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Hi, my name is Michael Gibbs and I'm the founder and CEO of Go Cloud Architects.
And we're an organization that's dedicated towards building high performance cloud computing
and networking careers. Personally, I've been working in technology for over 25
years and I've been helping others get their first tech job or get promoted in tech for
over two decades. And my favorite thing in the world is when one of my students
calls me and says, "Guess what, Mike? I just got cloud hired." And part of getting cloud
hired is having a great cloud architect resume or a solution architect resume.
And in today's video, we're going to give you 10 tips to improve that cloud architect resume
to help you get cloud hired. Now, before we begin, let's talk about
what is the purpose of the resume. Because when we understand the point of the resume,
it makes the rest of it so much easier. A resume is an advertisement about you that tells the
hiring manager why we should hire you. So we want to make it the best advertisement in the world.
Now, we have to think like advertisers because advertisers are great at writing advertisements.
So when we ask advertisers what's one of the most important things that you have to do,
they will tell you this. Get the ad seen. So when it's your resume, you must get your resume seen.
So that is real, real, real important. And that's going to be a theme in our process. But it's not
just being seen by machines. It's being seen by the human that can look at that resume and say,
"I want to interview that person." So let's talk about how we do that.
The first thing the resume needs to show, or at least hope to show, is competency. And what
we're looking for on the competency side is something that's going to trigger the employer
to want to bring you in for an interview. So for example, if you're networking, if you've worked
for Cisco for 20 years, chances are the employer's going to want to bring you in for an interview.
But if you're a Cisco Certified Internet Expert, a CCIE, even though the employer doesn't know if
you're competent, it still looks really good and the employer might view you as competent. So while
people know that I like certifications to get the interview but I hire based upon competency,
certifications on paper create the illusion of competency. So it may actually be competency,
but they create that illusion no matter what. So competency is helped by your certifications
and your degrees and your experience, but certifications can help a lot here.
So when advertisers are trying to get their ad read, they use big, bold letters and flashy
colors. So what I suggest is, on the top line of your resume, in big, giant text, you put yourself,
whatever your fanciest degrees are, and whatever your fanciest certifications are. Something that
screams competency and read me. For example, I do Mike Gibbs, MS, MBA, CCIE, Google Professional
Cloud - Architect, usually an AWS blend. Only the big search, the really heavy duty ones. But at the
top line, I've got something that says he may be competent. Look at the education and credentials.
Now, the next part of your resume has to show how you can help the employer.
That's part of getting your resume read. How do you help the employer.
Now, there are lots of people that have made the mistake and put an objective on the resume. The
objective tells the employer what you are looking for. But remember, you're in marketing now. You
have your own advertising agency when you make your own resume. You're creating an advertisement.
So the advertisement has to show what you can do for the hiring manager, which is your customer. So
competency top, and then do this by writing an executive summary. Write an executive summary.
And in that executive summary, show how you can help the organization in that executive summary.
Now next, your resume must be relevant. So if, for example, you wanted to be a cloud architect
and your last job was walking dogs, it doesn't look that relevant. So try to find some relevancy
in your past career. I am sure in your past career there are things that look relevant. For example,
I practiced internal medicine as a nurse practitioner. Do you know what I did as a
nurse practitioner and patient would come in and they'd have a chief complaint. "My
throat's bothering me." I would ask them some questions. After I'd asked them some questions,
I would perform an evaluation of their systems. I might use a tongue depressor or a flashlight,
look at their throat. After I would do that, I'd make a diagnosis and a treatment plan.
But what do I do as an architect? I asked the customer, "What's going on in your business?
What are your business goals? What are your pain plans?" Then I baseline the organization systems.
After that, I make a diagnosis. And after that, there's a plan that's called an architecture.
So the job that I did in practicing medicine and the job that I did in architecture are
pretty much the same thing. The only thing that changed was the knowledge.
So when I'm writing a resume for relevancy, if I'm an architect,
I'm going to be doing a lot of consulting. If I'm an architect, I'm going to be doing a lot
of presenting. If I'm an architect, I'm going to be doing a lot of writing. If I'm an architect,
I'm going to be doing a lot of leading of the teams. So look for those relevant things
from your past job and put them there. Now, if you're an architect, it's probably all relevant.
Just call attention to those relevancy things. But if you are a career changer,
make sure you show those things that are relevant from your past career into your future career.
Now, here's the next thing that you really should state on your resume.
It should show that you've been growing professionally. Hopefully it does. See,
what happens is hiring managers typically look at a resume and if somebody's had the same job
for 30 years and the job hasn't changed, they wonder why. Why wasn't that person
promoted? Were they not motivated to be promoted? Were they not a top performer?
So generally speaking, ideally, if you've been at a company for a long
time, if you've had multiple jobs at those companies, break it down into the different
jobs that you've had at that company. Or at least take your most recent title. But
make sure that what you have there shows that it's not career stagnation, that there's growth,
because that shows your motivation and employers care very much about your motivation.
Now, these next two things, these next tips are going to be more on attributes.
Spelling and grammar. Let's face this. This is an advertisement of why somebody should hire you.
If it doesn't look right, if it doesn't read right, and if it doesn't feel right,
the resume's going to be rejected. So this is not the place to make mistakes. Me personally, I make
a lot of typos. I hire a professional editor for my resume because I want it to be perfect.
Now, the resume can show how you were effective. So did you win any awards in your past jobs?
Pop them down. Any accolades? Pop them down. Any metrics? Pop them down.
Any architect of the quarter or systems engineer of the quarter? Pop them down. Pop it there. Now,
your resume should have an appropriate length too. Some people suggest that one page per 10 years of
experience. I say use your judgment. If you're a cloud architect or a solution architect, you're
not going to have a one page resume, but you don't want a 30 page resume either. Couple of pages
tells the story of who you are. If you've got more experience, you're going to have a longer resume.
Now, with regards to organization, it needs to be organized. I mean, sometimes I look at resumes and
they just have a bunch of keywords and acronyms spewed all over the place with no logical flow.
Needs to be organized. Top line, read you. What's interesting about you? Then an executive summary.
Then after that, your professional experience. After your professional experience,
your education. Below your education, your certifications, your languages are back there.
Your publications. Got to have a flow. So organized.
And when I talked about organized and the flow, now we're going to talk about a logical order.
There's the type of resume called the functional resume. Basically it lists a whole lot of skills
and what your most recent thing is and very little about everything else.
For this world, we need a chronological, logically ordered resume.
Last thing on your resume, make it substance. Don't add fluff. Seriously, the people reading
these things have no time. The hiring managers have no time. The executives have no time.
If they can't get your resume, look at it and go, "Wow, I want to read this," it's tossed aside. So
make it readable, make it interesting. Get to the point, get to the point fast, because you don't
want that person midway through getting bored. You want the person reading that at the far end
to read this and say, "Let me call that person. I want to bring them in for an interview right now."
So now you know the resume is an advertisement. Since it's an advertisement, do what advertisers
do. Make your thing readable, make it likable, make it short, to the point,
relevant, make it grammatically perfect, spelling perfect. Show how you can help that employer.
Go get that interview. And once you get that interview, go get hired. I'm Michael Gibbs,
founder and CEO of Go Cloud Architects. It was nice speaking to you in today's
video. And I look forward to seeing you on another video very soon.
It was so nice having you join us for this video today. Let me tell you about some free
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I look forward to seeing you and I look forward to assisting you in your technology career.
Thank you so much. This is Michael Gibbs from Go Cloud Architects.