How to make a resume

If you’re looking for a role in information technology or information security, be sure to apply for Upward Spiral or checkout what we’re about.

Our TL:DR tips for those who don’t want to read the full article

  1. Not more than 1 page for your resume unless absolutely necessary. Then never more than 2 pages.

  2. Use a reverse chronological resume template (check out our free templates here).

  3. Your resume summary/objective goes first and needs to grab the HR manager’s attention.

  4. Tailor your resume to the job. Match your skills with the keywords listed in the job ad. This way you won’t be filtered out by an applicant tracking system.

  5. Only list relevant skills and certifications. If you’re applying for an information security position, I’m not interested in your White Card.

Writing your resume

For most job-seekers, a good resume is what stands between them and their dream job. If you can get your resume right you’ll be getting replies for every role you qualify for.

If your resume game is weak, though, you’ll end up sitting around for weeks, maybe even months, before getting a response.

Writing a resume that leads to HR managers inviting you to interviews can be done by following the steps below:

  • Pick the right resume template & layout
  • Use a resume summary or objective
  • Tailor your resume to include information relevant to the advertised role
  • List your work experience & achievements
  • Mention your top skills, certifications and projects

How to pick the right resume template?

There are three types of resume template and your choice should depend on the type of job you are applying for and your level of experience.

The 3 resume templates are:

  1. Reverse chronological resume template - This is the most common resume and is ideal if you have work experience relevant to the position you’re applying for.

  2. Skills-based resume template – If you are short on relevant work experience because you’re a recent graduate, or are looking to make a career change then this is the template type for you.

  3. Combination resume format – The combination resume is a great choice for job-seekers with a very diverse skill-set who are applying for roles that require a broad range of expertise. Inadvertently, many job seekers add to their resume over time and end up with a combination template but this is likely something to try to avoid. Unless deliberate.

So, which one do you go for?

In almost all cases, unless you’re short on relevant experience, you’d want to stick to the reverse-chronological resume template.

What do you include?

Most commonly, resumes include:

  • Contact information
  • Professional resume summary or objective
  • Work experience (and achievements)
  • Education
  • Skills, certifications and projects

What goes into my resume summary/objective?

Your resume summary or objective is your first impression.

A HR manager spends very little time scanning each resume they receive for a job opening. Yep, your carefully-worded, hand-crafted resume will be among 20 to 50 others that only get a cursory glance. Unless, of course, you manage to ‘wow’ them early.

Your resume summary/objective is how you accomplish this. Both are placed at the top of your resume. They are the first thing a HR manager sees after your name.

Resume summary

This is a 2 to 3 sentence summary of your career. The resume summary is used in literally every situation except where you’re a recent graduate or switching careers.

In your resume summary you should include:

  1. Your relevant role(s) and years of experience: Senior security analyst with demonstrated success maintaining information security systems for over 5 years.

  2. 1 or 2 achievements (or outcomes): Over three years I contributed to a team that reduced the mean time to recovery by 80% for incidents.

  3. What you’re looking to achieve: Seeking further opportunities to drive operational excellence and overcome unique and evolving challenges.

Resume objective

As I mentioned before, a resume objective is the go-to for anyone that either has no work experience or is going through a career change. Much like a resume summary, a resume objective should be around 2 to 3 sentences and includes information on:

  • Your field of study: Recent graduate with a Bachelor of Computer Science from the Australian National University.

  • Skills and experience relevant to the job: Two years of experience maintaining my own virtual network of 15+ machines, practising both my red and blue team techniques.

  • Why you’re applying for the role: I am seeking opportunities to grow as an information security professional and apply these skills with real-world infrastructure.

Or if you’re going through a career change:

  • Relevant work experience: System administrator with 5+ years managing enterprise networks.

  • Skills and experience relevant to the job: Developing an intimate knowledge of network configuration and hardening techniques.

  • Why you’re applying for the role: I am seeking opportunities to apply my understanding of enterprise networks as a penetration tester to ensure network security through consulting roles.

