Of course, there are many different opinions. Get as much input from as many sources as you can.
When I look at what you have, with my (only slightly) informed eyes…
It looks pretty good to me, certainly better than a lot of resumes that I see.
I don’t like the gridlines in the Education section - I think it is cleaner without them and I think it clashes with the formatting of everything else.
I would want the “languages and techs” section to be more prominent. I think that other than your contact info, it is the most important thing. You’ve got 5 seconds for them to decide if they want to keep looking. What languages/techs you do is one of the most important things.
The only thing I’d maybe put above that would be a “Summary”, just a few sentences explaining who you are. “I am a software developer with 3+ years experience, specializing in Java, ASP.NET, and Angular. I am looking for full-time employment. I am open to relocation”.
So, you have your basic contact info, below that a simple summary, and right below that a list of languages/techs. That way within a few seconds they know the most important information they need to decide if it is worth reading the rest of the resume - they don’t have to go looking for it. After that, I’d probably put Employment, Projects, then Education. I suggest that because I think that that is the order of importance to a hirer.
I like that it looks pretty well proof-read. There are a few little things, like If you are going to put a period at the end of bullet points, then they should all have them, like the first Project. And it’s “fantasy football”, not “football fantasy”. But still, I like that everything is very well organized and consistent.
I might consider trying to liven up the design a little. Maybe something other than the default bullet point? Maybe another color for the bullet points and/or the topic headings - nothing drastic, just a little bit of color.
I would be curious to explore other formats. Maybe your techs could be bullet points in a sidebar - that would stand out too and make it seem less like top to bottom drudgery.
I like how clear your employment bullet points are so clear and talk about actual things you’ve done, but I might suggest some of that could be tightened up a little, less wordy.
For example, your certification doesn’t need a link and could just be: “Spring & Hibernate for Beginners (including SpringBoot) - Udemy”. You don’t need to include a link and you don’t need to tell them that it is an online course - they know what Udemy is.
I don’t see a link to a portfolio page - I would expect that.
You list TypeScript - I would mention JavaScript - the first round of resume eliminations may be done by an HR person that doesn’t know that TS means that you also do JS. Read through some of the job adverts that you see and see what techs they list - make sure they are on your resume (if you can do them).
- On LinkedIn, asking employees working in those companies for referral.
I strongly disagree with that. If you mean that you connect with people you don’t know on linkedin and ask them for a referral, that to me seems shady. You are asking a complete stranger go to their boss to put in a good word for you.
That being said, we could modify this a little. Reach out to some of the devs and ask them for advice. “Hey, I see that you work for Foobar Corp - I am interested in what you guys do. Do you have any advice on how to get hired there? Are there some techs I should be exploring?” Psychologically, this way you can ingratiate yourself to these people - people like to feel helpful and instinctively feel protective of people that need their help. But “hey, you don’t know me, will tell your boss he should hire me” - no, that sounds bad.
A college senior told me that the best and fastest way to get your resume selected for the interview is to directly contact the HR who posted the job on platforms like LinkedIn.
But, he’s in university - why is he an expert on getting hired?
On the other hand, yeah, that can be good advice, as long as it isn’t “give me the job”, if it’s “I wanted to reach out and introduce myself, as I’m applying for this position. If you have any advice or feedback, it would be greatly appreciated. I hope to be hearing from you.” - something like that makes you seem, professional, courteous, very interested in the job, and interested in developing yourself. Those are all great qualities for a first impression. Even if you don’t get hired for that position, you may stick in their head for something that comes up later.
Employee referrals are given least priority and that proceeds only when the person interviewing has worked in the past with that employee or that employee knows him very well.
Yeah, makes sense to me.
Also, another reason for you not receiving interview calls is that companies are involved with COVID related work like providing various kinds of assistance to their employees and their families.
I don’t know, for the two companies I’ve worked for during Covid, hiring slowed a little at the beginning, but then went back to normal, except that everything became remote.
Although, my current and previous companies are product-based but both are of small size and doesn’t have a good work culture. Also, I am not satisfied by both quantity as well as quality of work in my current company as work here is too easy for a person of my experience.
That’s all well and good, but remember to be careful to not criticize your old companies and coworkers - you’ll come across as a complainer. Try to be positive about it and look at things as learning opportunities. Try to find at least one thing positive about everything you’ve done.
So, I want to ask all the experienced DEVs out here that do you agree with what my senior told me as the best way to get interview calls?
I think you need to do all of them. You have more luck of catching a fish if you have more poles in the water. Every company is different and values different things.
At the risk of more shameless self-promotion, I once wrote up a doc with my advice on getting that difficult first job.
