As a former engineer and as a project manager for many high-tech companies, I am delighted when engineers, IT professionals and others with strong technical backgrounds hire me to work on their resumes. Over and over their original resumes suffer from these three errors:
- No focus on achievements: Your technical resume has to show that you have the skills an employer is looking for, but it should also show results. Many people can offer a set of skills; you stand out if you used those skills to benefit your employer in a big way.
- No information about soft skills: Deserved or not, many technical people have a reputation for highly-individual behavior that does not align with the company culture or goals. Make sure your resume shows that you are able to work in a team and that you understand company priorities.
- Too much jargon: Your resume has to be formatted with sentences, including nouns, verbs and articles, so that it is readable. An endless string of jargon and acronyms is not readable. One of the soft skills employers look for is the ability to communicate: demonstrate that in your resume.
I have great respect for technical people; I have worked with and for engineers, software developers, researchers, product developers and technology experts throughout my career. If you are looking for employment in a technical field, email or call me today.