Meetup Live

Recording: Stand Out in Tech with the Right Resume

Learn the formula to make your experiences pop on paper, how to include data to make your case, and how to use your resume to market yourself.

It’s been a turbulent year for the tech industry. Between layoffs and tightened budgets, candidates seeking tech positions face fierce competition. Wondering how you can stand out among the many applicants for tech roles? We’re here to help. Throughout the next two months, we’ll be hosting events to help with resume writing, networking, and salary negotiating on Meetup Live.

In this first event of the series, Annyce Davis, Meetup’s VP of Engineering, walked us through a tutorial on how to craft the perfect resume to make you stand out in the competitive tech landscape. Watch to learn the formula to make your experiences pop on paper, how to include data to make your case, and how to use your resume to market yourself.

Main Takeaways:

Resume Review: The goal of a resume is to market yourself and get an interview.
- Make sure you include relevant work projects in your resume, document what you’re familiar with, keep your bullet points succinct and metrics focused. Share any relevant links.
- Your resume should be divided into the following sections:
- Objective
  - Don’t: “I would like to work full-time as an android developer.” This objective doesn’t tell the reviewer anything that isn’t already obvious.
  - Do: “Dedicated and experienced Android developer with proven success in developing high-quality user experiences, seeking an opportunity to use my knowledge to collaborate closely with design and backend teams on a meaningful product.” This works because, first of all, you’re including the fact that you’re experienced. The job requirements specifically mentioned that they’re looking for someone who could collaborate with design and backend so make sure to include this. Next, you’re bringing out words such as; proven success, high-quality, and meaningful product; these are the type of things that will really help your objective to stand out.
  - Example: (5:14)
- Skills
  - It goes without saying that you shouldn’t lie on your resume. If you’re applying for a mid-level position, it’s unlikely that you’re actually an expert at everything already, so avoid using this term. It puts you in a really awkward position when it’s time to verify your employment, or even worse, you get the job, and you’re not able to do the work. Stick to the facts.
  - Use this format instead: (7:15)
- Experience
  - Make sure this section stands out to the reviewer. One of the best ways to structure the bullets in your job experience is to use this formula:
    - Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z].
    - Example: (8:17)
  - When you’re formulating the bullets, you want to make sure you use words that have power and grab the reader’s attention. Words such as; sustained, formalized, launched, orchestrated, spearheaded, transformed, and yielded. All of these words will really help the bullets on your resume to stand out.
  - You also want to include links to relevant sites like GitHub, Linkedin, or your personal blog.
    - GitHub offers a free tool, known as your profile readings, which allows you to customize how you choose to present yourself in the tech community. With minimal time investment, you can have a page highlighting your interests, skills, and contributions.
      - Example: (9:01)
- Education
  - If you’ve attended a university, a boot camp, or completed some online courses, include it in the education section. It does not have to be the most prominent thing on your resume.
Keep in mind most resumes should be around one page in length. So you don’t have to go overboard with all of your accomplishments.
Bonus tips: (10:21)

Top Q&A Questions and Resources:

If I am going through a major career shift with little to no experience in the field I’m entering, how do I show that my 20 years of experience actually does have some significant crossover?
- Look at your previous job experience and find things that align with where you’re trying to go and show the impact of your work. Once again, you want to use that formula for showing the impact of your work. You can play up what you do know and what you have done with the impact and if possible, connect some wording to what you see in the job posting.
What do you do if there’s a gap in your employment?
- Don’t address it unless they ask during the interview phase. There’s no need to call out on your resume that you were laid off, or took a break, or were parenting for several years. Just put your relevant work experience along with relevant bullets and impact that can show what you’re capable of doing. Then you can have a great conversation about it later during the interview phase. It’s not something that you need to address in your resume.
Will omitting some irrelevant positions raise questions about gaps in employment?
- It definitely depends on the job that you’re applying for. As you move up to more senior roles and if they have specific requirements, you can show from the jobs that you have included, that you have that number of years of experience they require. If you actually get hired, most companies will do a background check and they have you fill out all your jobs, the addresses, and references. But your history is not the job of your resume. The job of your resume is to market yourself and get an interview. Once you take on this mindset, you will hold onto less.