Work experience

The standard format for your work experience is as follows:

  • Job Title/Position - Your job title goes first. This ensures a hiring manager can see, at a glance, you have relevant work experience.

  • Company Name / Location / Description - Then, the name of the employer, as well as the location of the office.

  • Responsibilities & Achievements - This is the core of each work experience entry. Rather than a list of responsibilities, summarise your day-to-day life as if you were explaining it to a friend in 30 words or less. List key achievements below and tie them to metrics.

  • Dates Employed - The timeframe of your employment in each company. The standard format expected by recruiters and employers is month/year.

One of the most common resume mistakes is listing responsibilities. For example:

“Security Analysis - Internship

  • Vulnerability scanning & assessment of web application.
  • Technical reconnaissance.
  • Amazon Web Service (AWS) security audits using prowler.
  • Vulnerability report writing for clients outlining the potential issues to their infrastructure.
  • Forensic report on threat actor gain access to system or database.
  • etc...”

It’s more than likely everyone applying for the role has a similar background. And 90% of those resumes will likely have the same list. It does nothing to distinguish you but consumes valuable real estate.

So, to stand out, you want to focus on mentioning achievements in your resume instead. Or in simple terms, how exactly you helped the company grow, reach quarterly goals, etc.

Here’s an example:

Keep in mind, though, that in some fields, there aren’t that many achievements you can mention. In such fields, it’s pretty hard to distinguish yourself, so it’s totally OK to stick to responsibilities instead.

Tailor your resume

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are the thing you’ve never heard of that filter ~70% of resumes before they’re ever read.

An ATS is software that helps a company filter through the hundreds of resumes they receive.

To get past this, it’s important to tailor each of your resumes for the job you’re applying for. To do this, you need to cite the key words from the job ad in your resume.

(I’ll add a link here shortly to provide better detail.)

Otherwise, this simple example should give you enough information to successfully navigate an ATS.

Looking at the role, the critical requirements for the job are:

  • 5+ years of experience in space travel

  • Experience managing a monthly budget in excess of $20,000

  • Comfortable in situations of imminent death

Now, you need to tailor your resume to these requirements, which is as simple as mentioning them in your resume.

Education

Education is easy:

  • Program Name: “Bachelor of Computer Science”

  • University Name: “Australian National University”

  • Years Attended: “02/2013 - 10/2016”

  • (Optional) Honors: Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, Summa Cum Laude.

  • (Optional) Academic achievements: Any interesting papers you’ve written, Golden key, etc.

Skills, Certifications & Projects

Another must-have inclusion in your resume are “Skills” and “Certifications” sections. Here, you want to mention all your know-how that makes you the perfect candidate for the job.

Skills

Tailor your skills to the job. No matter how cool your skill is, if it isn’t relevant for the job, don’t include it. There are 2 types of skills you can include when writing your resume:

  • Hard Skills (Measurable abilities): This can be anything from coding in Python to being able to do a backflip.

  • Soft Skills (Personal skills): This can be broad, but we recommend communication, personal traits (persistent, curious, etc), and leadership. Where they’re applicable to you.

Hard skills are necessary. Soft skills should be considered optional. We prefer to demonstrate soft skills in our resume objective/summary.

Certifications

Have you acquired any industry relevant certificates from industry experts?

Let’s say, for example, you’re applying to become an AWS Cloud Engineer. It would be worth - acquiring and - listing specialist AWS certificates. But only if it is relevant to the position you’re applying for.

Projects

Projects - ideally somewhere on Github - are one of your greatest assets. Not only do they show off your passion but they provide tangible evidence that you can execute against the skills you have listed.

If you are pursuing a role, or attempting to advance in your career, in information security or software development then being able to demonstrate capability in this way is essential for landing a dream role.

If you’re looking for a role in information technology or information security, be sure to apply for Upward Spiral or checkout what we’re about.

Adviser Jack 12/5/2021