In Europe – particularly, the GSA region (Germany, Switzerland, and Austria) – web development is one of the most prominent industries to date. Therefore, it’s no surprise that, as of 2018, over 5.5 million Europeans work in web development, with Germany having approximately 901,000 software developers in the industry.
But before you can set foot into this lucrative industry, you’ll need a winning resume to show off your experience and skills to various companies. Whether you want to work from home, or work in-house, your web developer resume has to be spot-on. In other words, why should a company hire you to be a web developer?
To be fair, writing the perfect web developer resume is a challenge. But luckily, there’s a winning formula. Remember that your resume should be designed to guide the recruiter to making the decision that you are the best candidate for the role of web developer. With this in mind, you can learn to tailor your resume perfectly to the role you are applying for, ensuring that you leave the recruiter without a doubt: you are perfect for the job.
We’ll walk you through some tips and tricks for creating the perfect resume, helping you get the perfect job.
What not to do
When approaching your web developer resume, it’s important to remember what you’re not trying to do. Many people think that a resume should be a record of your job history and a summary of your skills. Unfortunately, providing a simple record of your past history will leave recruiters feeling uninspired with no sense of the value that you’ll bring to the role in question.
To make matters worse, recruiters will already get swamped with many resumes vying for their attention. Recruiters will only spend a few seconds skimming through a resume before making a decision on it – that decision being either inviting the candidate for an interview, or throwing the resume away.
Therefore, you need to be able to sell yourself within those few seconds of the recruiter skimming through your resume. In other words, you need to think of your resume as an advertisement, and you yourself are the product. Your resume should include some elements of job history and your skillset, but it’s more important for it to be a vibrant reflection of you as an individual and a perfect candidate for any web developer job.
RELATED: Should You Lie on Your Resume?
Tailor your developer resume to the job
Every job advertisement will differ subtly in the phrasing and language that is used to describe the role. To craft the perfect resume for a web developer role you need to pick the job responsibilities that are most commonly referred to. Seek out job ads written by professional recruiters and mirror the language of these to create a resume which stands out to recruiters as presenting a candidate that’s perfect for the role.
“Make sure your resume is in a format that’s flexible enough so that you can curate it to each role you’re applying for,” says Raymon Smith, resume writer at Assignment Service and UKWritings. “Your resume should change with each application, ensuring that you stand out from the crowd.”
Structure
Now, how you structure your resume will matter. Like any other resume, your web developer resume will need to be structured in a way that you prioritize the important stuff to a company, before getting into the lesser material.
“The structure of your resume is important for bringing the relevant information to recruiters’ attention,” says Alfred Berry, career expert at Coursework writing services and Assignment writing service. “The shocking statistic that the average resume receives less than ten seconds of attention reveals how essential the structure of your resume is for capturing your audience's interest.”
Contact information
Resumes without contact information is already a big no-no. What if a web development company wants to contact you for anything?
Therefore, you should always begin your resume with your contact details and other personal information. It may be appropriate to include social media profiles in this section, especially LinkedIn. Social platforms are increasingly integrated into hiring strategies.
Professional summary
This section is often overlooked by recruiters and you may feel it’s appropriate to omit it altogether. If you do choose to include a professional summary, keep it short. Target key questions that recruiters may be seeking answers to, including why they should hire you.
Skills
So far, you have the recruiter’s attention. But… do you have the skills that they’re looking for in web development?
This is where you can really reveal that you’re the perfect candidate for the job. Tailor the skills you enumerate in this section to the position you’re applying for and mirror the language used in the original ad. It’s recommended to stick to six to twelve skills for this section, and focus on including only the most relevant attributes.
Experience
Now, this part, like the skills part, is going to matter to companies. This is where recruiters will want to know how well you know web development.
With that said, one of the challenges of creating the perfect resume is including the relevant experience in a concise fashion. Now here, you can’t say too little or too much. Too much detail, especially if it strays into the realm of superfluity, will put recruiters off, but it’s essential that you demonstrate that your past history will enable you to flourish in this role. Prioritize recent roles and tailor it to the job you’re applying for.
Hired!
Crafting the perfect web developer resume can be a challenge in a competitive world of hiring. These tips will help you curate your resume to the web developer role in question, ensuring you stand out to recruiters and ultimately get the job. We hope you find your dream web developer job!
And, as always, WeAreDevelopers has your web development resume needs covered! We’re an Austria-based job and career platform for software developers and other tech talents; and, we’re more than happy to help you jumpstart your web development career today!