7. Boosting your Resume
Listen here:
Episode 7 on Anchor.Fm
Episode Description / Notes:
Are you seeing more jobs rejections than you'd like? Maybe you're not even getting to speak to a real person before you've get cast aside?
Not to fear - I've got 5 tantalizing tips that will give your Resume some WHOOMPH so you can bypass the machine check.
One of the tools we talk about is ResumeWorded (https://bit.ly/2DyycR2), and they were kind enough to give a whopping 25% discount code for their Quarterly and Annual Plans. Nice! Just use the code SPEAKINGSOFTWARE at checkout!
All Tools that we talk about this episode, and that you should TOTALLY use:
(Some of these have free versions/services, but others may carry a cost.)
Grammerly:
https://www.grammarly.com/grammar-checkResumeWorded:
https://bit.ly/2DyycR2 (Affiliate Link)JobScan:
https://www.jobscan.co/
Episode Script:
Welcome to this episode of SpeakingSoftware.
I'm your host Philip, and together we're going take another look at the soft side of Software Development.
Folks today we’re going to talk about Boosting the Impact of your Resume. We’re going to whirl through 5 top tips that are going to put you WAY ahead of the pack. Some of these tips you may not even have heard of before! Man I am so excited! Today you folks are all going home with gold.
Lets get right into it!
I’m a big proponent of interviewing regularly. I’ve done it for YEARS. And I used to frequently get offers from companies – until a little while back – when I ran into some trouble. I just started getting tons of rejection letters. Companies that had hounded to hire me before, now just outright rejected my applications.
Every single posting was met with an automated response email, and the weird part was – they all were variations of the following theme:
“Thank you for your interest! We had the chance to review your application - though we are impressed by your background and experience, we believe the position isn’t a right match for you at this time.”
Does this sound familiar to you?
At the time I had feared I had somehow been blacklisted, that maybe some previous recruiter didn’t like my attitude and decided to knock me down a peg. I was just perplexed, but then I discovered something that kinda shook me. Recruiting software was actively sabotaging me.
This might sound like paranoia, but bear with me here! What I didn’t know at the time was that I encountering the great wall of job applications – more commonly know as ATS. That’s – Applicant Tracking Systems for us lay-folk. These tools handle all aspects of hiring - from receiving resumes, tracking an applicants progression through the interview process and then right up to actually hiring successful applicants as employees.
Here’s the kicker though – quite a large number of these tools employ AI techniques and natural language processing to parse, score and sort Resume. In plain English, an AI is perusing your resume and automatically rejecting it if doesn’t meet certain Criteria. You’re hearing me right - It’s Cold, calculating culling.
I’ve been looking at stats online and the general wisdom of the Internet believes is that 75% Resumes don’t even see a person. For every 4 that are sent, 3 are not even read by a human. Think of how many great candidates (like yourself) are being filtered out by the unknowable minds of AI.
Like most people, I had gone through several resume writing classes in High School, University, etc... and for people – my resume was the Shizzle. But for machines, it didn’t have any Fizzle…
If you’re in the same position - don’t worry, I am here to help you. I have crossed this bridge and I’m going to equip you with the tools you need to make kick ass resume. Tool names and Links will be in the show notes, so don’t panic if you don’t catch it while listening!
Little nugget before we start: Your CV/Resume is your Asset, that can literally be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, euros or pounds to you per year.
Bet you never thought of it that way before! If you can’t proof-read it correctly and put the effort in - why would a company trust you with their Assets and Intellectual property which is worth significantly more? Take everything I’m about to say VERY seriously.
Lets go!
Resume/CV Tip no.1:
REALLY PROPERLY Review it yourself. Like REALLY
I know you’ve already done the boring basics of read, review and basic spell-check, etc... We’re pros though right? Lets kick it up a notch! Run it through Grammerly. Link in the description. You REALLY want to make sure you’re spelling and grammar is correct folks. I have seen interviewers immediately take a dislike to a potential candidate because of basic spelling mistakes or misuse of tenses, etc...
Not matter how confident you are about your writing, don’t be too proud to re-check it. You don’t want something as silly as this to be the reason you’re rejected.
Now, have another read yourself after and trim the fat. What do we mean by that?
Don’t use 4 words when one will do.
Sentences more than 20 words – cut em down.
More then 4 commas in a sentence? Cut it down.
Explainer words like ‘Because, for, as, therefore, forthwith’ all over the place? Cut it down.
Big fancy words like obsequious, prodigious or even Quintessential – rethink if you REALLY need them.
You want JUST the facts here. Your Resume should be no more then 2 pages long. If its longer than that you have a big problem on your hands. There's people that say that’s not enough space, etc... but let me level with you. I've been writing software for over 10 years and all of my experience (when described correctly) fits on 1 1/2 ISO sized A4 pages at the very readable font-size 12. There's no excuse!
Fancy flowery language isn’t going to help you out here. Trim it down.
Afterwards, print it out, and read it out loud. Sounds quite natural now, right?
Resume/CV Tip no.2:
Use a Resume Scanner.
When I found out these existed, my mind was blown!
