Fun little fact: When a hiring manager reviews your application for a role, she’s looking for more than the right background, training, and hard skills. She’s searching for hints that you “get it”—that you would thrive amid a zillion digital tools and alternate ways of getting things done. No matter what field you’re currently in (or going into), you most likely need to be tech-savvy.
How can you give decision makers a knowing wink as you apply? Try these no-brainer resume hacks:
1. Use Hyperlinks
You know how important it is to have a strong web presence in today’s job market. Your online persona acts as a digital handshake with the companies you’ll be applying to. It’s a way of establishing some trust that you’re on top of your game before you’re even interviewed.
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t let anything get in the way of creating that trust!
And you can do it in one easy step: By including hyperlinks in digital copies of your resume, you make it insanely easy for readers to jump to the personal website or relevant social profiles listed in your contact information. Without a hyperlink, a hiring manager has to copy and paste your URL into a browser. Which is no big deal, until someone’s poring through 200 applications.
Fewer clicks = better.
With hyperlinking, you increase the odds that the recruiter will actually click through and see your killer personal site (rather than making a mental note to check it out later if you’re a top candidate). Plus, you’ll make an impression—even if it’s a subconscious one—as efficient and as easy to work with.
2. Ditch the Vintage Email Address
There’s no denying that your email address (and domain) impact the overall impression you make. Unfortunately, domains like AOL, Yahoo, and Hotmail come with the stereotype that their users are somehow out of touch with technology. Appearing behind the times is never a good selling point. Seriously, you might as well list a fax number. Either use a Gmail account or consider using a self-hosted domain (ex. me@johnsmith.com).
Tip: If you already have a respectable email, think about other ways recruiters might reach out to you—such as through a contact page. Take an hour to set up a personal site (here’s how).
3. List Relevant Tech Skills
List your technical skills loud and proud on your resume. Go ahead and give them a little section of their own. The real trick here is to show familiarity with the types of communication and collaboration tools used by the company in question. The job ad should be your first point of research for this information.
Thinking backward can help too. Do a web search for “tools used by distributed teams” or “best apps for [your field here].” This is a great way to assess your technical acumen so that you can compile a worthwhile skills section. Don’t be afraid to include a mix and match of specialized apps like iDoneThis, Slack, or Asana and more standard items like Photoshop or Google Analytics. The point is to show that you’re computer literate and adaptable when it comes to new resources.
4. Show Off Any and All Tech Experience
If you have tech experience, don’t hope it will be obvious because of the companies on your resume, or that will come up later during your interview. Especially if your title isn’t “web developer” or “front-end coder.” Draw attention to it from the start. You can do this in a few different sections of your resume.
For example, let’s say you helped a team manage a change from manual paper records to an electronic system. Call it out in your job duties. Maybe you coordinated a project involving team members in other offices and lots of web collaboration. Talk about it! In your resume’s summary, slipping in some phrasing like “…easily adopts new tools and processes” can do wonders in showing that you’re tech-savvy.
And if you’ve never technically worked in IT? That’s OK too. Think about what you do have: Database experience? A killer Instagram profile? That stuff counts, folks.
With these changes, your resume will do more than capture the timeline of your career, credentials, and experiences. Each hack is minor on its own, but add them all up and you’ll appear accessible, efficient, and tech-savvy. In fact, you’ll look like a candidate who’s ready for the first day, as well as for anything new and exciting that develops.