Write the resume correctly or “I can smile and bake pancakes”

Update of the article “Write your resume correctly or“ I can smile and bake pancakes ”.

To begin with, I'm an IT recruiter. This text only expresses my opinion on the issue of compiling a resume. That doesn’t mean at all what my industry colleagues think as well. Perhaps with something they agree, with something not.

Yes, I confess, in the original version of the article, published some time ago, I categorically expressed my categorically to me about the availability and quality of the photograph in the resume. Let's do this: it's up to you to put a photo or not. From my own experience I can only say that:

1. While working in an IT recruitment agency, I only communicate with candidates by telephone and it’s psychologically more comfortable to visualize a person visually. Maybe you too. Often, the employment process stretches for weeks, or even months. During this period, I conduct correspondence with the candidate, communicate by phone and skype. I worry about him, especially if the process of reviewing the resume is somehow delayed, and the person urgently needs work. If the story ends well, and the candidate is invited to the company, I am happy. And so every day, and from month to month. Man is already becoming something close to me. And not imagining it visually - a little more complicated and somehow sadder, or something, it works.

Therefore, the photo in the resume is important for me, as a recruiter.

2. For a manager looking for a specialist to join his team, a photo in a candidate’s resume may be important for another reason: he and his colleagues will work with this person 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. And I want a person to fit into the team. Of course, it is possible to understand whether a specialist will fit into the team or not, only at an interview, and that is not always the case. But you will not invite everyone for an interview, the leader has little time for this. The photo in this case acts as one of the filters for him to save time.

Based on this, it is up to you to decide whether to place the photo on the resume, and which one. I just tried to explain why this can be indirectly useful when looking for a job.

And finally, before you start, at last, to read the article itself, I want to ask you - do not hesitate to comment! Your opinion is very important to me because you are my friends, or colleagues in the industry, or those whom I call every day, saying: "hello, I found your resume ..."

As a matter of duty, I look at HeadHunter, Linkedin every day and many other resources for searching for IT professionals of various kinds.
Being on the other side of HeadHunter, I never cease to be surprised at the ingenuity of those who are looking for work. I
suggest that we talk about how to effectively position ourselves in the labor market.
A correct selling resume is first and main step to work dreams.
The recommendations will be practical, tested on my own experience both from the applicant and from the recruiter.

By the way, a couple of months ago the 3dstepych habrayuzer was interested in this topic and in the comments there was a lively discussion of what an IT person’s resume should look like ( the post itself ) There

are a lot of articles on the topic “how to write a resume”, but from practice - if I see some examples every day worthy of a detailed “debriefing” means there is still a “field for activity”, so I suggest once again to go over the criteria for the right resume, especially since the labor market does not stand still and what was completely irrelevant 2-3 years ago, now with in trend.

Today, every corner speaks of “selling texts”, “selling events”, and how important it is to be able to sell. How do sales relate to the job search process? Absolutely direct!
I’ll tell you a secret: there are no ideal employers, no ideal vacancies and no ideal candidates. Therefore, there is room for sales in the labor market: the recruiter “sells” the vacancy to the candidate, and the candidate “sells himself” to the recruiter.

For a person looking for work in standard ways (by placing a resume on job sites), the main task is to write a resume that is relevant to the desired position and draw the attention of the recruiter.
* Recruiter - a person who is looking for a resume of candidates for a vacancy and conducts an initial interview. As a rule, telephone.

Let's write the right marketing resume. Let's analyze the example of the well-known Hh.ru. By the way, my resume helped me get a job, without experience and education, in an interesting field exactly where I wanted - IT recruiting.

So:

One resume - one position

When reading the “web-programmer / IT specialist / system administrator” one wonders whether this candidate is able to do anything in these areas at all or catches them “for good luck”.
If you are considering different work options for yourself, write a separate resume for each position.
And by the way, salaries everywhere are the same or with a difference of + - 5 tr.
The resume of the same person “Head of the IT department” for 90,000 p. Looks strange. and "Internet marketer" for 55,000 p. - I’d like to say "you’ve already decided, comrade."