Resume Scanners are built with the inside track knowledge of how ATSs work. They’ll scan your resume, score it and literally tell you line-by-line what’s wrong, and exactly how and where to can change it.
There’s a few of these services out there, but the one I’m most familiar with and that I’d highly advise trying is ResumeWorded.com. Their web app super easy to use AND (speaking as a Software Engineer) it is slicker than Chris Hemsworth. Its free to use, and unlike other services - the free version is actually VERY comprehensive and worthwhile. Its an absolute treasure-trove of information and tips.
Great example: When I first scanned my CV there it was scored as only a miserable, measly 24! However, 30 minutes later of bopping through their recommended steps (which they hold-your-hand through) I was up to a 78. I’ve done further work since and boosted even more, but God that half-hour really made a massive positive difference!
IT REALLY DOESN’T NOT GET EASIER THAN THIS FOLKS!
On a wee side note, I reached out to the bad boys at ResumeWorded after being floored by their service and there’s a link in the description/show notes to use if you’re interested in taking things to the next level with one of their Quarterly or Annual Plans.
Now, I know what you’re thinking - Ugh, spend my hard-earned money? Folks, if you’re even remotely serious about looking for a new job – its a no-brainer. According to TechCrunch, the average raise of a job hop in Tech is circa 7-10% of your current salary. A little investment here would give you a MUCH better chance at getting considered for that new position. The return on investment here is actually staggeringly high!
You’re an Engineer - do the math and see for yourself!
Resume/CV Tip no.3:
Get a professional Peep to take a peak.
Have a trusted, professional friend or peer review your CV. Now I did just say professional. Like it’s cool if your Dad or Room-mate reads it, but maybe its better to ask someone working in an office environment, or if you’ve part of say a technology user-group, or you go to Tech meetups - ask someone senior/experienced to give it a gander and come back to you with with some advice. Bribe them with beer if you have to!
People in the know will be able to directly point to problem areas, and the majority of Senior Devs and beyond are always happy to lend a hand to a fellow developer.
The key here is that the more ‘in-the-industry’ they are the better. This is part of why you built a professional network. Not just to stay up to date with the industry, get gossip or get a hot tip on a new project or whatever, but also to help other in their job searches by Sharing Tips, Sharing Job Leads and generally just being a decent sort to your peers.
Leverage your network.
Resume/CV Tip no.4:
Get a REALLY professional Peep to take an impartial peak.
Now that you’ve gotten a professional friend or peer to take it a look, its time to get an impartial review. They’re not going to pull any punches or just tap you with the soft feedback. They’re just going to knock you fucking flat out with facts.
Services like ZipJob offer free Resume reviews. This will have a real, qualified person take an independent, unbiased gander at your goods and deliver great, clear feedback.
They’ll give you results on three factors:
How well your presenting your skills and experience
ATS Scanning Test (which we talked about above)
Design and Formatting Critique – basically fonts, sizing, bullets, etc...
If you like their work, you can of course decide to hire them for their expert Resume Writing skills. Again, I’m going to remind you your CV is an asset!
Resume/CV Tip no.5.
Tailoring To the Task
Now that you’ve got your resume prepped and ready for action, there’s one more little thing you can do to boost your chances of getting picked up by a person. Tailor it towards the specific jobs that you’re applying for.
UGH right? I hear you, but bear with me here.
You’ve just laid the base foundation and now have your standard, Golden Copy. This is the bit where you tweak the edges. You don’t need to go too wild with the editing here, instead think of a surgeon with a scalpel. Minor movements with maximum efficiency.
Use a tool like JobScan that will take a look at both your Resume text and the Text of the job. They’ll score how well your resume matches the job requirements, and again give you tips and technques on how to match it better. They’re going to look at
Hard Skills,
Your Education Level
Current and Previous Job Titles
Soft Skills
and generally keyword matchings
to show you how much of a fit your paperwork makes you out to b for this specific position.
Again they’ll hand-hold you through the editing process.
—————
There we go folks, 5 ways to smack your resume into shape so both the literal and corporate robots will give it the thumbs up.
Lets recap:
REALLY PROPERLY Review it yourself. Like REALLY
Use a Resume Scanner. (again shoutouts to ResumeWorded.com)
Get a professional Peep to take a peak.
Get a REALLY professional Peep to take an impartial peak.
Tailoring to the Task
Realistically, this is like 3-6 hours of concentrated, focused work you could spread out over like a week - and then you can end up with a BANGER of a CV. Its not rocket science, there’s not even any guesswork required here folks. Its literally just follow the yellow brick road to success.
Following my tops tips above means that you can then focus on what really matters – prepping for the Actual interviews!
On a side note - If you need a bit of a hand there, dip back to Episode 5 where I gave some EXCELLENT tips on how to ace your Interview.
I also offer mock-interviews and soft-skill interview prep – drop me a line at speakingsoftwareshow@gmail.com and we’ll get your sorted!
I’d love to discuss your situation and how we can get you into a place of confidence and success.
Thank you for listening! Don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already.
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We’ve been SpeakingSoftware. Catch you next time!