography/common-mistakes-in-dev-cvs-2a17