The ability to craft a high-impact resume is a critical skill for those looking to capture the attention of prospective employers and stand out from a field of applicants.
To draw attention to your special skill sets, unique expertise, and wealth of experience, simply listing qualifications and former employers will not be enough—hiring managers and HR people are looking for relevance.
Along with knowing the best days to submit your resume and the top technical skills to include, you must tailor your experience, accomplishments, and expertise to the requirements of the job you're applying for.
"Relevance means the person who is applying to the job is taking the time to tailor the resume to match the requirements and the keywords of the job description," says Trish Orozco, technology recruiting manager for LaSalle Network.
She says employers want candidates who can not only demonstrate the technical skills demanded by the role, but who can also articulate how their understanding of trends, technologies, and best practices will improve the organizations.
Randi Weitzman, executive director of technology staffing services for Robert Half, says relevant experience allows hiring managers and HR to quickly ascertain the level of hands-on experience and expertise in the specific tools, languages, platforms, and methodologies relevant to the job role.
"Highlight the specific technologies you're an expert in--not that you've just touched—but what you're familiar with so you can hit the ground and running," she says. "That's probably the number one thing because when customers and companies are looking at resumes, they're looking a keyword searches."
Why is Relevant Experience Important for a Resume?
By showcasing relevant experience, you're demonstrating alignment with the employer's needs and objectives.
This will highlight your ability to address specific challenges and deliver tangible results. This alignment instills confidence in hiring managers, reassuring them that the candidate possesses the requisite skills and knowledge to excel in the role.
"I'm really big on this concept of return on investment," Weitzman says. "Prepare a simple statement on how you saved time and money or how you boosted revenue. That is the sizzle that makes hiring managers want to know more."
How to Identify Different Types of Relevant Experience
Weizman points out relevant experience serves as a testament to a candidate's track record of success in similar environments or projects, validating their capabilities and potential contributions.
This includes concrete examples of past achievements and problem-solving skills.
Orozco says applicants should focus on quantifying their accomplishments with numbers and percentages wherever possible, as this provides concrete evidence of their impact.
"Simply copying and pasting job descriptions onto a resume is a common mistake, as it fails to highlight individual contributions and achievements," she explains. "Instead, applicants should delve deeper, discussing specific projects, their duration, team size, and tangible outcomes."
Depending on the role applied for, accomplishments could relate to coding, project management, or cost-saving initiatives.
"Including metrics and numbers that align with these achievements can significantly enhance a resume and set applicants apart," she says.
Hiring managers often prioritize numerical data, as it provides clarity and demonstrates the value applicants bring to the table, making it essential to include in resumes.
Weitzman recommends highlighting the projects and the technologies that you worked on in previous roles, taking into consideration what technologies, experiences and skills—both hard and soft—will match with the role and the organization to which you're currently applying.
Review Job Descriptions: Start by carefully analyzing job postings for the specific skills, technologies, and responsibilities required and pairing up those skills to your past experiences.
Match Keywords: Identify keywords and phrases used in job descriptions and tailor your resume to highlight matching experiences.
Prioritize Recent Experience: Focus on recent roles and projects that directly relate to the job for which you're applying.
Highlight Transferable Skills: Emphasize transferable skills and experiences from past roles that are relevant to the position for which you're applying—even if those skills were acquired in a different industry or on an earlier career path. This could include customer service prowess or ability to deescalate problems quickly.
Quantifiable Achievements: Compile a list of metrics and quantifiable results to demonstrate the impact of your previous work experiences. How did your project boost revenue or reduce spending. For IT security workers, projects that reduced incident response times by 30% would be a relevant metric.
What is Relevant Experience?
From Orozco's perspective, relevant experience on an IT resume includes past work, projects, or education that directly relate to the job position being sought. This ranges from specific skills and technologies to the leadership or personal responsibilities aligned with the requirements and objectives of the role.
Technical Skills: Proficiency in programming languages, software development methodologies, database management systems, networking protocols, cybersecurity practices, and other technical competencies relevant to the job.
Industry Knowledge: Familiarity with industry-specific tools, platforms, and technologies commonly used in the IT sector, such as cloud computing services, DevOps practices, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data analytics.
Project Experience: Involvement in projects that demonstrate problem-solving abilities, innovation, collaboration, and successful implementation of IT solutions. This may include software development projects, system upgrades, network infrastructure deployments, or cybersecurity initiatives.
Certifications and Training: Completion of relevant certifications, training programs, workshops, or courses that validate proficiency in specific technologies or methodologies, enhancing your credibility and qualifications for the role.
Relevant Roles and Responsibilities: Previous job roles or internships where you directly applied IT skills and knowledge relevant to the position you're applying for, along with achievements and responsibilities that showcase your contributions and impact.
How to List Relevant Experience on Your Tech Resume
Weitzman explains listing relevant experience on your tech resume requires strategic presentation to effectively showcase your qualifications and suitability for the job. She says keeping things concise is also key, which means no more than two pages maximum.
"Certifications are really important in the tech world, because it show you're constantly upskilling yourself to be better and get into new technologies," she adds.
Organize by Sections: Divide the resume into definitive sections, starting with an opening statement or professional summary, followed by professional experience and then a section dedicated to technical skills, with education and certifications as the last section of the resume.
Mission Statement: Start the resume with a summary or objective statement that highlights your key skills, experiences, and career goals, tailoring it to emphasize your most relevant qualifications for the specific job for which you're applying.
Prioritize Relevant Roles: List work experience starting with your most recent or current position and limit it to the first decade. The focus should be on roles directly related to the job for which you're applying, bulleting out the chief responsibilities and accomplishments in each position, backed by metrics whenever possible.
Quantify Achievements: Quantifying achievements with statistics and metrics helps you demonstrate the impact of your work. For example, mention the percentage increase in website traffic you achieved through a successful SEO campaign or the number of bugs you resolved in a software development project.
Highlight Key Projects: Showcase specific projects or initiatives you've worked on that demonstrate your technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and contributions to the organization. Focus on the project objectives, your direct responsibilities and the outcomes achieved.
Detail Technical Skills: Create a separate section to list the technical skills you've mastered, from programming languages and software tools to operating systems and databases. Prioritize those that are most relevant to the job you're targeting--leave out skills, tech and tools that have since been replaced.
Education and Certifications: Highlight your educational background, including degrees earned and academic achievements. List the relevant certifications you've completed such as industry-recognized certifications in programming languages or IT security.
To make a resume relevant, IT professionals must strategically tie their qualifications, skills and experience to the ways it will benefit the organization they wish to join. A strong opening statement highlighting career goals and the ROI proposition should be followed by clearly organized and concise sections highlighting experience, technical skills and education.
As Weizman and Orozco noted, it's critical to prioritize relevant roles and to quantify achievements to showcase your impact, drawing attention to key projects that demonstrate technical skills and problem-solving abilities.
"Tailor each resume to the specific job description, using keywords to optimize for applicant tracking systems," Orozco says. "This increases your chances of landing that interview and advancing your career."
