The end of 2022 saw extensive layoffs from numerous tech companies both small and as large as Twitter. As the industry moves into 2023, many tech companies are looking to fill holes from restructuring including brand new positions they never needed before or old positions they learned they couldn’t operate without after the layoffs.

However, with this massive market of new jobs in the new year, there’s an even larger market of tech professionals looking for work. With so much competition, there’s never been a more important time to prioritize the specifics of your technical resume and make your first impression truly stand out. When it comes to technical resume writing, Capstone Resume Services is here to help with its award-winning professional resume writing services. Keep reading to learn some of our tips to get hired in the 2023 technology industry.

Why Technology Workers Need to Update Their Resume and LinkedIn Right Away

If you haven’t updated your resume or LinkedIn before the layoffs, you need to do so immediately! Having an updated resume and linked in is crucial to finding a technical position in the 2023 technology market.

To ensure a solid first impression, it’s crucial to triple-check both your resume and your LinkedIn profile. Tech companies in particular heavily use LinkedIn and showing you are at least familiar with the website with a thorough profile and regular posts may help you stand out among the competition. Additionally, LinkedIn lets you highlight your own professional skills and assets in ways standard cover letters and technical resumes don’t.

Make sure your resume, LinkedIn profile, and any other portfolios or sites necessary are thoroughly up to date. If you’re a freelancer or contract worker, this means making sure every loose end and gig is represented, properly dated, and formatted. While resume formatting issues aren’t usually too problematic, they could dissuade potential employers in the tech industry who’d expect as much perfection in their work as you’d put on a one-page document.

Get Help Updating Your LinkedIn Profile

If you haven’t updated your LinkedIn profile in a while and aren’t sure what key specifics recruiters are looking for, you don’t need to worry. Capstone Resume Services can help you optimize your LinkedIn profile after they assist in writing your technical resume!

Before you pay for LinkedIn Premium, make sure that your profile is 100% optimized for recruiter and hiring manager searches. Capstone can help you draft a profile that matches your specific industry background and highlights your strengths and experiences. With a fully optimized LinkedIn profile, you will stand a much better chance of standing out against the competition for LinkedIn jobs, or getting discovered by a recruiter!

Contact our LinkedIn experts to get started discussing how to improve your LinkedIn profile.

How To Optimize Your Resume for Technical Job Interview

Having a standout technical resume is about more than having a solid job history or formatting everything in an alluring way. Particularly in the 2023 technology market, most employers will look for specific qualifications and keywords on technical resumes.

In fact, most resumes go through an Application Tracking System (ATS) that scans your resume for specific keywords that your potential employer is looking for. To make sure your resume gets past this initial scan, you need to ensure that your resume features the keywords that the software is looking for. Once you make it past this round, you need to make sure your resume is optimized for a hiring manager. Highlighting keywords and knowledge specific to your job in a cohesive manner is a great way to properly optimize your resume for human evaluation.

For example, if you were a “system operations technical lead” for a company, don’t just put “tech lead” or “operations tech” as the job title. Instead, highlight as much of the position as you can in the job title and description. This way, an employer looking to fill that exact tech position will identify you as perfect for the job right then and there.

We discuss how to use keywords in your resume in our Different Resume Optimization Strategies blog and our other recent blog, Navigating the Current Technology Market.

Hire Professional Technical Resume Writers

It’s human nature to spend hours staring at your technical resume without noticing typos, formatting issues, or missed opportunities for optimization. But while you are searching for hidden grammatical errors, you might be missing out on the keywords or current technology resume trends, especially if you have been out of the technology market for a while! Hiring a professional resume writer is recommended for any professional, but it’s particularly crucial for applicants in the current technology market.

At Capstone Resume Services, experienced resume writers compose and revamp resumes that are sure to help you stand out. Rather than just focusing on formatting, Capstone’s resume writing experts work with you one-on-one to learn your achievements, goals, and expertise to best adapt that to your resume and help get you to the interview stage of the hiring process.

Our industry experts help craft a resume that features the keywords and resume specifics that will get you past resume scanning software and land you a real interview. With professional technical resume writing services, you can help ensure that your resume will stand out from the competition in the technology market.

Research Technology Companies Hiring

With so many companies in the technology market hiring, researching the company you’re applying for is important; both to learn how to stand out and if the job would be worth your time.

By learning about the specific tech company that you’re interested in applying for, you can highlight certain attributes and skills in both your resume and cover letter that are relevant. By crafting a resume that speaks to industry specifics, your resume will seem more personal and direct than a resume that is written for a broader audience appeal.

Should you be offered an interview, you’ll be able to easily show off your knowledge of the company, which will prove to them you’re actually interested in the job. Finally, researching the company also helps you identify certain red flags, such as if this tech company just fired 90% of its staff. Work culture is a crucial factor in determining your next career move.

How to Find the Right Work Culture in the Technology Market

Workplaces are evolving and show no signs of stopping, especially in the technology market. For this reason, it’s more important to research a company’s work culture, both past, and present, than it is to research how the company currently operates.

When 2020 forced many businesses to become remote, some companies had to completely overhaul their structure and staff. Alternatively, other companies in the technology market managed to maintain their staff throughout the pandemic era without losing efficiency or morale. Work culture plays a massive part in how tech companies handle change and what the business will look like a year from now, which is crucial for job stability in the current shifting market.

Learn more about how to align a work culture within the technology market that’s the right fit for your next position by reading our recent blog on building the right cultural fit with your technical resume.

Hire Professional Technical Resume Writing Services and Apply Quickly

The 2023 technology market is moving fast. Companies know that open positions can’t remain open for long, so it’s crucial for you to apply quickly but also apply with your best foot forward.

Technical resume writing is one of the most intricate parts of the application process, but it’s especially important for technology professionals. Without a top technical resume, you are likely to miss out on opportunities with all the current competition in the technology market.

Capstone Resume’s award-winning technical resume writers are prepared to help you right away so you can begin the application process. For technical resume writing help, visit our website and request a FREE consultation today.

In today’s competitive job market, there’s more to getting hired than just matching the qualifications.

Whether it’s interpersonal qualities, specific job skills, or personality characteristics, employers look for a blend in the ideal candidate. When you’re immersed in the job search alongside hundreds or even thousands of other candidates, highlighting the right qualities can help you stand out from the crowd.

What Skills Do Employers Look For?

Highlighting your strongest and most marketable skills on a resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile can help create a powerful impression that gets you through the door. While each industry and job requires a different set of skills, certain core qualities are essential to prove yourself as the right fit.

We’ve shared five of the most sought-after skills that employers look for in candidates.

Leadership

One of the many soft skills that employers look for is leadership. Whether you’re managing a team or taking a head role in a collaborative project, leadership involves keeping others on task and accountable. When you demonstrate great leadership, you’re also accepting responsibility for outcomes, volunteering to take on assignments, and being prepared to take charge in challenging situations, and employers love to see that skill in potential employees.

To demonstrate leadership on a resume, you can emphasize skills like dedication, dependability, active listening, integrity, communication, delegation, responsibility, and decisiveness.

Problem-Solving

Problem-solving skills allow you to objectively assess a situation and determine how to move forward. It means seeking solutions despite challenges and setbacks in the workplace.

Employers look for candidates who can take action and brainstorm solutions to some of the problems the company faces. Skills to highlight include communication, decision making, research, creativity, critical thinking, and analytic thinking.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Regardless of the role, teamwork skills are critical. Even in positions that rely heavily on independent work, you’ll still be expected to connect with other roles, teams, and departments.

Cross-functional collaboration means being able to cooperate with colleagues who may each specialize in different areas. Despite having different areas of expertise, the team members need to be able to work toward a common goal and implement new strategies to improve operations.

To show your collaborative skills, you can highlight communication, openness, the ability to give and receive feedback, flexibility, empathy, and responsibility.

Self-Management

In fast-paced work environments, self-management is crucial. Employers want to know that their staff can manage their own time effectively and stay on track, without anyone looking over their shoulder.

Self-management skills allow you to manage your own time, keep track of your progress, and maximize your productivity. In addition to contributing to the company’s growth, you should focus on your own professional growth day by day.

There are some skills to feature on your resume include time management, organization, motivation, goal setting, multitasking, strategic thinking, and prioritization, that will show great self-management.

Initiative

Employers look for candidates who will take initiative in the workplace instead of waiting for their boss to direct them. This means being proactive about opportunities and finding new ways to move the company toward its goals.

Demonstrating this kind of inner drive can prove that you’ll add a lot of value to the company. Skills to highlight include initiative, self-motivation, organization, persistence, and diligence.

What Employers Want To See From You

If you ask recruiters what they look for in an applicant, you’ll hear a lot of similar answers: efficiency, dedication, honesty, leadership, and motivation. These qualities can prove that you’re the right fit, but there’s more to the ideal candidate than technical or soft skills. There are certain traits employers look for that might not be as visible.

These elements of the hiring process are often overlooked, but they can help you stand out among equally qualified or even more experienced candidates.

Thinking and Problem-Solving on the Job

It’s not just about the skills you possess on your resume. It’s also about how you’re going to use those skills and apply them to your work.

Employers value critical reasoning, problem-solving, and solution-oriented thinking because these elements are key to almost any role. You want to demonstrate your ability to assess a situation, analyze the information, recognize what needs to be done, and take action to implement efficient and creative solutions.

Positioning yourself as a creative, practical, and innovative thinker takes more than just the right keywords on your resume. You need to prove that you have faced challenges in the past and come up with a successful solution. Highlight these experiences on your resume and cover letter, and have a few examples prepared for your interview.

Cultural Fit vs. Skills-Based Fit: What’s the Difference?

In the world of recruiting, hiring managers debate between two qualities: cultural fit and skills-based fit.

A cultural fit refers to your ability to fit seamlessly with your team members. You want to have the right cultural alignment, get along well with coworkers, collaborate with different teams, and inspire others in the workplace.

While culture can mean a lot in a workplace environment, skills are just as important. If you bring the right skills, you can hit the ground running on new tasks and projects. You might not require as big of an up-front investment of time and resources.

Finding the Right Balance

While the cultural vs. skills-based fit continues to be hotly debated, you don’t need to choose between the two. You can strike a balance between fitting into workplace culture and bringing the right skills to the role.

While the required skill set might be laid out in the job description, it’s harder to seek out a good cultural fit. Before applying, take a moment to research the kind of work environment at the company you’re applying to. Use resources like Glassdoor, Fishbowl, and other career sites to get a sense of what the company might be like behind closed doors.

How Capstone Resumes Can Help

The best skills and qualities to put on a resume will depend on the industry, job type, and career level. Before you apply for a job, take a moment to assess the skills that the employer might consider the most valuable.

Anticipating what an employer might look for can allow you to fine-tune your resume to highlight the personal strengths that align with the company’s goals. Identifying these connections between the company’s needs and your strengths will help you make a solid impression.

If you’re looking to stand out with your resume, contact us to schedule a personal resume consultation. Our experts will work with you to highlight your strengths and showcase the value you can bring to the table.

Sure a resume needs to be concise, include all relevant skills and experience, and paint a full picture of who you are as an employee. It goes without saying that it should be error free and organized, with a clean layout. But, if you want to ensure your resume is competitive and engaging in today’s job market, it must include two critical aspects: PAR statements and keyword optimization.

We’ve discussed the importance of keyword optimization and PAR statements in previous blogs, but a resume needs BOTH to be successful. Many job seekers are so focused on one aspect that they miss the other and don’t get traction in their job search.

1. PAR Statements 

PARs are Problem-Action-Result statements that explain the specific problems you faced in a past job, the actions taken to overcome and solve those problems, and the achievements that came as a result of the action you took. Think of your PARs as the stories of the challenges you faced on the job and the steps you took to overcome those challenges to benefit not only yourself, but your company as a whole.

PAR statements are crucial because they define your unique approach to the job and engage a hiring manager or recruiter. PARs help your future employer see how you would perform on the job and also how you would fit into the culture of the organization. Because they focus more on soft skills such as leadership and problem resolution, PARs are often overlooked. But, they help the hiring manager align you with the specific needs of their organization to see if and how you would be the right fit.

It’s easy to get so hung up on making sure you’re talking about your experience and achievements that you aren’t thinking about how a recruiter comes across your resume. That’s where keywords come in.

