With so many people working remotely, not to mention schools and colleges around the nation utilizing online educational options, the demand for IT professionals is high and the competition is fierce for these job positions is fierce. Naturally, you’ll need to create a job-winning IT support resume, and we can help.
Before we provide you with our list of IT resume tips, we would like to suggest that you consider using a professional resume writing service to create your resume. Pro resume writers have far more experience and truly know how to create an IT support resume or IT director resume that appeals to a hiring manager. While we highly recommend using a pro (and will provide some stellar recommendations further along in this article), if you write your resume, consider following these tips.
Tip #1 – Individualize Each Resume You Submit
Hiring managers might receive dozens or even hundreds of resumes for a single job position so they rarely spend more than a minute glancing at each resume. Additionally, most resumes these days are submitted digitally and run through applicant-tracking software. As an IT professional, you probably are well aware that this software is looking for very specific keywords in each resume that is submitted.
This means you need to read job descriptions carefully and ensure that you have included the exact terminology written in the listing. These are the keywords that hiring managers skim resumes looking for and these are the keywords that software will target. If you have additional skills, it’s fine to add these as well, just make sure you have included what is the company representative wants to see on a resume.
This also means that you cannot and should not send out a cookie-cutter resume to hundreds of potential employers. Make sure that each resume you send out is tailored to the specific job posting. If you use a professional resume writing service for your IT support resume, just edit it slightly for each job posting.
Tip #2 – Quantify Your Work Whenever Possible
One thing that all great resumes have in common is that they all provide concrete examples of your abilities and how your skills benefitted your previous employers. If you are a software engineer, you might provide examples of how your work improved efficiency, while a tech support specialist might discuss how many people they trained or perhaps quickly describe a company training manual they developed that helped to increase productivity.
The bottom line is that you don’t just want to highlight tasks or responsibilities; you want to highlight your accomplishments. After all, many people will have the same skills written on their resume, and if you can show evidence that your skills helped an employer, the hiring manager is likely to choose your resume over the resume of a person who just listed their job responsibilities.
Tip #3 – Keep It Short
We will keep this paragraph short as well. In general, most resumes should never run longer than a single page. If you are sending in an IT director resume or IT manager resume for a high-level executive position, your resume might include two pages, but for most professional resumes, it’s best to stick with just one page. A professional resume writer can help you decide what to include and what to omit.
Tip #4 – Make It Easy-To-Read
There are two parts to this tip. The first is about design. While a funky and cool design might seem like a great idea, it usually is best to stick with a simple, straightforward design. Not only is this easier for hiring managers to read, applicant-tracking software only works with resumes in a traditional format with normal margins and fairly ordinary typefaces.
Secondly, as an IT professional, you probably know a great deal of industry jargon. While it might seem like displaying this knowledge would benefit you, it’s best to just use plain old ordinary verbiage in a resume. Why? A hiring manager may or may not understand the jargon. In some cases, the hiring manager is simply the person tasked with looking through resumes, and they might not be that tech-savvy.
While you want to list your skills, the programs you can use, systems you can work with and so forth, include terms that most people understand rather than peppering the resume with a preponderance of tech speak. Also, while your skills are important, your ability to communicate also is important and if the hiring manager doesn’t understand your resume or jargon-filled cover letter, they might pass you by.
Don’t Write Your Own Resume, Use A Pro!
At Top 5 Resume Writers, we don’t actually write resumes, but we can provide you with a shortlist of top-quality resume writing companies. There are hundreds of resume writing websites and resume template websites out there, but not all of them will provide you with exceptional results. If you aren’t sure which resume company to select, we’ve done the hard work for you.
We conducted an experiment to test the quality of the resumes from many of the so-called top resume websites. We created a “mystery shopper” and sent this fictitious person’s information to many different resume companies and hired them to create a professional resume.
Once the results came in, we gave the results to an independent group to review the resumes. The people we chose for this project are those who have been or currently are tasked with making hiring decisions.
This group unanimously chose Resume Writing Group as their top pick. The provided our group with a dynamic, error-free resume that grabbed the attention of the reviewers. The resume featured an easy-to-read design and Resume Writing Group was the only company to contact the “mystery shopper” and ask for more information and this level of customer service led to a higher quality resume than the competition.
If you need an IT support resume, IT director resume or IT manager resume, we highly recommend using a professional service, and, from our experience, Resume Writing Group can provide you with a high-quality resume at a competitive price. They also stand behind their resumes with a unique guarantee. If you use their resume and follow their advice, but aren’t hired within 45 days, they will refund the resume cost and pay you an additional $100.
