professional resume writer

by Rebecca Henninger Rebecca Henninger No Comments

How to Write an IT Resume that Recruiters Want to Read

As a technology professional with strong technical skills, you know how to virtualize a complex environment, manage cloud governance, and optimize code, but do you know how to write an IT resume?

The challenge with technology resumes is the subject matter. It’s complex and gets muddy when you get too far into the weeds. An HR manager or a recruiter is likely not an expert on client-server technology or open source databases so it’s best not to bore them with allllll the gory details.

When attempting to convey your technical cred, focus on the business benefit! As always, the same advice applies. Don’t bury the lead, quantify, and use strong, action verbs. Here are a few of my favorite tips:

  • Avoid buzzwords and cliches. To a certain extent, this is tricky because sometimes the buzzwords are part of your job. In that case, they are keywords and should be used. Avoid, at any cost, overused, ineffective words such as results-oriented, goal-driven, and achievement-oriented.
  • Start with a Headline: The biggest compliant I hear from recruiters is that they get too many resumes that are not focused. The best way to quickly target your resume and showcase for a hiring manager what you are looking for is a headline. Use the job you are targeting, even if it is not the one you have. If you are not comfortable using Director of IT when you are a Manager, an add-in such as Career Target: Director of IT can help to bridge that gap.
  • Organize Information. Nothing is worse than a “laundry list” resume where the recruiter simply doesn’t know where to look. Use keywords to indicate what the bullet is about or try adding subject headers above a grouping of bullets. This helps your ATS and also tells the reader what you do.
  • Focus on the Last 10 Years. I am not a proponent of excluding any experience prior to the last 10 years if it is relevant. Ageism is alive and well and you don’t want to date yourself, but you also don’t want to appear 30 when you are 45. It’s confusing and can do you a disservice. In technology, however, even more than in other fields, the older experience is simply not relevant. Technology moves at lightning speed. Your experience implementing Windows NT technology is not going to impress anyone. While we’re at it, neither is your @yahoo or @aol email address, so change these please.
  • Highlight Business Benefit: Technologists of today are business enablers, business partners, and conduits for efficiency. Use language and quantifiable achievements to demonstrate not just the technical elegance of your solutions, but the bottom-line results to the business. This will give a hiring manager confidence that you understand the big picture and will add value to their organization.
  • Include Git Hub and Personal Development Projects. Technologists, more than almost any other profession, are expected to truly walk the walk. Demonstrate your geek status and love of all things IT by including personal projects, Git Hub links, and involvement in the thriving tech community.

When writing your IT resume, the most important thing to remember is that you need to focus on the reader. Think like a recruiter! Using job descriptions and profiles of other people currently in your role, compile a list of keywordsβ€”both technical and soft skillsβ€”and address these, quantifying mastery whenever possible, throughout your resume.

Typically, an E or F pattern works best for structuring information, as the eye naturally skims down the left side of the page. There is nothing wrong with adding color or well-placed graphics for emphasis, but always best not to go too far out of the box, particularly when you are in a conservative industry. The content, the words on the page, are the most important part of your resume.

Struggling to find the words to express your achievements? Reach out to me today or schedule an intro call to find out how my professional IT resume writing service can help you bring your career to the next level.


by Rebecca Henninger Rebecca Henninger No Comments

How to Add Bullets and Characters to Your LinkedIn Profile

Wondering how to add cool bullets and characters to your LinkedIn profile summary, headline, and professional experience sections?

NINJA Secret Alert: It’s easy!

Writing your profile can be so challenging for so many reasons – you’re insecure about promoting yourself, not sure what keywords, to use, and there is so much advice out there that is confusing. This is not one of those things!

Adding white space and bullets to your profile is a great way to help the reader work through the profile. Big blocks of text (really anything more than 2 or 3 lines) gets skimmed over. In our lightning-fast, hyper-distracting world, if you don’t showcase the highlights for a reader clearly, they may miss it.

LinkedIn, unlike resumes, does not allow for bold, italics, font changes and other tactics used in resumes. To overcome this obstacle, I use a few strategies:

CAPS! You can’t bold but capitalization helps to identify headers and areas of emphasis for the reader to pull them through your profile.

