Your resume has about 7 seconds to make an impression. Here is how to make every second count.
Hiring managers in IT scan resumes differently than in other fields. They want to quickly see your technical skills, the impact you have made, and whether your experience aligns with the role. Here is the structure that works:
Start with your name, phone, email, LinkedIn URL, and (optionally) your GitHub profile. Follow that with a 2-3 sentence professional summary that highlights your specialty, years of experience, and one or two key achievements.
Example: "Senior Java developer with 8 years of experience building high-availability microservices for financial institutions. Led a migration from monolith to microservices architecture that reduced deployment times by 70%. Skilled in Spring Boot, AWS, and CI/CD pipelines."
Place this near the top, not buried at the bottom. Group skills by category:
List roles in reverse chronological order. For each role, include your title, the company name, dates, and 3-5 bullet points focusing on accomplishments, not just responsibilities.
Keep this brief unless you are early in your career. List your degree, school, and year. Add relevant certifications (AWS Certified, PMP, CISSP) in a separate line or section.
Most large employers use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to filter resumes before a human ever sees them. If your resume does not include the right keywords, it may never reach a recruiter, no matter how qualified you are.
ATS software parses your resume for specific terms that match the job description. It scores your resume based on how many matching keywords it finds. A score below the threshold means your resume gets filtered out.
These are keywords our recruiters frequently search for. If they apply to your background, make sure they appear on your resume:
"Responsible for managing cloud infrastructure" tells nothing about impact. Instead: "Managed AWS infrastructure supporting 50M+ monthly transactions with 99.99% uptime."
Every application should be tailored. Adjust your summary, skills order, and bullet points to match each job description. It takes 15 minutes and makes a measurable difference.
Listing FoxPro, ColdFusion, or Windows Server 2003 as current skills signals you have not kept up. Only include older technologies if the specific job requires them.
Two pages max for most professionals. If you have 20+ years of experience, focus on the last 10-15 years in detail and summarize earlier roles briefly.
Even if your resume passes ATS, a person needs to read it. Dense blocks of text with no formatting, no white space, and no clear hierarchy will get skipped.
Employment gaps are fine, but unexplained ones raise questions. A brief note like "Career break for professional development" or "Contract end" removes doubt.
The difference between a forgettable resume and one that gets an interview often comes down to how you describe your work. Start every bullet point with a strong action verb and include numbers wherever possible.
Action Verb + What You Did + Measurable Result
Architected, Engineered, Designed, Developed, Implemented, Integrated, Automated, Optimized, Deployed, Configured
Resolved, Debugged, Diagnosed, Troubleshot, Refactored, Streamlined, Eliminated, Reduced, Mitigated, Recovered
Led, Managed, Mentored, Coordinated, Directed, Facilitated, Spearheaded, Championed, Guided, Partnered
Delivered, Accelerated, Increased, Saved, Generated, Improved, Transformed, Scaled, Launched, Migrated
Hiring managers love quantifiable results. Think about these categories:
Our recruiters review hundreds of IT resumes every week. Send us yours and we will give you honest feedback.