How your tech resume should differ from a general resume

Resume writing has almost become a science. There are a gazillion companies out there that exist only to help people create resumes that will garner interviews. While many of the standard resume suggestions work for any type of resume, there a few tweaks you’ll need to make in order to create a resume specifically for a position in IT. Here are some things to keep in mind when creating a tech resume:

1. You don’t have to stick with one page. Many sources will tell you a one-page resume is better, but that’s not necessarily true for a tech resume. For an IT position, you’ll need to showcase your technical skills as well as your customer-centric skills, so don’t be afraid to go to two pages. But try to keep it to two.
2. On the first page of your resume, include a summary of your qualifications. This is information not bound by dates of employment. You’re simply outlining your background and your general strengths.
3. Also on the first page, outline only your top qualifications. Focus on your familiarity with modern and emerging technology and don’t waste space on outmoded stuff. No hiring manager is going to care much about your expert knowledge of Windows NT.
4. Fill your online resume with lots of keywords. Hiring managers, in an effort to cut to the chase, may electronically search your resumes for the terms they’re looking for.
5. Run spell check but don’t trust it. Spell checking won’t flag correctly spelled words used incorrectly and may not catch tech terms and proper product names that are not part of the dictionary. For products, be sure to use the manufacturer’s spelling. Nothing kills your credibility faster than to say you’ve worked with a technology for years when that technology or acronym is incorrect on your resume.