THE RESUME THAT GOT ME INTO FAANG !!
Applying to companies but not getting shortlisted?
Hang on , maybe I have the solution.
I had faced this similar situation a couple of months back, but then I spent some time structuring out my resume.
And guess what , not only my resume got shortlisted after applying but also I got calls from the recruiter even without applying.
Now let’s drill down a bit into what should be there in your resume
1. Experience — Here you can include your internships and current company you are working for. Make sure you include your roles and responsibilities in the team. The company is more interested to see What have you done instead of What Your Organization/Team Does. Use action verbs like improved , optimized , managed etc. ( Read more here). Try to emphasize on what impact you had on your team. The interviewer will focus more on your roles and responsibilities. Also make sure you know the project architecture really well.
2. Projects — Include at least 2 good projects that you can talk about confidently in an interview. Make sure you know those projects in and out. It’s better to avoid saying to the interviewer that I didn’t do this part and hence I am not aware of.
Also , identify that what and how you could have done better. The interviewer might ask you the shortcomings of your project and will also enquire that how could you improve it. Don’t give answers like “I don’t think it can be improved further” , “There are no shortcomings” etc as there is always room for improvement. That will make you sound arrogant.
Make sure you have an answer to justify the tech stacks and frameworks you have used. Like let’s say , you used Java and Spring framework in order to develop a web application , then expect questions like “Why Java & Spring?” and “Why not Python & Django?”. A bad way to answer this question is “Because I knew Java and not Python.” You have to give proper justifications that made you to choose a particular tech stack , like “I preferred SQL over NoSQL because I needed to ensure ACID properties.”
Achievements :- Include achievements related to your field as the company is not bothered to see whether you stood first in a relay race or won a music competition. Also quantify your achievements. Like instead of saying “stood 1st in XYZ competition” , state, “Rank 1 out of 3000 participants in XYZ competition”. It makes a greater impact and helps the recruiter to understand your potential.
Coding Profiles & Social Links :- Make sure to link your competitive coding profiles and mention your Max Rating in those platforms. Also link your Github and Linkedin profile.
Education : Mention your college from where you got your degree. I feel there is no need to mention your CGPA if it is on the lower side and you have at least an year of experience. Try to highlight the strong points and omit the weak links.
Skills : Include the languages and tech stacks you have worked upon and are familiar with. Also attribute how comfortable you are with those languages and frameworks. (Like Wrote Over 5000 lines of codes in JAVA , or give a rating meter.) Don’t include subjects like DBMS , OOPS etc. over here as that would go in your Coursework section.
Extra-Curricular — This is an optional section and include only if you have place left to fill. Also include activities that are more related.
Keep your Resume neat and clean. Try to fit everything in 1 page. Remember your Resume should strike an impression at one glance.
Last but not the least , as Prabhudeep Singh says , name your Resume File properly. Don’t name it “Resume.pdf” or “CV.pdf” and instead “Riddhi Dutta-1 YOE-Backend-Developer.pdf”.
You can find some awesome templates over here.
Hope it helps.
Feel free to connect with me over LinkedIn or Instagram for any further queries.
Also checkout my YouTube Channel.
