Creating an Effective Technical Resume

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Creating an Effective Technical Resume
UWB Career Development Center
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Preparing Your Resume

• Jamie Shay
• Career Specialist
• JShay_at_uwb.edu

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Resume - Purpose

• TO GET AN INTERVIEW
• To sell yourself
• Present related work experience
• To represent you when youre not there.

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Creating an Effective Resume

• Market Yourself!
• Be concise focused
• Write specific to the purpose
• Create a visually appealing piece
• REMEMBER YOUR AUDIENCE!

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Its Your First Impression
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Who is Your Audience?

• Tired, overworked, stressed!
• Maybe HR - technical or non-technical
• Maybe a recruiter hopefully technical
• Maybe Manager technical but no time
• Maybe a machine - can only make a match
• All desperate to find the right person!

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Effective Resume- The Basics

• Reviewed -10 to 30 seconds
• Must make immediate impression
• Overall appearance
• Organization
• Spelling and Grammar
• Use strong verbs
• Use descriptive terms

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Parts of the Resume

• Top Portion is critical
• Indicates to reviewer that you may be the right
  person
• Includes
• Name
• Objectives
• Qualifications/Skills/Traits

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Parts of the Resume - 2

• Middle Section
• Strongest supporting evidence first
• Education, maybe GPA and awards
• Relevant Job Experience
• Technical summary for technical resumes
• Certifications
• Bottom (if theres room)
• Incidental Information
• Affiliations/Clubs
• APPROPRIATE hobbies
• Languages

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Resume AppearanceDONT GET CUTE!!

• Organized Concise
• Light-colored, 8.5 x 11 paper
• Single page if possible
• Margins and Fonts
• Use white space to avoid fatigue
• Font- san serif eg Arial, Tahoma, 11 pt.

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General Guidelines - Content

• Objective
• Specific to the position - customize!
• Dont sound selfish
• Qualifications
• What makes you unique? sell yourself
• Tell them why youre the best match to job
  description
• Tell them what they want to hear!

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Resume Types

• Chronological
• Functional
• Combination

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Resume -Chronological

• Most common
• Shows experience within the same field as the job
  goal highlights job progression
• Reverse chronological order
• Advantage show career growth if linear
• Disadvantage shows all jobs, whether good or bad

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Resume Sample Chronological
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Modified Chronological Relevant Work Experience

• Relevant Work Experience
• Software Tester, Microsoft Date
• Some description
• Backup Operator, Microsoft Date
• Some description
• Other experience
• Barista, Company Date
• Tutor, QSC, UWB Date

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Resume -Functional

• Emphasizes skills
• Limited or not relevant work history
• Career change
• Questioned by some

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Resume Sample Functional
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Resume - Combination

• Lists both function and work
• Highlights projects
• Highlights transferable skills
• New to field

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Resume Sample Combination
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Resume Format- Digital

• Send in body of message-not attached
• Limit formatting-
• Avoid word wrap
• Each line 64-70 characters
• Send to self to test
• Include a cover letter- single screen length

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Resume Format- Scannable

• Scanned for key words - Use theirs!
• Avoid textured papers
• Avoid graphics, bold and bullets
• Stack contact information
• One line for each part of information

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Keywords Scanned For

• Keywords are the "hard" skills
• -"soft skills -second tier of searched words
• Developed Oracle 9.0 database for marketing
  department
• Wrote web based sales tracking application in C
  on Linux/Apache platform
• Managed customer database (MS SQL 7.0), product
  updates, and upgrades.

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Technical Resumes

• Must match skills AND technology
• E.g. developer on C vs Fortran
• Project manager on 727 vs MS Word
• Solution
• Use resume descriptive section for activities
• Use technical section for technology

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Technical Section

• Can be a laundry list
• Used for
• Job Description Match
• Database Search
• Include important acronyms, abbreviations
• Avoids the Boeing or Army resume syndrome

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Technical Section parsing

• Possible headings
• Operating Systems Linux/Unix, etc
• Languages C/C, JAVA, etc.
• Applications MS Office Suite, etc.
• Database Oracle, Access, MySQL
• IDEs Visual Studio, Eclipse
• Depends on your experience!

