Your IT resume can easily become a 10-page document if you were to list every skill and workflow you’re capable of doing for a target company.
But hiring managers don’t have enough time to study every turn of your IT career.
So how do you keep your IT resume compact AND get invited to job interviews while other candidates endlessly tweak their headers and LinkedIn profiles?
Welcome to the last IT resume guide you’ll ever need.
This IT resume guide will teach you:
- What sections of your IT resume recruiters will read most often
- How to guide recruiter’s attention with a proper resume format
- How to present your IT career in the most winning light
- How to craft the right mix of IT technical and soft skills
How to Write a Career-winning IT resume?
- When it comes to skills, quality beats quantity.
Don’t overload recruiters with IT terms and abbreviations. Provide context for your skills rather than simply listing them.
Bad example: Mastery in Oracle 11g, Scrum, UNIX, C++, Java back end development Good example: Resolved 300+ critical bugs to enhance authorization service performance by 87%.
- Get to the point, quickly.
Recruiters are humans too. Yet some IT resumes are filled with unnecessary technical jargon, and language you only find on the server backup manuals.
Good example: Developed simulation model for FFHB development using Icarus Verilog simulator Bad example: Developed a simulation model that improved prediction model accuracy by 30%
- Use resume layout and format to guide the recruiter’s attention to your strengths
Make sure your resume is easy to scan by combining headings and custom sections. Emphasize your results with bold text. Utilize white space and color to control recruiters’ attention.
If you’ve been working in IT for years, a classic reverse-chronological resume is your best bet. You should focus on your work experience because it's the best indicator that you're qualified.
On the other hand, if your IT experience has come from lots of formal and informal work overtime, a hybrid resume might be better. With a hybrid layout, your skills are highlighted along with your work experience.
5 sections which makeup the anatomy of a great IT resume
- Resume objective or summary
- Work experience
- Skills
- Education
- Certifications
But before you get down to fill up your resume - take a step back.
You need to make sure it's easy for a hiring manager to locate information from your resume.
You also need to make sure that it looks good enough to help you stand out.
Plus, it isn't really uncommon for IT resumes to have:
- Exceptionally large sections
- Poor margins and borders
It resume templates and formats
Even though each resume format or template may appear different to you, they can be divided into four main categories:
It will be tough to succeed with the first and fourth because they do not work that well within the IT scene, and are challenging to do well.
Once you have an idea of what sections to include, the layout to use, and what your resume should be focused on, it's time to start writing resume sections one by one.
IT Resume Summary: Grabbing Recruiter’s Attention
A hiring manager expects a good IT resume objective or a summary to answer the following questions:
- Are you relevant to the job? (IT work experience, relevant IT degrees)
- How competent are you? (IT business achievements)
- Are you proactive and passionate? (IT certifications, community memberships)
Anecdotal evidence and promises won’t get your foot in the door. Be specific about the value you can provide to their organization.
In just three lines, you told a hiring manager that you’ve 2 years of experience, you’re certified, and you are extremely passionate about DNS and network security.
The resume objective clearly communicates what skills and competencies you’ll bring once you join the company.
2 IT Resume Summary Examples
If you’re a more experienced IT professional, having a summary works better in your favor, giving hiring managers a snapshot into your work experience and core competencies.
Just like before, apart from the years of experience, this IT resume summary doesn’t tell the recruiter anything about your core strengths.
Here’s a much better way to display this.
For more examples of ace summary sections, read the Resume Summary: How-To Guide with 30+ Examples You Need To See article.
How to Write the Experience Section of Your Informational Technology (IT) Resume
If you're writing an IT resume with significant experience, make sure your current job is at the top. The oldest should be placed at the bottom of your work experience.
But, if you're a Consultant or a Temp and are finding it difficult to put multiple roles - here's a good way to do it.
Company Name
IT Project name - Current Date - Start Date
- Bullets explaining your work
IT Project name - Current Date - Start Date
- Bullets explaining your work
The company name would be you staffing company if you're a temp.
But, if you are a consultant, place your firm's name instead.
Addressing gaps in IT work experience?
Facing rejections because of unexplained gaps in your IT resume - don't worry!
All you have to do in this case is to add this bullet under your last freelance or consulting experience:
"Required work flexibility for personal matters, became a consultant and left the role"
"How to Explain Employment Gap on Resume"
Example IT resume experience
- •Developed security procedures for a FTSE 250 company
- •Updated software data-processing notices in conjunction with GDPR rules
- •Revised company procedures and trained junior staff on use of new workstations.
This version looks more like a short list of job responsibilities, failing to show the impact of the work done.
It might look impressive to have worked for a FTSE 250 company, but it won’t guarantee you an interview - what you did while you were there, is far more important.