Contacts

It is useful to indicate in the resume, besides phone and mail, also Skype. This will help the recruiter to quickly contact you, to see when you are online and to interact quickly in the process of passing through the stages of selection for a vacancy.
Do not worry, they will write to you only on business. And enough time is saved. Sometimes for 5 lines in Skype chat it is possible to understand whether the candidate and the recruiter have mutual interest in each other. In addition, contacts remain on Skype, the recruiter renames them (changes nickname to first and last name, also indicates the field, for example JS) and when a new vacancy appears, it offers it primarily to “warm contacts” on Skype and in professional networks.

It is no secret that in addition to job sites, there are also professional social networks. Linkedin is the most popular among them. About 40% of LinkedIn users work in the IT sector and, as a result, recruiters there are frequent guests. Having a profile in Link, and indicating a link to it in the resume, you increase your rating in the eyes of a recruiter and increase your own chances of finding a job in a large company and in an interesting project.

Only 20-30% of vacancies are posted on Hh.ru and other specialized job search sites. Recruiters seek candidates for other positions on their own, without having an incoming response stream. As a rule, this search is not limited to job sites. Linkedin and My Circle are excellent platforms both for job search (vacancies are also posted in professional networks) and for searching candidates.
I’m actively looking for myself on Linkedin. By the way, from observations: PHP programmers respond well to vacancies when I write to Vkontakte.
Sometimes in large companies there is a requirement not to show candidates with Hh.ru, and without a Linkedin profile you become “invisible” to recruiters. What if he is looking for a specialist for the vacancy of your dreams?

Possibility of moving

There was no day when I would not call nonresident candidates with a job offer in St. Petersburg.
Seriously thinking about moving somewhere? Ready to leave in 2-3 weeks? Do you know where exactly you would like to move? - well! Then feel free to indicate the possibility of moving and do not forget to mark the city (s) where you might like to live.
Nonresident candidates are often called. And it is precisely in connection with the fact that they said in the resume that they were ready to move.
So if you are not ready, or strongly doubt it - do not write about moving. Do not mislead recruiters and do not waste your time.

Photos - it is highly desirable

Creative community here is also not to take up IT. Images of anime characters, comic book heroes, photos of Scott Pilgrim and images of a monkey (!) - Anything is found.
Photography is what draws the recruiter's attention to your resume, but it should be positive attention. A portrait that reflects your character, interests, mood is what will advantageously distinguish your resume from others.
Regarding the “creative” - it is possible that the more experience you have and the cooler it is, the more unusual the image in the resume can be. In this case, they will forgive. When I see such examples, I smile and call the candidate. But if you are Junior, your decision is portraiture.

Now that the formal moments have been edited, let's move on to the first block of basic information in the resume — to work experience.

You know the technology - write about them!

If you are an IT specialist, indicate in each place of work the technologies that you use. Simply writing, for example, PHP is extremely insufficient. You will appear with extradition on many requests, but your resume is far from being in all cases relevant to vacancies. If I’m looking for someone who works with the Zend framework, then I’m writing a search query for keywords something like this: PHP AND (Zend OR Doctrine). And, drum roll, if you work with this framework, but you don’t have one (and why, they say, indicate that I’ll tell you this at the interview) - you won’t get to the interview, because your resume will be submitted to Hh.ru will not!
Conclusion: write both general technologies (for example, PL), and in particular, because they sometimes play a decisive role.

In your work experience, write at least a couple of sentences about the essence of the project

Often the customer asks candidates to have experience in a similar project. But how does the recruiter understand if you had to work with a similar project or not if you haven’t written a word about the essence of the project?
If you are a system administrator and you do not have a project as such, indicate the number of computer users in the company for which you worked or are working now. This will help to evaluate the scale of your activity and the complexity of the systems that you have encountered.

It becomes (itself) / Did - I! * Or the devil is hiding in the details

Wrote about the essence of the project and indicated the technology?
Now be sure to add a verbal description of your work.
If we are talking about a “selling resume”, then you should pay attention to this text. A resume looks more confident, where they write about the essence of the work as completed work, and not in an impersonal form.
For example: instead of “designing, developing the architecture and modules of a large, highly loaded Internet portal“ ... ”it is better to write“ Participating in designing, developing the architecture and modules of a large, highly loaded Internet portal ”.

Layout of module interfaces for design layouts / layout of module interfaces for design layouts.

