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You’ve honed your website developing skills and are ready to launch your job search. Know that while you are searching for jobs, potential employers are searching for great employees. How can you ensure your resume will be visible to both companies and technology recruiters alike? It all boils down to one word: optimization.
Considering your expertise you likely have an understanding of the importance of optimization, and your resume is no exception. Here are five resume optimization tips for website developers:
#1: Use keywords wisely
It’s not enough to simply use keywords in only one form. You must use them more than once, and in different variations. High tech recruiters may have several different ways of typing keywords into search engines, and you want to be sure your resume is returned in as many results as possible.
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#2: Build your reputation on social sites
There are now tonnes to sites where a web developer can develop his or her reputation. StackOverflow is one such avenue where you can show your knowledge through active participation. Another prominent site is Github where you can contribute free code to build your online ‘CV’. All these social sites draw a lot of traffic so you never know who will be looking at your contributions on these places.
#3: Maintain a blog
One of the best way to showcase your skills and personalty is through a blog. A well maintained blog can sketch a person’s value upwards as it creates an image of authority and knowledge. Of course, blogs are difficult to maintain but the end result can be worthwhile if you take the time to maintain it. Another benefit of having a blog is that it draws a lot of searches to your site which increases your chance of making contact with a company that needs your talent.
#4: Enter competitions
Competitions is a high profile way to maintaining your presence on the web. Most competitions attract lots of eyeballs so getting your name in there is one way to maintaining your visibility among potential employees.
#5: Have a linked in account
LinkedIn accounts ranked highly in search, especially for names. In addition, there is also lots of internal searched conducted within LinkedIn itself. To take advantage of all these traffic, you will probably need a linkedin account that is well updated to attract potential inquires about your availability for a job.
#6: Ensure no negative rating on google search
It is common for employers to do a google search for your name. Ensure that all the 10 results on the first page links to your favorably. This is can be done via some of the stuff we talked about such as having a blog, a linkedin account etc. Other ways to have more presence in Google result page is to more social media accounts such as twitter, Google+ and some of the other sites we mentioned in #2.
#7: Keep it clean
Given your skillset it can be tempting to dress up your resume a great deal, but be careful not to over-design to the point that it becomes busy and difficult to read. Edit, edit, edit; then go back and edit again. Showcase your design skills in a way that accentuates the content of your resume instead of overshadowing it.
#8: Summarize your skills
Search engines treat the top of your page with utmost importance, so don’t let that space go to waste. Create a paragraph that captures your capabilities using keywords and phrases that are attractive to prospective clients. Many companies enlist an executive search firm to perform a retained search to find the best candidates, and you want to appeal to these firms as well. Don’t just fill your CV with buzzwords; create a compelling summary that will make employers ortechnology recruiters want to know more about you.
#9: Ensure that your CV is printable
While your design may look exceptional in your browser, understand that even today many CVs are still printed out and distributed to hiring managers. If your design is background-heavy, it will not translate well when viewed as a hard-copy. There are a few rules to follow to avoid this. First, be sure that your resume has a white background. Second, check that it looks good in black and white. And third, confirm that it will print well at 300 dpi.
#10: List all forms of education
It’s commonplace to list a college degree as your education, but these days, many talented developers did not attend conventional school. List this experience if you have it but list other forms of schooling as well, such as conferences, training programs, or any other type of education you paid for.
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