Most IT professionals that are I know are steady performers and are definitely not Super Stars. Few people can maintain a Super Star brand over time. Technologies and technical practices continue to rapidly evolve and it’s simply a challenge to keep up.
Give me a steady performer any time. They will consistently deliver great results and are often the most valuable contributors within an IT organization. These are the individuals who can work well both independently and as part of a team effort. They grow and mentor others and take great pride in the work that they do.
Female System Engineer Controls Operational Proceedings. In the Background Working Monitors Show Various Information.
Every team needs people who are proficient at many things more than they need individuals who are exceptional at only one thing.
These IT professionals shows that they make solid contributions day in and day out. IT resumes should show all of your current skills – the whole IT professional.
Don’t listen to advice that:
- Every bullet item in your technical resume has to connect with business value because that is truly not the case. There will be numerous times when your real contribution is to the technical work flow. In most of those cases, you are making a technical contribution to the team and not a business contribution.
I personally love the team experience and have explained why in this article – The Value of Teamwork in an IT Career.
- Your core responsibilities such as collecting and analyzing requirements or managing team resources are not vital to your resume. My response is – of course, they are! Here are just a few examples:
Requirements – Do you customize your requirements gathering process to your audience? If so, explain what methods you use and why you are successful using those numbers.
Team Resources – Do you integrate learning into each of your projects to build individual and team competencies? Describe how you achieve this.
- You have to be unique and innovative to get hired. You’ll find lots of IT resume samples that show individuals providing tremendous innovation. The reality, however, is that if everyone was an innovator, none of the real work in IT would get done.
- Describing your leadership skills is more important than describing your management skills.
There is a lot of confusion about the difference between management and leadership, so let me explain. Leadership is about leading people and management is about managing processes, assets, and resources.
Leadership responsibilities can include:
Skills and competencies development for individuals or teams
Stakeholder Management – status reporting and setting expectations
Vendor Management – actually using the vendor as a resource
Conflict Resolution – a true people skill
Management responsibilities include planning, controlling, monitoring, and communications activities, such as:
Lifecycle – the series of stage through which a project progresses from concept to termination.
Deliverables – tangible results, whether they are of business or technical value.
Risk – the resolution of problems and disruptions in the execution of a project and any side-effects or undesirable outcomes.
Scope – describing the boundaries of a project, what is and isn’t within scope.
Cost – managing the financial resources.
Summary
Are you a steady performer? Then, embrace this as your brand. IT hiring managers want full contributors who can also work well within a team environment.
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About the Author – Jennifer Hay
“As a technical resume writer, my clients tell me I have the rare talent to transform a technical career into a clear, concise, and powerful technical resume. In fact, I’m known for innovative resumes that provide an advantage in today’s intensively competitive global employment market. As the world’s first nationwide resume writer for information technology (CRS+IT), I am a natural choice for technology professionals seeking high-impact career marketing documents. I love the geeky stuff, so bring it on!
I won a Toast of the Resume Industry (TORI) award in the technical category, a Career Innovator’s award, and served as a TORI judge