Resume TIPs IF you are applying for an IT position

1.   Drop the detail.  The No. 1 problem with most technical resumes is that they are way too long. We’ve seen resumes in this category come in at six pages when they should be only two pages. (You can get away with three if you're covering a decade's worth of multiple job stints.) Remember, "Resume" is French for "summary"!

2.   Abolish your objective.  Don't put an objective on your resume.  How to put this gently?  No one cares what you want. Companies want to know what you can do for them.  In lieu of an objective, try a summary with a maximum of four bulleted points. If it runs longer, then it's really not a summary but the exposition itself.

3.   In summaries, avoid generic words and phrases like "project management," "sales support," "leadership," "team player," "problem solver," and "excellent communication skills." That's because summaries are too short and can't provide the proper context for these words, so they end up being meaningless and waste space.

4.   Get your resume in search shape. Most tech resumes go through a whirlwind lifecycle, from keyword search to a nontechnical hiring manager or a recruiter to a CTO or a tech-savvy CIO who is looking to fill a specific need. The challenge is to write a resume that speaks to these different readers. And that first reader is usually a resume-search application, not a person.

To get past the search filter, you'll need to do a little research on jobs in demand during a recession and related job descriptions. The goal is to find the acronyms, the resumes, and the keyword phrases that the software will be looking for. This can be an arduous task, and there's no getting around it, but things can go a little faster if you have multiple versions of your resume touting different keywords.

Keywords are tricky, too. For instance, do you fill your resume with the term "Access," "MS Access," or "Microsoft Access,” all, of course, mean the same thing. But what will the search value?  It's probably safe to use two of the three.  

It's also good practice to use keywords and acronyms (along with their spelled-out names) in both the technical skills list and inside the body of the resume. Not only does this optimize the search, but human eyes down the road will be able to connect technology to the job.

5.   Highlight the right certifications. Despite the best efforts of applicant-screening software, hiring managers are still flooded with resumes and have to separate them quickly into yes and no piles. Certifications can be a very effective way to do this. Right or wrong, nontechnical hiring managers often use certifications to help them evaluate technical skills.

On the other hand, too many certifications littering a resume can result in a death by a thousand cuts.  If someone looks like a certification junky, and they're moving from job to job, the certification suddenly can become a liability. Choose technical certification training wisely.

While certifications pale in comparison with work experience, having the right certification can tip the scales in favor of an applicant. According to Foote Partners' fall 2008 survey of more than 22,000 IT professionals, which covers some 170 certifications, the most valuable certificates today settle mainly into two camps: architecture and security. Microsoft and Cisco certifications also got good grades.

6.   Balance tech and business. Describing your prior job descriptions in only a couple of paragraphs is more art than science -- that is, there are no hard and fast rules. Yet there are some helpful guidelines.  For starters, a prior job description should start with a general statement similar to a summary bullet. For example, "Financial services technical expert with a specialty in large-scale networks with excellent uptime."

The body should have technical detail that, critically, shows the technology's impact on business. Both the hiring manager and the CIO want workers who understand technology's role in the business, especially in times of financial stress. The most recent previous jobs should contain the most detail, while older jobs require only company name and job role.

With prior job descriptions, techies often make two glaring mistakes. The first one is writing in excruciating detail the basic job description of, say, a network admin. The hiring manager may not understand it, and the CIO already knows it. Don't waste the space.

The second mistake is describing technical projects, challenges, and relationships without any context. Metrics can provide this context. As a lead systems admin, for instance, how many people did you manage?  If you built a network, point out the number of people it supports.

Conversely, while it sounds cool to say you reported directly to the CIO, the recruiter may feel duped after finding out it was at a five-person company.

7.   Do's and don'ts.  You should also make sure you take care of the basics, since lack of attention to these details leaves a bad impression. And in this environment, you can't afford that.

A.    Make sure to put your name and page numbers on your resume, such as "Jerry Smith, page 1 of 3," since a resume will change hands and be shuffled with other resumes.

B.    If your formal education and certifications are impressive, go ahead and put them on the first page.

C.    Tech resumes tend to be dense, like lines of code on a computer screen, yet it will help to have some white space in your resume to make it easier on human eyes.

D.    Present your resume as a Microsoft Word document, seems to be the standard these days.

Avoid the first person -- "I" or "me" -- in the resume.

E.    For e-mail addresses on resumes, use a Gmail or a Yahoo address if you use a free e-mail account. E-mails from AOL addresses can reveal your age -- and yes, age discrimination exists. If you're using an e-mail from a personal domain, make sure it's professional.  Partyg@gmail.com  shows a lack of judgment.

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