BULLETS. You can copy and paste various bullets using EDIT/COPY, CTRL/C (Windows), or Β COMMAND/C (Mac) and paste using EDIT/PAST, CTRL/V (Windows), or COMMAND/V (Mac).

Here are a bunch of my favorites. Feel free to bookmark this page and refer back often πŸ™‚

βœ”οΈŽβ–ΆοΈŽβ—†c β™¦οΈŽβœ¦

βœ¦πŸ“§β€’ ●βœͺβ˜…

β˜› ☚ ☜ ☝ ☞ ☟ ⇨ β–Ί β—„Β  Β»

βœ” ✘ ☐ β˜‘ β˜’

β˜… βœͺ ✯ ✰

βœ‰ ✍ ✎ ✏ βœ‘ ⌨

βœ† ☎

πŸ‘πŸŒŸπŸ‘πŸ’—πŸ’™πŸ’œπŸ’πŸŽ€β˜€οΈπŸŽ‰πŸ’₯

LINES

Using similar copy/paste instructions, paste these characters a few times in row to make lines. One caveat, this will use up characters, and depending on your screen size, the line may appear definitely.

☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲
β–„β–€β–„β–€β–„β–€β–„β–€β–„β–€β–„β–€β–„β–€β–„β–€β–„
β–¬β–¬β–¬β–¬β–¬β–¬β–¬β–¬β–¬β–¬β–¬β–¬β–¬β–¬β–¬β–¬β–¬
β–“β–’β–‘β–“β–’β–‘β–“β–’β–‘β–“β–’β–‘β–“β–’β–‘β–“β–’β–‘

Be sure to check the appearance on mobile and any other devices you have available. Happy profile updating!

Linkedin-Profile-Development

by Rebecca Henninger Rebecca Henninger No Comments

Targeting Your Resume for Different Jobs

personal-brandingAlmost every client I work with has some nuances to their search. Really, aren’t we all a little diverse in our experiences? Interestingly, for the ones who are not, that’s always the biggest roadblock in their pursuit of happiness…they are stuck in a box and can’t get out.

For the rest of you, the challenge is this. How do I create a resume that will allow me to apply to lots of different jobs? Do I need lots of different resumes?

It’s a doozy, right?

Here’s the deal. Applying to jobs is time-consuming. No one is organized enough to maintain 7 different resumes and keep track of changes you make, then apply that across each. If you are, you should immediately change your career focus to professional organizer!

What I do with my clients is work with them to identify their professional brand. Figure out that particular brand of awesome that makes them different, whatΒ sets them apart from the competition, and then – most importantly – how to sell it and to whom.

It can be daunting (torturous, even) to work on things like this alone. Endless evaluation and self-examination, comparing yourself to the competition, figuring out the competition, back to the self-evaluation. It’s exhausting!

Then how do you apply to different jobs – what are the keywords from the job description that need to be in your resume to attract the right recruiters?

Before you know it, you’re stuck on a hamster wheel, running around and around in circles.

How do you get off? Simple! Stop focusing all your attention on the online job market.

  1. Differentiate yourself with a powerful resume. Create a resume that is unique and that clearly articulates your value, then quantifies the results that come from that value.
  2. Start building a strong network. Once the job hits the open market, it likely has already been filled. Only 20% of jobs are filled through online application.
  3. Don’t apply for jobs that you are not qualified for! Just because you “could” do that job, doesn’t mean someone you have never met will contact you to interview you for it. If your dream job is a reach job, you need to work that from another angle. The job boards will not work for you.
  4. Stop obsessing over your resume. Work with a certified and proven expert, invest in yourself, and then focus your efforts on your search strategy. Instead of tweaking your resume every hour, spend that same 15 minutes on LinkedIn, using the powerful search feature to find 5 hiring managers. Reach out to them!

While your resume is always a work in progress, it’s only 1 component of your search. If done right, it should be very easily customized for different opportunities. The trap that many people fall into is focusing only on the resume because it feels controllable.