    2.   Keyword Optimization

According to Mashable, “72% of resumes are never seen by human eyes.” That is because many companies (90% of all Fortune 500 companies) use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to screen resumes that are submitted. Essentially, once you submit your resume, it is scanned and stored in a database. Recruiters then search the database to find resumes for a particular job opening by entering in relevant keywords. If your resume has those keywords, it will be picked up by the system. The more matching keywords your resume has, the more likely it is to be seen by the hiring manager.

Because most companies use some sort of ATS, keyword optimization is more important than ever. To ensure your resume passes through an ATS to get seen by a recruiter, follow these keyword optimization tips:

• Use the job posting and description to find keywords the ATS is looking for. Then be sure to sprinkle those words throughout your resume
• Make sure all information in your resume is relevant to the position you are currently applying for
• Keep things concise
• Be sure to list all of your relevant skills, as many hiring managers use an ATS to search for specific skills they are looking for
• Read over your resume carefully for spelling mistakes
• Include your contact information at the top of your resume (for the ATS to pick up)

Still not sure your resume is ATS ready? Check out our tips for preparing your resume for applicant tracking systems.

If you’re still struggling with PAR statements and keyword optimization and need some help getting your resume job search ready, contact Capstone Resume Services today!

The average hiring manager looks at a resume for a mere 6 seconds. At least that’s what studies have shown. That means you have 6 seconds to make an impression. 6 seconds to ensure they see everything they need to see to move you to the next round of the selection process. 

That’s where keywords and the tag cloud come in! Keywords are crucial because they make the resume easily scannable and highlight your main skills. They also are picked up by resume scanning software, also known as applicant tracking systems (ATS). 

The importance of optimizing your resume for resume scanning software cannot be understated, especially given the current remote job trend that takes applications from all over the country and the world. Here are just a few more reasons why:

• 99% of the Fortune 500, 70% of larger companies, and 20% of small businesses use ATS to filter resumes. (Recruitee)
• 75% of recruiters use a recruiting or Applicant Tracking System. (Recruitee)

• 75% of resumes are not seen by recruiters, as they are weeded out by the tracking system. (CNBC)

So, all of your main keywords should be easy to find with a very quick read of your resume. But how do you ensure you got the right keywords and that they are working for you? Tag clouding can help you discover which keywords summarize your resume and how to optimize the right keywords for better leverage.

What is a Tag Cloud?

A tag cloud shows words in the document by frequency, highlighting the most frequent words with bigger and bolder fonts. Words that are used less show up as lighter and in smaller fonts. TagCrowd is a free and simple online tool that allows you to create a tag cloud for your resume.

If you want to see what words are most often used in your resume and which ones stand out, simply go to TagCrowd and paste your resume into the text box (or upload it). You can then select the maximum number of words you want to show and the minimum frequency. 

It also lets you choose if you want to show the word count next to each word (how many times that word shows up) and if you’d like to group similar words together. You can also type in certain irrelevant words you don’t want it to analyze. Once you hit the “Visualize!” button, you will see your resume’s frequently used words. The word that is used most frequently will show up as the largest.

This will allow you to see what a recruiter will see when they look at your resume and show you what keywords the recruiter will associate with you. It will also help you identify what key information or words may be missing so that you can paint a complete picture of the type of employee you are and the value you’ll bring to a company.

Are Tag Clouds Useful for Resume Writing?

Tag clouding can also help you see what you need to change in your resume. It’s important to be concise in a resume, and too much repetition could have a negative effect. With tag clouding, you can see which words you overuse and where you could change things up.

For an example of how tag clouding can be applied to your own resume, we’ve included a sample tag cloud for an IT Project Manager resume below.

It’s not just about what recruiters see. It’s also about what search engines and resume scanning programs will pick up. For more information on keywords and how to use them, check out our blog on how to get your resume noticed with keyword optimization and our tips for preparing your resume for applicant tracking systems.

And here are a few more helpful tips in how to use ATS algorithms to your advantage:

1. Use acronyms alongside their long-tailed keywords, since the algorithm may be set to screen for them.
2. Try not to place important information in the headers or footers, since the software may not be able to scan that information properly.
3. MS Word docx and Pdf are the most compatible file format versions when it comes to applicant screening software.
4. Stay away from using blocks, tables, photos, graphics, and graphs, especially if you are embedding vital information within them; ATS may not be able to read any of this information.
5. Make sure your formatting and layout are easy to scan both for bots and for recruiters; if you include too many long blocks of text, it would be hard to understand the gist of your professional experience within 6 seconds.

