By J.M. Auron, Expert IT Resume Writer—Providing Professional IT Resume Writing Services for More than 15 Years.
Resume writing is a very specialized form of communication. In a sense, it's a bit like writing metrical poetry (something I do from time to time). I know that sounds a bit odd, but in both, one has to communicate within a very set structure and with a relatively small number of words. It's not easy to communicate clearly, stick within a structure, and say a lot very concisely. Which is, as an aside, why almost no one writes metrical poetry anymore 🙂.
I've been writing IT resumes from more than 15 years, and I've learned something about the craft. So in this article (the first of a series of several) I'd like to talk about some fundamental best practices that can help your IT resume (or any resume, for that matter) shine. These will be more "nuts and bolts" than my usual posts, but I think the detail will be helpful to IT professionals looking to craft a resume and make a career move.
The Overall Structure of an IT Resume
When IT professionals sit down to write a resume, generally, they focus on content. Content is absolutely critical—and I'll address both the kinds of content and the best way to present content in future posts.
But structure is the first thing the reader sees—and a clear, accessible IT resume structure can make a huge difference in whether a busy hiring manager takes the time to actually read you resume.
So here's how I (generally) structure IT resumes for my clients—there are, of course, exceptions to address the specific needs of my clients.
1) Contact Information.
These days, I generally include name (usually in bold, all-caps, and a larger font), phone, email, and LinkedIn profile. I used to include addresses, but I stopped doing that many years ago for a couple of reasons. First, in our increasingly security-conscious age, I think it's better not to include an address. Even though a resume should be a confidential document, you never know who may see it. Second, although remote work has (unfortunately) become more scare—and I think and hope that the pendulum will swing back to a more balanced view on remote—physical location just isn't as important as it once was.
2) The Headline or Branding Statement.
There are a few ways to approach this, so I'll talk about what I generally do.
I believe in keeping the headline simple and clear. I usually give the overall area a candidate is seeking, and then two or three titles. Here's an example:
Cybersecurity Leadership: CISO • VP • Senior Director
This approach is clear and direct, and makes the reader immediately aware of what you're looking for. I often include three titles, as in my example, to show a range of career goals—CISO in an SMB, VP in a larger organization, or Director in Fortune 500, for example.
3) Professional Summary
This is, in some ways, the most important section of your IT resume. The professional summary is a short, condensed overview of your value proposition.
The professional summary can be structured in a number of ways—a paragraph of five or so sentences can work very effectively. For longer summaries, I'll often use a bulleted format with arrow bullets to make the summary statements distinct from later accomplishments. In this section you want to talk about your high-level skills, but also your character and (if relevant) your leadership style. This will immediately give the hiring manager an idea of who you are as a professional, and whether you'd be a good cultural and technical fit.
4) Professional Experience
This is, of course, the meat of the resume (meaning no offense, of course, to my vegan readers🙂). This is the place where people spend the bulk of their time writing—and that makes perfect sense.
As I said, I'll get more deeply into IT resume content in a future article, but for now, let me stick to ideas on ways to structure your content for greatest readability.
First, DO NOT BULLET EVERYTHING. This is one of the most common issues I see with resumes. It's a terrible idea. It's been a terrible idea for decades. But, given the internet's view that "if something is said often enough, it must be true," it's everywhere. Why am I so adamant about this? Because (to paraphrase Dashiel Parr in The Incredibles), "If everything is bulleted, nothing is."
A bullet is there to draw the reader's eye to the most important, impactful aspects of the resume. Bulleting everything makes that impossible. I will continue to be a voice crying in the wilderness on this; I don't really hope to make much of a dent in the torrent of loud nonsense that is Reddit—and the other platforms where career experts who've never hired anyone hold forth.
Second, I recommend a clear distinction between duties and accomplishments. While this may be a bit artificial—IT pros, after all, spend the bulk of their time on projects—it's clear for the reader.
I'll generally use a short paragraph describing day to day scope, team size, and budget size. This helps the reader determine if you're a fit for the job description. And while I think the obsession with keywords is overblown, this section can also be an easy way to include some important ones.
I'll then go through 3-5 of my client's biggest, most impactful initiatives with a short paragraph describing what my client did, and a few hard-hitting bullets on what my client delivered in that initiative.
Benefits of this approach to the experience section
Structuring the experience section of your IT resume in this way has a couple of key benefits. First, it draws the eye to major accomplishments immediately, and second, it quickly shows the reader where to find deeper information about your career.
That aids clarity, readability, and provides depth of information when needed without interfering with scanability.
5) Education, Certifications, Technologies and Tools
The final section of the resume is necessary—though not always the most interesting part of the document. Education, of course, must be included, and certifications, if relevant. I don't always include technologies and tools—but if you do want them in your IT resume, keep the section clear, concise, and tightly formatted—you don't want to take space away from real accomplishments.
Final Thoughts
As I said up front, this is getting more nuts and bolts than a number of my recent articles. But I realize that a lot of IT resume best practices are buried under the avalanche of Reddit nonsense—so I thought this might be helpful. I'll talk about content in a future article.
If you'd like to see some examples of what I mean, you can check out my samples page. And if you'd like to learn more about how I work...