- •Saved $25,000 by revising company IT networks documentation, resulting in increased workplace productivity and 23% fewer support tickets over 9 months
- •Built a loyal customer base of 20+ customers by learning preferences and tailoring service to each customer.
- •Led a $120,000 project to upgrade internal hardware and equip staff with skills to help company achieve quarterly goals.
This description is specific. It shows the direct impact this candidate had on their organisation.
Their experience doesn't simply show what they've done. It also provides clear figures to back up their claims.
It resume experience sample
Here’s another good and bad example for IT project managers.
- •Coached and mentored team members in Scrum and Squad frameworks
- •Took initiative and presented business use-cases which enabled ‘just-in-time’ analytics leading to significant business growth.
This isn’t awful, but it fails to show the impact of the work done.
How many team members were coached? Also “significant business growth” means different things to different people.
Context is important, so illustrating the scale of growth achieved, with numbers, will leave a stronger impression.
- •Increased customer satisfaction on Agile-led projects by 28% in 4 months
- •Saved the firm $1 million in fees, by implementing a risk management solution when a SAP implementation project stalled
- •Managed a team of 25 off-shore and on-site developers across multiple projects.
Again, specificity and clarity is clear. Very impactful statements.
Pro tip
If you have outstanding achievements throughout your career, include them in a small list next to your experience section to really grab their attention.
If you'd like to see more examples of well-written Experience sections, check out our comprehensive Experience Resume Section guide.
What Informational Technology (IT) Skills Should You Include on Your Resume?
The world of IT is so vast, therefore the skills you include on your IT resume must reflect two things:
- Your work experience
- The job you’re applying for
And that’s what IT hiring managers ask themselves all the time:
“Does this candidate have the skills and experience to improve our current operations?”
Taking this into consideration, here's some core skills to include on your IT resume.
Soft skills to include on your IT resume
- Logical approach to problem-solving
- Initiative; ability to learn new things on your own accord
- Communication skills; can easily demystify IT jargon to non-tech savvy customers
- Confident at training internal & external stakeholders on IT systems
- Highly analytical; can develop an IT solution to any given problem and back it up with data
- Communication champion; should feel confident over-communicating, to ensure the project’s success
7 technical skills to include on your IT resume
- Magento, Golang, Ansible, AutoCAD
- Network Security
- System Administration
- Database Management (Oracle, SQL, NoSQL)
- Web (HTML, CSS, javascript frameworks)
- Patch Management
- Wireless Modems/Routers Management
- Cloud Systems Administration
- Application Deployment and Management
Pro tip
It's not just your technical skills that separate you from other candidates. Demonstrate your soft skills, including your communication skills. You will likely have to help people who are not tech-savvy. Matching the right solution with their needs is essential here.
It resume certifications
There is no single IT certification that will guarantee you’ll get an IT job. However, according to a survey by Global Knowledge, having any of these 5 certifications can significantly increase your chances of getting a higher paying IT job.
- Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE): Server Infrastructure
- CRISC - Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control
- CISSP - Certified Information Systems Security Professional
- CompTIA Security/Network+
- Cisco Certified Networking Professional (CCNP) Routing and Switching
The certifications on your IT resume must match the job description you’re applying for.
For example, imagine you're applying for a job which requires enterprise migration experience.
They're looking for candidates who've used native and third-party migration tools.
In this case, an MCSE certification would be handy to include.
The last thing you want is a resume filled with certifications no longer in demand.
Or too advanced, that’ll get you rejected for being “overqualified.”
Key takeaways
Now you know how to write an IT resume that’ll earn you interviews; to summarize:
- Showcase your outstanding achievements by pooling them together in a separate box to draw their attention
- Position your objective/summary around the business problems you managed to solve for your previous employers. Only include the information that will help the reader make a positive decision on your application. Cut the rest.
- Remove IT jargon from your experience, you want to clearly explain what you can do for them.
- Think about your audience when choosing whether to prioritize certifications above education, or vice-versa
IT resume examples
Explore additional it resume samples and guides and see what works for your level of experience or role.
By Experience
IT Intern
Entry Level IT
For Entry-Level IT roles, a mix of technical proficiency and problem-solving abilities is necessary. Include practical experience with network troubleshooting, helpdesk support, and software installation. If you have experience with SQL, Windows servers or Linux, highlight these skills. However, do not simply list them, demonstrate how they were implemented to bring about improvement, most likely as part of your training. For instance, 'Improved system functionality by troubleshooting XYZ'. Ensure to showcase any relevant certifications such as CompTIA A+. Remember that foundational IT roles are about problem solving and dependability, so evidence of these soft skills is also crucial. Your goal is to convey a solid understanding of IT systems and the desire to learn quickly.
By Role