Main image of article IT Hiring Manager Critiques Grad's Programmer Resume

Summary

Earlier this week, Roberta Fricker, who recently earned a certificate in computer science from Santa Barbara City College in California, had her resume critiqued by a senior IT recruiter. Today, she hears from Erik Wieland, director of IT services for the University of California at San Francisco’s Department of Medicine. Roberta is undergoing her second round of resume critiques, as part of our ongoing series of Resume Makeovers, where we connect job seekers with hiring managers and recruiters to get their feedback on what's working, and what could use improvement. Wieland, a 15-year veteran of UCSF’s IT department who currently manages a staff of a dozen people, offered Roberta feedback via a video conference call. See our full series on Roberta's resume critique:

Wieland’s first recommendation was for Roberta to substantially restructure her resume. The introductory paragraph, currently labeled "Junior Level Programmer," needs to be recast as "Summary," or as a mini cover letter, he said. After crafting the Summary and Key Qualifications sections, he thinks Roberta should move up the Education section and drop her Professional Experience to the third section. He also suggested Roberta include affiliations as her fourth section. “You want to build a picture of the complete package.” He also proposed shortening the Key Qualifications section by using bullet points, and weaving her core competences -- like time management and project management -- into the bullet points.

Here's Wieland's detailed critique:  

“(It's like) saying you’re cool because you know people don’t need those words to figure it out and it tells (hiring managers) they’re cool too, because they can figure it out.”

“Make it about what you want to do, based on your experience, and not so much about what you have done,” says Wieland. In general, he says this is a good strategy for college grads to take, given that they often have little professional experience. The summary should also include something like: "Team-player and motivated life learner  who is interested in a software programming position that calls for Java and C++ based languages." Wieland recommended removing the phrase “junior level” from the resume. “You diminish yourself in their eyes by using those words. Don’t worry. They’ll do it for you,” he said, noting that hiring managers will figure this out based on her level of experience.

Move the computer science certificate and bachelor’s degree into the Education section.

“I really like her format of listing her company and role and noting her key accomplishments (per entry).”

Gaps in professional experience can be addressed by simply noting you were “enrolled in school” and listing the dates.  

Combine communication, organization and project management skills as one bullet point and includes an example of either an achievements that included all three, or one that demonstrates the strongest of the three.

People will judge you based on the size of your network and who your affiliations are, Wieland said.

"One of the biggest takeaways is that in the public sector I don't need to have a bachelor's degree in computer science to get a job," Roberta said. She noted that Wieland thought her resume content was good -- his theme was to rearrange it. One bit of Wieland's advice Roberta plans to pass on is removing the Flash video she created, even though Flash is falling out of favor in the industry. "I went to a lot of effort to make the Flash video," she said, though she will, however, create a resume based on his other suggestions. In Part III, Roberta hears from Rita Gordon, corporate talent acquisition manager of Electronics Arts.