Work in a team using GIT and SVN version control systems / Worked in a team, used GIT and SVN version control systems.

Demonstrate your professional growth. Manage your overall work experience

If in your work biography there were a lot of jobs, but in many of them you worked for 2-6 months, do not indicate everything in the resume. The employer is distrustful of such a candidate. It is clear that you had good reason to quit after several months of work, but this is not an argument for the employer.
Take a general look at your work experience. Do not split it into a large number of companies. If you are 23-28 years old, then 3-5 companies in this section are enough. More is overkill.
Indicate only those companies in which work that has brought you real benefit: you have grown professionally, gained valuable experience, worked in a high load project, and led a group.
Make sure that from your first job in the current growth was traced. If there was a moment when you lost your position for a short time - it’s better not to mention this, so as not to spoil the big picture.
How to hide temporary gaps in work experience? Add a month to the previous and next place of work. Say that you rested for some time on your savings, went on a long trip. No one will check this information in detail at first, and then you will certainly prove to be a real guru at a new place of work and it will not occur to your superiors to delve into your past.

Key skills or “I can smile and bake pancakes!”

This section is read and carefully enough! That is why first write in the “key skills” once again those cryptic names and abbreviations of the technologies you work with.
It will be great if you make a rating: at the top, what you know best and what you work with all the time, then what you have encountered, or are currently studying.
After the technical part, feel free to write about personal qualities. Better to avoid the “responsible, executive, and sociable” patterns. I tremble when I see “a young, dynamically developing company” in job descriptions. This is a button accordion. So the “responsible, executive and sociable” is also a button accordion, but among the candidates.
What to write about yourself in the “key skills” section? Write about those character traits that you think are required in the desired position.
If this is development - mindfulness, the ability to write clean code, you like or dislike working in a team. Argument a particular point of view.
If project management - customer focus, time management skills, charisma.
Write about your hobbies, about what you study in your free time.

New scope / little experience: why me?



Separately, I want to note the situation when you are writing a resume for a position in a new field for you or when you really have little experience, but you are 100% sure that you will cope with the responsibilities you are applying for.
Look at your work experience differently: which of your skills has value (direct or indirect) in the desired field and position?
Advanced companies have not hired for a long time only for a set of technical skills. This is not enough. Almost all technical subtleties can be taught. The character of a person will change very difficult.
Why is this position for you? Why do you dream of making a career in this area? Why exactly do you need to give a chance and the employer will definitely not lose? Know how to work for the result? Learning fast? Do you understand the future of this sphere and see the potential in it?
For example, milestone for a large number of projects, you have learned to work in multitasking mode. Write how this can be useful in the work of the project manager? You know how to carry out your duties efficiently in multitasking mode, manage to follow everything at once and are attentive to details, read the deadlines and do everything so that the project is delivered on time.

A cover letter or “I responded, but the vacancy is not interesting to me”



Of course, on work sites and in professional social services. not all vacancies are posted on the networks, but if you are looking for a job, it’s worth monitoring open job offers on the job market and responding to vacancies.
When sending a response, write cover letters. There are many responses and for the recruiter to pay attention to your resume, he must first “buy” the cover letter that you wrote at the time of the response.
“Hello, I’m interested in your vacancy” - which of you did not write such cover letters in response to vacancies?
This section makes me especially anxious, because I don’t have any strength to receive feedback with such an “original and useful” text!

Absolute evil: “Hello, I am interested in your vacancy.” Of course, you are interested in it, since you are responding to it. Why repeat the obvious?
If you are applying for a vacancy, write a competent cover letter, otherwise your response risks not being viewed.
What to write? The main thing! Namely: about their skills in the context of a vacancy, i.e. Pay particular attention to those items. which are indicated in the job description as key. Note that you have them, but don't get carried away.
Writing in a cover letter for a layout designer job stating that the candidate has 13 years of management experience and a couple of his own businesses behind him is superfluous. Since you are so cool - why do you need layout? Go immediately to manage the IT department and do not fool your head. Not? Then do not write about this experience. In this position, it is useless. Knowledge of HTML5 and CSS3 is much more important.



I hope that my recommendations will help the habrayuzer, because at least once each of us had (or just has to) write a resume and really want your work not to be wasted and the dream job will find you.

Great example cover letter: