Tech Job Resumes: Sixteen Rules for Successful

After years of interviewing prospective network operations center (NOC) technicians, a few rules for technical resumes have become painfully obvious. These sixteen rules should help anyone in the technology field stand out above the competition:

The Evans Rules for Tech Job Resumes

1. There is deliberately no rule number one. All of these rules are important and violating any of them will cause your resume to be overlooked.

2. Use a legible font- When reviewing resumes I see all types of fonts, styles and sizes. Using a pretty font like "Brush Script" or "Bradley Hand" may be great for a hair stylist job but it makes me think you are immature. I also don't have time to spend deciphering what it says. Why not use a common font like Verdana or Times?

3. ABSOLUTELY NO spelling mistakes- You're applying for a job, not grammar school. If you don't know how to spell a word, look it up. If your resume has spelling errors (eg- you're applying for the "manger" position) I will trash it.

4. ABSOLUTELY NO grammar mistakes- Think you can end a sentence in a preposition or orphan a word and no one will notice? I will. You may be responsible for interfacing with my customers and I won't have them thinking we're a bunch of illiterate hicks.

5. No contractions- Contractions are a form of slang and never appropriate for a formal document. You should know this simple fact; if you don't (these rules are far from a formal document) then you may find yourself wondering why I never called you for an interview.

6. Keep your resume to one page- Because not everyone had a strict English teacher in eighth grade, I'm sometimes willing to overlook this rule. In some extreme cases, it is actually acceptable to list your references (but only your references) on a separate page. If your resume spills over onto more than one (or two in the above mentioned exception) pages, though, I will trash it. Remember that I have well over a hundred resumes to tote around with me; If everyone's was six pages long it would take a pickup just to transport them.

7. Only list relevant experience- You're applying for a tech job. Maybe you thought it was an accomplishment that you were a "team leader" for four people at McDonald's, but I don't care.

8. Tailor your experience- This item compliments number seven. If you are a CCNA, for example, don't use one line to tell me about your networking experience and three lines telling me about your janitor job, even if you were a "senior" janitor. Again, I don't care.

9. Use logos- When you get a CCNA, CCNP, MCSE or other certification they give you a logo to use on your resume. Take their advice and TACTFULLY place the logo (or logos) on your resume. After looking at a hundred resumes before yours, it's easier for me to see a familiar logo than an acronym. You don't want to get overlooked.

10. Do not use a generic introduction- I was recently reviewing resumes for a technician job and came across a resume that said, "Thank you for considering me for the sales position." I wasn't hiring for a sales position so the resume got trashed. Was the person qualified? Maybe, but if he or she didn't care enough to use the advertised position title then why would I think they care enough to do a good job?

11. Don't use a standard resume template- I've seen a hundred resumes before yours; do you think you're the only one who used the Word resume template? Don't use your resume telling me you're an expert Office Suite user when I can see you used a template designed for novices. This rule is especially valid if you somehow manage to screw up the template.

12. DO NOT embelish the facts- I think it's great that you're bilingual or even trilingual. Between myself and the rest of the interview panel, we probably speak every language popular in the Western hemisphere. If you tell me that you're fluent in, say, Spanish then you better be able to back it up.

13. Don't make liberal assumptions- Maybe you worked in an IT position in your last job. That fact doesn't mean you're an IP networking expert. Your resume saying that you're an "IT Specialist with exposure to DSL architecture" might get you an interview, but if you can't tell me what a PPP Aggregator does then I'll end the interview and spend the next half hour telling the other interviewers that you wasted our time. Yes, really.

14. Don't make allusions to experience- Hand in hand with number 13, don't expect me to make assumptions. If your last job in networking also gave you
experience with Access Multiplexors, don't assume that I know you have that experience. You worked your last job, not I. List your relevant experience.

15. Accomplishments and accolades are good- I know space on that single page is at a premium, but dedicate a small portion of that real estate to telling me what a good person you are. If you and someone else have similar qualifications but you are a member of MENSA, I need to know or I might end up hiring the other guy (the one that doesn't even know what MENSA is).

16. Read this list again- Think you're ready to build a resume? Good. Read this list again before you start. I expect my employees to give me quality work, but I expect more from my applicants. If you want the job- or at least an interview- don't make mistakes on your resume. I'm not kidding when I say there are a hundred other people who want this job, and I can guarantee that at least one of them will have a flawless resume. I usually end up referring to that one as "hired."