You've figured out the secret to job hunting: where you want to work, what you want to do, and what you want to create. Now it's time to write that killer resume to make your dream a reality. Here at JobsBlog, we've shared our best resume tips for years so check out a few of our favorite posts to get started. But be sure read through our archives and keep following us for the latest and greatest in resume building technology! 

What a recruiter looks for in an initial resume review 

How to make a lifetime impression in just 40 seconds

Resumes and accomplishments: what, how, and why

Customizing your resume to fit a job description 

And hear what JobsBlogger Lisa looks for in a resume ... 

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Dan/Get-Hired-at-Microsoft-Episode-1-Write-a-Killer-Resume/ 

Dear JobsBlog: 

If I take a job where I get unrelated experience will it make me a less-desirable candidate?

-Tangent Torn 

Read on to hear the answer from Microsoft Recruiter Kenji...

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Have you ever wondered what fields of study are hot right now in the world of technology?  Or maybe you’re starting to think about declaring your major and you’re looking for some real world guidance?

It is worth thinking beyond a traditional Computer Science degree or even an Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS) program. Microsoft is hiring people with unique backgrounds, some that are new with the inception of the Cloud, web services and the amazing scale at which the industry is operating (Exabyte anyone?).

The following is my list of the Top Three hottest academic areas for a future career in tech:

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Dear JobsBlog:
Would you recommend I tailor my resume when applying for a job? Does this help or hinder my chances of getting the position?
 
-Resume Riled

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Resume review & advice. Part II of II. (read Part I)

Resume review actually consists of several different “layers” of consideration.

There are multiple factors that I consider simultaneously and all need to be accounted for before I make the decision to contact a candidate for a phone interview. What I’m looking for is a resume that “pops out" at me on multiple layers. 

The first thing that I look for when reviewing a resume, are the basics: does this candidate meet the minimum requirements for the position? Keep in mind, for many positions there are two sets of requirements – the bare minimum required – and the bonus qualifications that I’m ideally hoping to find. In this layer, I’m only looking for the former – but I’m militant in my resolve. If I need a year of experience, and you have six months – sorry, I just clicked “NEXT”.

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Resume review & advice. Part I of II. (Read Part II)

I’ve considered writing about resume advice since I started contributing to JobsBlog. However, I’ve put it off and even considered not writing about it at all because the subject matter can be VERY controversial.

I’m not going to make you the empty promise that following my advice will *really* help you land that next job or get your resume noticed in the sea of resumes. Resume writing is more art than science and any advice charading as the singular truth can lead you down the wrong path.

What I will share with you is, for better or worse, the process I use when reviewing resumes – and I’m going to give you the honest not-so-sugar-coated-truth about what goes through my mind when I click “NEXT.
This is an unvarnished account. Reader beware:

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This article was originally posted in August 2008 and remains both a popular post and a poignant question.

Does a failed startup on your resume count against you?
This is a great question. In classic recruiter style, I’m going to be very definitive and say: I think that it depends. :-)

Startups are great because they force people to wear multiple hats, work in a resource-constrained environment, and think about how what they work on interacts with other pieces of the puzzle rather than of owning a very narrow project or piece of code. While that entrepreneurial flexibility is highly desirable in any size org, a pattern of several in a row might unfairly brand someone as a serial startup person, likely to bolt every year or so.

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Over the weekend, Bing partnered with world-renowned public speaker Richard Greene and Avatar director James Cameron to host The Avatar Award Competition in New York City.

Over $12,000 in scholarships were given to the students who delivered the best 2-3 minute speeches on “An Environmental Lesson I Learned from Avatar and How to Apply it in My Community, New York City, America and/or the World”.

In addition to the competition, attendees saw a special screening of some of the highlights of Avatar, heard from James Cameron, learned public speaking secrets from Richard Greene, and learned how Bing can help them become better informed and confident about their ideas.

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I titled this blog post for developers, however, I believe it's sound advice for anyone writing a resume.  

What jobseekers need to keep in mind is that skilled recruiters are masters of Boolean logic.  We use it in search engines, metasearch engines and job boards.  I use it to find people's profiles, blogs and resumes on your webpage. 

