We love minimalism, use the industry leading documentation authoring tools, technologies, style guides, and adopt the KISS (Keep it Structured and Short) rule to create technical and end-user documentation for software and hardware products. As Technical Writers (TW) and Information Developers, we have an advantage over job seekers from other streams considering our language and writing expertise, but do we really take advantage of it when we pitch our resume to new related jobs? The answer is : NO!
75% of resumes don’t pass the resume screening round, irrespective of whether the companies you apply to use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software. Even if the resume passes the ATS, the content fails to impress the hiring manager. What are the reasons for not going past the first hurdle despite having the necessary experience and ingredients of a TW?
Let’s investigate and convert your experience to a Quality Resume Guide (QRG) under 2 pages!
Troubleshooting Writing Guideline Errors and Expectations
When applying to TW jobs, the core expectation of the documentation hiring manager is to read a good structured resume under 2 pages, similar to a Quick Reference Guide written to sell a software.
More often than not, the reality looks different which leads to an immediate rejection. Ask any TW hiring manager and they may point to the following red flags for a candidate’s resume being rejected:
Differentiating your Roles and Acheivments
You might have played several writer roles across companies from an individual contributor, team lead, editor to project manager. It is easy to state these obvious roles and responsibilities but tricky to convert the obvious to quantifiable achievements to catch the attention of a hiring manager. Hence, it is critical to understand this difference to transform your resume from a standard read to an increased attention span to differentiate yourself against 100+ candidates. So, how can you try to achieve this?
Similar to a DDLC process, building a resume not only requires time and patience but a process to follow if you are targeting a desired job or company. So, it is important to build a self-review checklist for better results. It is fine to get an expert to review your resume but remember, you must bring the flavor.
Note:
Click here to view the recording of the webinar Building Impactful Technical Writing Resume.
Mohan Raghuram is a curious technical writer for more than a decade trying to engage product documentation audience. Besides specializing in macro photography (popularly known as McGun) and love for the 22-yard cricket pitch, he swears by excel more than a calculator, dreams of playing ping-pong 24*7 and skating across the world in 365 days.
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