How to make your tech resume attractive to employers and recruiters if you don’t have a lot of professional experience? Strengthening experience descriptions is one of the ways you can achieve this goal.
Jointly with the team of CV Compiler, an ML-powered app for resume improvement, we’ve run through dozens of junior developer resumes to pick up “weak” bullet points and show by example how it is possible to make them sound more impressive. Take a look at the difference:
I was responsible fordesigning and implementing X feature for the XYZ CRM.
✓ Designed and implemented X, a new built-in CRM feature enabling its 20k users to easily keep track of their business expenses.
Implemented social login and profile autofill functionality using OAuth with JavaScript.
✓ Achieved a 20% uplift in conversion rates by implementing social login and profile autofill functionality using OAuth with JavaScript.
Reduced page load time using Ajax.
✓ Reduced 30% of the page load time using Ajax.
Rebuilt the home page on the website.
✓ Rebuilt the home page, improving page load time by 3 seconds with updated code.
Worked with senior developersto develop, deploy, and troubleshootsomeweb applications.
✓ Collaborated with cross-functional agile team of software engineers on the development, deployment, and troubleshooting 7+ web applications.
Responsible forprototyping UI animations, improving performance and stability of UI and JavaScript runtime.
✓ Prototyped new UI animations, significantly improved performance and stability of UI and JavaScript runtime.
UsedBootstrap, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery to build a mobile-friendly website for Khan Academy.
✓ Built a fully functional mobile-friendly website for Khan Academy using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Helpedconvert front-end from ERB files to React framework.
✓ Converted front end from ERB files to React framework in joint collaboration with X.
Buildinga mobile version of the sales reporting application using X, Y, and Z.
✓ Independently built/developed a mobile version of the sales reporting app using X, Y, and Z.
Createda new client CSS branding file using Less.
✓ Coded a new client CSS branding file using Less, resulting in a 70% reduction in file size and 2x less time to brand a site.
Now, try to improve yours! Here’s a quick how-to guide for you:
- If you haven’t already, describe your experiences in bullet-point form.
- Start out all your bullet points with strong action verbs. Make sure to vary these verbs so you don’t sound repetitive.
- When describing the roles/projects that have already ended, use action verbs in the past tense.
- Quantify your accomplishments, as much as possible.
If you’re an IT student, be sure to share this link with your bootcamp/career coaches to get access to CV Compiler’s resume and job search toolkit for young professionals in tech. Over 500 bootcamp students and recent graduates have already benefited from using it.
Top comments (11)
Some solid advice, Andrew 😉 What do you think, would exact numbers work better than round ones? I mean, instead of "Reduced 30% of the page load time" we could use "Reduced 31.6% of the page load time".
On sales pages, these numbers perform better as they appear more credible. Not sure if it's the same on CVs though 🤓
Thanks a lot for the question! I'd use round ones on a resume, since they are easier to read.
Seems that quantifying the value and showing the added benefit is the way to go. Completely agree!
👍
So basically, not:
but:
I am an extremely talented person, who uses his rare and well developed skills, to design and build fully functional websites with outstanding performance using XYZ technologies.
1) A good rule of thumb is to avoid using personal pronouns (especially "I") in a resume. Everything on your resume pertains to you...
2) Using adjectives like "talented," "outstanding," "rare," etc. also makes little sense. Any of us can add them to the resume, none of us would write: “I’m NOT talented...”
Strengthening experience descriptions is not about adding beautiful words and phrases. It's about showing potential employers that you can deliver results.
Is it normal to get the quantitative result of work you've done? It has never happened to me or the people who know have never told me about it. Maybe I'm working at the wrong jobs?
For people like me without any number to base our accomplishments on would you suggest just guessing or don't include numbers at all? Great advice overall 👍
This is true, average companies and startups don't necessarily measure many of these figures. The only place I have used these mathematical terms is making a site faster.
Some good advice there, thanks.
I'm working on a project for developers who want to make resumes.
The idea is to create a yaml file which would be the content of your resume and can convert it to pdf using a desired template:
It's in a beta state for now, but feel free to have a look and contribute, give ideas or feedback, it's always appreciated.
Thanks for sharing!
Do you think contributing to the community can be on par with showing what you’ve had to deal with real-life situations(i.e the bullet points you’ve listed)?
By contributing I meant:
Thank you!
Great article Andrew. It's always important to showcase those tangible outcomes!