Creating A Winning Tech Resume: Notes from Lemon.io Recruiters

Without any doubt, every job-seeker should have a decent CV. A resume should introduce you — briefly, vividly, and effectively. How to make it a starting point for your stellar career?

A luring storefront of your professional life

So, you are an IT professional looking for a decent developer job. You’ve googled all day long — and you’ve found an intriguing option! Your potential employees promise creamy bonuses, regular pay raises, paid sick leave, and more delicious cookies. You’ve already started imagining a brighter future and almost called your mom to boast, right?

But stop!
To reach the job interview stage leading to the lucrative offer, you should compose an eye-catching, breathtaking CV that makes you not just one more bleak candidate out of thousands. A CV that turns you into the best candidate.

We at Lemon.io surely know how to write winning CVs since we’ve been reading, inspecting, and correcting tons of them every day — and notice which of them pave the roads between European programming specialists and Western startup owners. Moreover, we help our developers polish them and highlight the crucial info — because our devs’ luck is our luck. 

 We’ve decided to share the insights from our best-experienced recruiters and talent matchers with you. CV check is their daily bread. Read along, and you’ll learn…

• how do developers’ CVs function on the vetting marketplaces;
• what are the critical elements of the developers’ CVs that interest clients the most;
• who at Lemon.io helps developers brush up on their resumes — and how do they do it;
• what CV elements are optional — and what parts you’d better cut out of your resume.

Let’s roll!

Why do you need a brilliant CV on a vetting marketplace?

To start with — let’s explain when you need a CV on vetting marketplaces. First of all, as anywhere else, a resume creates the first impression about the developer.  

You look for jobs remotely, and your potential clients don’t have any possibility to arrange 1000 meetings with no pre-filtering. Hence, there’s a need for a concise time-sparing document that can filter out the wrong candidates and form the pool of good ones. 

Vetting marketplaces test all the available developers (at Lemon.io, we review oral and written English proficiency, soft skills, and tech skills). Those who pass are the winners: marketplaces take care of their employment, offer them to the entrepreneurs searching, and frequently moderate all the potential troubles. Well, at least we do all this!

Where do you need it at Lemon.io?

At Lemon.io, developers’ CVs are one of the vital instruments for the Matching, Recruiting, and Sales departments.

Sometimes, Sales representatives arrange a CV show on the first call (if a client wants to hire people ASAP). Still, a developer’s resume often appears on the table after the Matching team filters out specialists satisfying all the client’s requirements from our vast database. Afterward, our matching specialists make an intro call and show the CVs of the developers in question.

Here’s a piece of evidence from our matching specialist Oleksandr Bielov:

One of our clients loved the dev’s CV so much that he decided to take him right away, even without a live job interview!

What fascinated him was the developer’s proficiency list of 3 programming languages (Python, Go, and JavaScript) and a strong desire to work with Blockchain. Another client didn’t want to buy a proposed dev even with a low rate. Small wonder: this dev shot himself in the leg, listing super old projects from the 2000s.

Keep in mind that any client can decline a meeting with a developer without a CV (or with a bad one). They value their time and need a starting point for a fruitful conversation. A comprehensive and structured resume will spare time and secure a positive reputation right from the start. 

The ideal CV is not more than 2-3 pages long. 

What interests clients the most?

First of all — give as much information as possible, staying unobtrusive and concise. Nobody needs vague academic lingo or empty descriptions (cut them off, and you’ll get an extra place for valuable details).

Education

Not all clients are interested in your complete background (especially if it’s not relevant to programming). However, if you have background education or training relevant to the project (e.g., it is a language or culture app, and you have a degree in humanities), it will boost your chances of being hired.

Key elements:

• the educational institution where you studied;
• field of study;
• degree (BA/MA);
• year of graduation.

Work experience

• List the recent relevant projects you’ve succeeded in. If the project is under NDA — mention it too. Supply all the described projects with appropriate links (don’t make your client do extra google work, they won’t).
• Make your experience descriptions detailed and precise. Most clients are interested in functionality, target audience, and primary sphere of use of your products. 
• Enumerate your achievements and responsibilities. What have you done? What have you accomplished? Which features did you personally develop? Do you have team lead experience? 
• Describe your stack (highlighting the languages/technologies you’re interested in).

Things you don’t need in your CV

• Too many details on the old projects (specially irrelevant to your present working profile);
• Unnecessary repetitions (I’m a front-end developer, so I was responsible for the front-end part of the code);
• Undesired technologies (if you mentioned it in your CV, don’t decline the projects because you don’t like them).

Who can help you with your CV at Lemon.io?

Recruiting specialists

• Make sure your experience section is complete and comprehensive;
• Check all the provided information and verify if it’s up-to-date;
• Polish your language and style: the selling tech CV shouldn’t be too frivolous or superficial;
• Hate copypaste, so don’t make them angry.

Matching specialists

• They check all the information about clients and developers (do you have projects similar to those the client has already worked with?);
• Their task is to make perfect fits. Domain profile, team lead experience, personal traits — everything is counted;
• If the info is too scarce, they will ask you to enrich the factual side;
• They will ask you to add valid links and mention the latest experience, especially if you’re a frontend developer. Web pages get old soon, so always check them out!

Sales specialists

• They kindly arrange prep calls with the dev before the job interview and discuss everything that worries you;
• They can come some 10 minutes before the interview and make a pep talk to untwist your tongue;
• Their feedback is invaluable — and they will gladly share their thoughts with you.

Takeaway message: A well-versed, complete, and informative CV makes the selling cycle considerably shorter. A poor CV urges clients to ask more questions and appoint more meetings — chances are, they will choose someone else instead.

Questions left? Check out our FAQ!

• How long should a tech resume be? 

  On average, technical resumes are 3 pages long. By their nature, they often require an in-depth description of the jobs, projects, and achievements, with the mention of technologies. That’s a necessary critical context to evaluate all the described achievements. Your impact, your tools, and the value delivered by your projects need space for description. However, don’t write too much and don’t mention anything irrelevant. That will harm your CV. 
  

• What are 5 tips for building a great resume?

  1. Use space wisely. Cut all the garbage, and don’t use unnecessary words. Employ bullet points and choose the suitable font size (11 or 12 will be great).
  2. Don’t mention the experience irrelevant to the vacancy you’re applying for.
  3. Write a concise summary of all the facts in your CV and place it before the main text. Most HR specialists don’t spend more than 40 seconds on a resume.
  4. Highlight your accomplishments, and include numbers where it’s appropriate.
  5. Mind the basics. Make everything possible for your contact info to be visible and relevant.

• Should your resume be a PDF?

  PDF is a better format for a resume because it’s immutable — so you won’t have a headache and scary thoughts about the wrong coding or broken lines. 

• Which font is best for a resume?

  Most CV specialists still consider plain old Times New Roman the best font for resumes. It’s easy to read, it’s included in all the service packs, and it’s easily transformable into other fonts on the OS without TNR.