I challenge you to flip the script! Take control of EVERY aspect of your job search. Start building a rich network with connections that will enable you to access jobs before they hit the open market. Take control of your personal brand – don’t let others interpret what you are and what you can do. Make it easier for people to help you find your next opportunity by getting clear on what you are great at and where you can add the most value.

BookΒ an intro call to learn more so we can get started creating your story – https://calendly.com/rhresumes

by Rebecca Henninger Rebecca Henninger No Comments

How The Resume Writing Industry Has Changed – And What You Need To Know About It

resume writingThe resume is not going away. This much we know, although for a few years that very thought was a topic of discussion.

What is happening is that the resume has become just one component of your search. Albeit a very important one – but in no means will your search be uplifted and transformed by addressing the resume only.

My current resume practice has shifted as well. Clients need a great resume but the heavy and overstocked resumes of 2010 are dead. Hiring managers are reading for only a few seconds – recruiters are giving your resume a 6-second scan. You had better make sure that you grab their attention!

So what do you need to know today? Here’s the deal:

1) Do keep paragraphs less than 3 lines and bullets less than 2. If necessary, add supporting detail in a secondary bullet.

2) Do organize information using keywords or subheaders.

3) Do keep your resume achievement oriented. Even if you spent a lot of time answering phones for your boss, that’s not going to get you the interview. Focus instead on the new filing system you implemented.Β 

4) Do frontload the achievements and results delivered in the beginning of the bullet – Delivered a 40% productivity improvement by implementing streamlined processes and procedures. Recruiters read down the left side of the page. Leverage this by strategically placing info you want read first.

5) Do get a second and third eye on your resumes. Have them read for content and accuracy. Take their advice with a grain of salt, Β if they do not actively hire.

6) Do hire a professional if you are overwhelmed.Β  I not only provide writing support to my clients, but also moral support and confidence-boosting insight.Β 

7) Don’t expect to find a job simply by applying online. An average open posting receives 250 applications. Even great resumes get lost in the clutter.

8) Don’t rely on only the people you know. While the age-old adage remains true, you don’t know everyone so you need to expand “who you know”. The best way to do this? Cold networking. Put on your big girl / big boy pants and start reaching out to people that can actually help you get your foot in the door.

9) Don’t fixate on your resume. Yes β€” make changes if needed to meet the job posting, but no need to rewrite it every time.Β 

Reach out today to learn more about my tactical job search coaching and resume creation services. Book a 15-min call today to find out how I can help!

by Rebecca Henninger Rebecca Henninger No Comments

How To Write the Perfect Resume…And Other Unicorn Myths!

resume-writingIs there really a such thing as a perfect resume? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple; however, by keeping a few guidelines in mind you CAN create a branded, targeted resume that positions you for new opportunities!

Resumes need to be customized to your unique goals, objective, and value proposition.

The one-size-fits-all approach runs the risk of making you look like a jack-of-all-trades but master of none. If you don’t have a specific field or position to target, you can still focus your resume by honing in on key transferable skills and utilizing quantifiable metrics to demonstrate mastery.

Here’s the challenge though. Even a professionally written, amazing resume may not get your foot in the door for career pivot opportunities on its own. You still need to do some networking work on your end to crack the door open.

Think of your resume as the door stop you jam into the slightly ajar opening.

Don’t think you have a network? Think again. Everyone you know is part of your network. Just because you are shy or introverted doesn’t mean you can’t start networking like a boss.

In fact, sometimes the more passive approach works in your favor. People who know and love you are excited to be able to finally help you with something because you have never asked them before!

Ok. Back to the “perfect resume”. My team and I create amazingly branded resumes that boost your confidence and pique the interest of hiring managers to get your phone ringing. As a professional resume writer, what I do for my clients is three-fold.

1) Understand your strengths

2) Qualify & quantify your achievements

3) Demonstrate your emotional intelligence in addition to subject matter expertise

Interested in learning more? Contact me to set up a consultation and mention promo code PERFECTRESUME for a free cover letter with your resume order!

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