How to Choose the Right Keywords for Your Resume

Now that you know about the importance of keywords and how to use tag clouds to identify your most frequent resume words, it is time to actively choose the keywords you’d like to associate your resume with the most. 

The following strategy can help you be proactive and customize a few versions of your resume which you should have on hand if you desire to apply to slightly different job roles that require additional or different skill-set.

• Research your top 5 ideal job listings and write down the most relevant keywords the hiring managers specify in the responsibilities and qualifications sections.
• Once you have a comprehensive list from your top job listings, look for the keywords you pooled together and note the keywords that were mentioned the most frequently among them all.
• Choose the 5-10 most highlighted keywords and include them in your resume so they flow and showcase your strengths; the most essential keyword should be part of your resume headline or should be mentioned more than once in your resume. 

And voila, your resume is now keyword optimized! To finalize your resume preparation, use tag clouds to check which keywords would most stand out to recruiters and applicant tracking systems. 

Ultimately, spending time to perfect and aesthetically beautify your resume may be in vain if your resume is not even seen by the people that have the power to get you the job. Therefore, having the right keywords on your resume should be one of the most important resume strategies in your job search repertoire. 

Now that you know which strong technical keywords to use to stand out, make sure that you also remove certain weak words that can dilute your value proposition. Read all about the top words that you should remove from your resume asap!

A Few More Resume and Cover Letter Tips

Having an optimized resume is just one important step in the job winning process! Once you are aware of the keywords that recruiters prioritize, also make sure that your cover letter matches the tone and keywords that you highlight in your resume. 

If recruiters like your resume, they will also read your cover letter to get a better idea of who you are and what you’re looking for in your next opportunity. This is also a great time to highlight the main keywords from the job description and showcase how you are skilled and qualified within their context. 

Whereas the resume is an overview of your skills, the cover letter should be an opportunity to humanize yourself and your professional journey, as well as to highlight why you are a cultural fit with the company team. Be professional but also let your authenticity and voice shine through. Don’t forget to use storytelling to your advantage to make your application truly memorable.

And if you’d like a free resume consultation to help you navigate the job search process with empowerment and confidence, Capstone was voted as one of the most personalized and caring resume service companies in the industry to help you win the job of your dreams. 

Contact us today!

For instance, if you’re looking for a place for dinner on a Friday night, searching “best Italian restaurants” in your town will yield results based on the keywords used in the search that Google finds on numerous sites. Results are delivered based on what Google finds to be the most relevant information.

Likewise, hiring professionals and job boards also use keyword searches to find qualified candidates for open positions. While hiring managers may conduct manual searches using keyword searches, job boards like Indeed and CareerBuilder use automated search tools to collect keyword data from job-seekers to match them with open positions. This includes Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to help weed out candidates. Having the correct keywords in your resume is important to getting in front of the right people and receiving the call for the interview.

So, in today’s job market, using keywords related to both your field and your expertise is essential when creating your resume and LinkedIn profile. The first step to keyword optimization in your resume and LinkedIn profile is to determine what the keywords for your industry are. Take some time to consider if you were a hiring manager, what words would you use to search for qualified candidates. For instance, if you’re a manager in the technology field, consider keywords in core competencies, project management skills, leadership of remote and offshore teams, certifications and languages you know.

Next, add a summary of skills to your resume and LinkedIn profile using your keywords. The summary can be as overt as simply listing your skills, or including them in a more professionally written introductory paragraph. Either way, to deliver better search results, the keyword-laden summary should be listed somewhere near the top of your resume and LinkedIn profile.

Finally, liberally sprinkle your keywords throughout your resume and LinkedIn profile. While some repetition of keywords is encouraged, also consider using different forms of the keywords that also might be searched for by hiring managers and search engines.

Perfecting keyword optimization is both a science and an art. If you’re not sure where to start, Capstone Resume Services can help. We specialize in keyword optimization for both your resume and LinkedIn profile, as well as content compelling to the humans that will read them. Schedule a consultation with us today to get started on getting your professional profile noticed.