Many of the complaints I hear today from candidates is that their resume never makes it past the black hole; the applicant tracking system. If you are lucky enough to have your resume reviewed by an actual human being, you have a very short time frame to capture a recruiters attention. It is up to you to ensure it meets the standards of that person reading the resume. Many see it as a daunting task. Many find it very difficult to do because they have no idea who the person is that is reviewing the resume or what they truly want. Let me share a secret. If you read the job description, you will know exactly what that person is looking for on your resume. It is not in your best interest to send the same resume to multiple companies. It will pay huge dividends if you spend the time focusing on what is important to the company.

Below you will see a job description that I have broken apart so we can take closer look on how to modify your resume to meet the standards of the company who is seeking talent.

Let’s look at a Software Engineer opening. I found this opening by doing a simple Google search for software engineer job descriptions.

Software Engineer, System and Platform

  • Our software engineer developer the next-generation technologies that change how millions of users connect, explore, and interact with information and one another. Our ambitions reach far beyond just search.
  • Our products need to handle information at the scale of the web.
  • We’re looking for ideas from every area of computer science, including information retrieval, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, distributed computing, large-scale system design, networking, security, data compression, and user interface design; the list goes on and is growing every day.
  • As a software engineer, you work on a small team and can switch teams and projects as our fast-paced business grows and evolves. We need our engineers to be versatile and passionate to tackle new problems as we continue to push technology forward”

Minimum Qualifications:

  • Hands-on experience in system software for networking products
  • Problem solving, C/C++ coding and troubleshooting skills
  • 8 years experience in networking.
  • Networking knowledge and in-depth knowledge of high level network system design. In-depth experience in L2/L3 networking protocol.
  • Preferred Qualifications
  • Experience with software product life cycle of a large networking product development, including design, development, maintenance, system upgrade
  • Some web design experience with HTML/JS.
  • Exposure to API’s, databases, general data organization techniques.
  • Experience in building large, distributed scalable systems.

Here are 5 Simple Ways to get your resume noticed by a recruiter. The job description tells you what they want. You just have to modify it to make it reflect what they need.

  1. Pay Attention to the Title of the Description. As you will notice, this title gives you a great idea of the position. If you do not have this experience, you should stop right here and move on to the next opening. If you do happen to have this experience, it is very important to ensure your resume clearly states what they are looking for!
  2. Recognize Company Culture. The first part of any job description will give you an idea of the company culture, and if possible you should aim to have your resume in this same tone/voice. You can pick out key words in this part of the job description, and apply these key words directly to your resume. This is a great opportunity to put words like Versatile, Fast-Paced, Passionate, and Forward Thinking into your resume
  3. Meet The Minimum Requirement, Make sure you at least meet the minimum qualifications. It is important these qualifications are listed on your resume, and easily seen. You should never assume the person reading your resume will know you have a certain qualification. Most of the time, the recruiter will spend 15 seconds reading your resume, and disqualify you if he/she does
  4. Have Some Preferred Qualifications Listed (If You Are Able) The last section of the job description is where you can separate yourself from the pack. It is always nice to have the preferred qualifications, but not a necessity. Remember, if there are hundreds of applicants, what is going to make you different from the others.
  5. Remember the Most Qualified Isn’t Always Seen Don’t forget, you could be the most qualified candidate, but if you do not take the time before submitting your resume you could be easily overlooked. Don’t shoot the messenger. Make it simple for the recruiter to recognize your skill sets!