- So how do you make your resume stand out
from the hundreds, or perhaps thousands,
of other people competing for a job?
Let's talk about that in today's video.
(upbeat electronic music)
Welcome back, my name is Tim Buchalka
with another programming tip of the day.
And the question was how do you make your resume
stand out of the crowd?
Because one of the things that you'll come across
when you're actually looking for a job
and applying for jobs, is there's lots of other people
obviously doing the same thing.
And if you think about from the other perspective,
somebody who's looking to hire someone,
they've gotta look through these resumes.
So one of the key things is to try
and make yourself stand out.
So how do you actually make yourself stand out?
Well firstly, try not to do an obvious thing
which is obviously a lot of programmers do,
and that's to just grab a template off the internet
and that's just change that slightly,
put in your own personal details
and a few other things about any experience
and what you've studied, and send it through.
The danger with that is if it looks very similar
to other peoples' resumes,
chances are you're not going to stand out.
Well in fact you're not going to stand out are you?
Because how are you going to stand out
unless somebody's actually reading through
every resume in detail.
And I'm gonna give you a tip right here now
about how your resume is viewed by perspective employer,
it's called scanning.
And they'll grab your resume,
they'll have a quick look through,
and they're looking for keywords,
and something that grabs their attention.
If they don't find that,
in their opinion after that quick scan
you're very similar to a lot of other people
who have actually applied.
You'll either get binned,
or you won't be taken out of the pile.
If you aren't taken out of the pile
chances are it'll be very hard
to stand out and actually get an interview.
So you really do need to make yourself stand out.
So first things first,
make sure you don't copy off a template.
You know there's templates out there that you can download,
just do a search for resume templates
you'll find hundreds of Microsoft word documents,
or whatever.
So don't do that, number one.
But secondly, try and focus on
what you want the prospective employer to see.
Does he really care that you've had three jobs
that aren't programming related?
Chances are he probably isn't interested in that.
He or she wants to know whether you are a good match
for their organisation.
So therefore, try and put that information up front.
So focus on the reasons that you think
you're a good match for this organisation.
Are you certified?
Have you done some certifications?
Have you completed some computing courses?
Have you looked at GitHub and perhaps found a project
and contributed to that project?
That should be something you're focusing on.
Number one, talk about the technologies
that you've had experience with.
These are the types of things that someone
scanning through a resume will look at,
and hopefully that will stand out to them,
and they can grab it and at then at least
you'll warrant further attention.
So make sure you try and really sell yourself.
But focus it again, this is not about you,
this is really important,
when you're writing a resume it's not about you.
It's about the employer.
So write your resume from the employer's perspective.
Just really the easiest way to do it,
this is what I used to do when I used to apply for jobs,
I used to try and imagine myself
as the employer reading my resume.
And what am I getting out of this resume,
what's standing out for me,
and give me a reason in other words is what I'm saying,
when I'm scanning through that resume
to actually want to speak to you.
So focus on that.
Focus on giving the information that the employer needs.
And another thing you can do
is try not to make it a 12 page or a 15 page resume.
I've seen huge resumes.
One or two pages is probably the maximum you need.
Now depending on the job,
if you're obviously going for a job
that requires all sorts of extensive experience
then perhaps you need to pad it out.
But I would actually stick to a pretty basic resume.
And the other thing I would recommend you do
is to tailor the resume
for the position you're actually applying for.
As an example of that,
let's just say you're applying for three jobs.
One job is a Java developer, one is a C# developer,
and the third one is a C++ development position.
They're three different languages,
and you happen to know these languages,
so the best way to do that is not to give them
a cookie-cutter generic template,
but rather to give them a resume, or I said template,
but a resume that is actually really set up
for that particular language.
So if you're going for a Java position,
a Java entry level position or what ever it is,
the word Java should be heavily used
at the top of the resume and really really emphasised.
So it should be really clear to the person
who is reading your resume that you know Java.
So that's really the tip here is what I'm trying to say
even though it takes a lot of extra work,
or can be potentially a lot of extra work
from your perspective,
if you're customising your resume for the position
that's going to give you a greater likelihood
at least it's getting to the next stage
where you can present your case so to speak at an interview.
So try customising your resume to fit the position
that you're actually applying for.
So all of these things are really
trying to just get you to the next step.
So keep in mind the purpose of a resume
isn't to get you the job,
the purpose of a resume is to get that interview.
Once you get to an interview then there's other techniques
you need to start looking at to present well
in an interview.
So if you focus on that and think the one task
of your resume is just to get to that interview,
to get noticed, to get someone to take interest in you,
you're half way there.
And greatest way of looking at this,
the easiest way to maximise your chances,
is just to think of this from the employer's perspective.
Once you've finished your resume,
just before you go to send it out,
pretend you're the employer reading through your resume.
Is it an enticing read?
Will they be interested in working with you
or contacting you once they've read the resume?
So good luck with it.
And focus on that and it will greatly increase your chances
of getting the interview.
Because I can tell you right now,
having read through literally thousands of resumes
over the years,
most people applying for a job don't do this.
That's a secret tip there.
Good luck with it and I'll see you in the next video.
Alrighty, so I hope that helped.
If you've got any questions feel free
to leave a comment and I'll get back to you.
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