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Sample Technical Resumes

• Discussion
• On first impression which one looks like youd
  want to read it? Why?
• Which one is better organized?
• Which one would you call for an interview (if
  skills were equal)?

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Cover Letters-Format

• Single page- 2-4 paragraphs
• Tailored and conversational
• Show your personality

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Cover Letters- Format

• First Paragraph
• Identifies position how you learned of it

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Cover Letters

• Middle Paragraph
• What do you offer? Describe it!
• Mention internships and experience
• Indicate the good match you are

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Cover Letters

• Last Paragraph
• Restate your interest
• Request interview
• Thank you and contact information
• http//careerlab.com/letters/link002.htm

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Follow Up to Interview

• Send handwritten Thank You letter, if you can
• Get business card from interviewer or get
  name/address from the receptionist
• Make it short and sweet just to keep your name
  in front of the interviewer
• Do it on the way home keep cards and stamped
  envelopes in the car.

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Resume Resources

• UWB
• Career Development Center Website
• Additional Websites
• Jobs
• www.quintcareers.com
• www.monsterjobs.com
• www.jobstar.org

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Technical Resume Wrap UP

• To make appointment in career center
• www.uwb.edu/career
• Select Schedule Appointments Career Advising
• Questions?

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The Career Fair Experience

• Jamie Shay
• Career Specialist
• jshay_at_uwb.edu

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The Career Fair and You

• Why attend?
• Efficiency
• Face-To-Face Contact Opportunity
• Variety of companies

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Getting Ready for a Career Fair

• Your resume
• Prepare yourself
• Research, research, research!

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Getting Yourself Ready

• Establish your goals
• Your Appearance
• Your introduction

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Set Your Career Fair Goals

• What are your goals for this career fair?
• Meet potential employers
• Face-To-Face contact
• Make quality contacts
• Get a job
• Research job market
• Get free stuff

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Your Appearance

• Your dress code will depend on
• Your desired position
• Your industry or targeted employers
• Type of Career Fair
• On campus
• Professional/trade fair
• You need to fit in

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Your Appearance (continued)

• Be comfortable!!!
• Career fairs can be a hostile environment heat,
  noise, cement floors.
• You cant be your best if youre uncomfortable -
  especially your feet!
• Carry as little as possible
• Be neat, clean, non-controversial
• Dress one level up to be safe

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Your Company Research

• Get participant list from sponsor or website
• Research companies
• Company websites for background
• Job Postings
• Newspaper www.seattletimes.com
• Job websites
• Monster, Yahoo, HuskyJobs, etc

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Your Personal Introduction

• Quick elevator speech about you and what youre
  looking for.
• Name
• Degree/School
• Brief experience, if appropriate
• What youre looking for
• Why you want to work for them
• Make sure your handshake is good
• PRACTICE your speech!

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Career Fair Logistics The Room

• Working the room
• Get map or layout of the fair
• Plan your attack get to right companies
• Budget your time use it wisely

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Career Fair Logistics -The Employer

• Why employers attend career fairs
• Hiring for open positions
• Collect resumes for future
• Advertisement/Image

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Career Fair Logistics The Booth

• Booth layout about company culture
• Reading the company culture
• Attitude of booth workers
• Booth design commercial or amateur?

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Career Fair Logistics The People

• Who is in the booth? You never know!
• HR
• Recruiters,
• Managers,
• Team Members and
• Draftees
• How are they interacting with candidates?
• How are they handling resumes?

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Interacting with the Booth

• Who to talk to
• Read the name badge (or no badge)?
• Names
• Titles
• Department Name only badges managers?
• Read the business cards
• Talk to people who are talking to others
• Look for good conversations to join!

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Interacting with the Booth-Part 2

• Talk to them!
• Be friendly -- introduce yourself
• Ask informed questions about open positions or
  about the company
• Give them a resume and promise electronic copy to
  follow-get email address!
• Take literature and business cards
• Shake hands and thank them for their time

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After the Career Fair

• Follow-up with contacts made - look for an excuse
  to them contact again
• Send email or card thanking them for their time
• Express continued interest in the company
• Send electronic copy of resume, as promised

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Questions?

• Thank you for coming!
• Missy and Jamie