How Certain Can You Be About Your IT Resume?

When I begin working with a new IT job seeker, without fail, there are two things they are hoping for:

(1) a simplified career move backed with a level of (2) certainty (or peace of mind).

With the job market a bit of a "zoo" and corporate hiring processes a mess (what I call the corporate "goo" that most professionals get stuck in), no matter whether you are just starting out in IT or a Fortune 100 CIO, we all want to find some level of simplicity and certainty amidst the chaos. At ITtechExec, my team and I spend a lot of time considering, creating, and updating solutions (from the resume through the job search process) that work toward that goal.

We also combine these elements with a key market demand, which is (3) proper positioning or targeting. Employers are overwhelmed with misaligned candidates, which creates more havoc on the hiring process at all levels. Therefore, making sure you are hitting the right target is vital.

How Certain Can You Be About Your IT Resume?

Since the resume is such a big question for so many IT pros getting ready to make a career move ("should I update mine," "how do I know how good it is," "whom do I listen to for resume advice", etc.), I've put together a basic 8-question, anonymous and complimentary, self-assessment tool or quiz, if you will, to help you understand the level of certainty you should have in it.

How can an 8-question quiz possibly do all that?

Simple. It examines a key ingredient in resume design: priorities. If you understand what the priorities should be for the technical job market, then you will build a resume that meets them. If you don't, then you won't. You'll build it for a different set of priorities. It might be nice looking; it might say all you want it to say; it might make you look like an IT giant. But it will be misaligned.

And this misalignment is the hardest thing for most IT pros to grasp because they think that if they just meet all the job description requirements, then they are a perfect fit! The problem is that companies often say one thing and do another. So you really have to be watching the hiring process closely to see what actually works.

Based on our experience working with hundreds of technical leaders each year, helping them to craft resume and personal brand messages, as well as provide concierge job search solutions, if you can score 80% or better on our quiz, then you are on your way to a simplified, targeted, and certain career move. If not, then there's some work to be done, no matter how eye-catching your IT resume is or how much you personally like it.

So take less than 30 seconds and see at how your resume was designed and where it is focused (only you will know your result):

About ITtechExec

Simplified. Targeted. Certain.

My name is Stephen Van Vreede, and I overcome uncertainty everyday for my senior-level client members as an Executive IT Résumé Writer and Job Search Specialist, as well as a Technical Career Adviser to several news/industry outlets, like TechRepublic, Dice, the Linux Foundation, and CIO.com. I'm also co-author of UNCOMMON with renowned speaker and career coach Brian Tracy (released June 11, 2015). Along with my team of writers and concierge job search agent, from established "techies" (15+ years), to those who lead software/systems development initiatives, to project/program managers (PMPs), to IT strategy visionaries like CIOs and CTOs, and many others in between, they all have one thing in common, most likely the same thing you're looking for:

To feel certain when you conduct your next career move that you are ready for the market and well positioned to meet its demands (not to hope you are or think you are but to have a level-headed, frank understanding of the market and your place in it).

That's why after working with hundreds of clients each year, and after reporting on the technical job market to several industry news outlets, my team and I have put together a very simple, anonymous, self-assessment quiz designed to determine whether the IT resume you've put together should bring you a level of certainty (or peace of mind) that you are well positioned for the market.

So, give it a shot. Take the quiz above and find out. It's free, quick (take less than a minute), and anonymous.