So how is this information helpful???  The data in these mediums is immense – so we often tie several key search terms to make our search more effective.  For example, in LinkedIn a typical search for a Sr. UI Developer could look like (c# OR c++) AND (Silverlight OR WPF) AND (UI OR UX).

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Dear JobsBlog: 
When I apply via the Microsoft Career Site, it asks for me to give my resume a title. 
What is the title of my resume used for?
Do recruiters see this when they search?
What would you recommend as a good title?

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There was a great bit in the original Clerks film where Dante and Randal discuss if one’s stated function always ties to what they actually do… (As pointed out in the past by Kenji!). Anyone who’s been around the technology industry knows that the meaning of a job title differs greatly from company to company. There’s a famous blog by Steven Sinofsy that dissects the difference between the PM role at Microsoft vs. anywhere else, so no need to revisit that here.

I did want to call out though that when you get on the phone with a recruiter, they will pay less attention to the title you held at company X and more attention to the responsibilities you performed in that role. I bring this up because there’s been a few times where I’ve seen something interesting on a resume that made me think about them for a title different than what they are working as now.

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It’s no secret that there are a lot of people out of work these days. What you may not have known is that the national unemployment rate has a direct effect on everyone looking for a job.

Companies are inundated with resumes, many from people who aren’t necessarily qualified for—or even interested in—the position for which they’re applying. This has been not only my personal experience, but I’ve also heard similar reports from many of my peers regarding the sheer volume of resumes landing in our inboxes.

So how do you highlight the right skills on your resume to stand out, especially given the current quantity of resumes recruiters are sifting through? 

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Dear JobsBlog: I have a computer engineering degree and several awards, distinctions, and honors. However, I did not attend a bigger college on the east/west coast. How do I get a Microsoft recruiter to look at my resume?

-Under the Radar

I’ve asked Alicia, a fellow recruiter from our U.S. University Team, to help answer your question.
-Janelle

Dear Under the Radar: Microsoft has always made it their business to hire the best and brightest students, regardless of what university they attended. We know that students choose universities based on many factors like location, cost, size, urbanization, program standings and, of course, reputation. That means that incredibly smart people are everywhere, not just at the Ivies.

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The Washington Post's recent article Tiny Typos Can Add Up To a Big X On Your Résumé details a few suggestions on how to avoid typos on your resume.

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Many candidates find it difficult to capture their experience on their resume, so what ends up happening is a pretty generic explanation of their role and responsibility with little detail on their impact and contribution.

Lifehacker had a great simple tip to create compelling resumes by avoiding 6 commonly used words on a resume - ditch these six words from the fold.

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Recently I decided to explore new opportunities at Microsoft that are aligned to my career aspirations.  This meant that I needed to update my resume (which hasn’t been touched since 2005) with my work experience that I have gained over the last 4 years.  Hmmm…  what exactly did I do over the last 4 years?

I must have sat there for 30 minutes with a blank resume while I tried to remember what I accomplished.  Besides a general idea of the responsibilities I had, I couldn’t remember the exact metrics I achieved, awards I won or extra projects I took on.  That’s when it hit me that I shouldn’t have waited until I was looking for a new job to update my resume!

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Today's guest post is from Microsoft's Student Audience Marketing digital team, a group who reaches out to all students who use and are interested in Microsoft products and technologies - not just those who want to work here. The team manages our student digital outreach efforts such as the Microsoft Student Experience site,  Microsoft Student Lounge site, Microsoft Student Facebook and Twitter sites, and Mobile Student Experience site. They engage students through social causes, videos, and content that spans from career to learning to fun stuff to software and technology.

Hi all,
I’m Amy – I've been with Microsoft over 10 years but have a unique work history here.  About 4 years ago, I left to be a “bigger fish in a smaller pond” (so to speak) but realized that my heart and passion is with Microsoft.  So, after 6 months of being away, I interviewed with Microsoft and was re-hired.  

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My mom recently asked me to review her resume, and so did some of her friends (one of the joys of being a recruiter). These are all very accomplished healthcare executives, but their resumes lacked the pow that I find in resumes of candidates I usually choose to move forward with. It wasn’t because they weren’t stellar professionals, but because they didn’t present their skills in the most advantageous way.

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As we continue to work on our new careers site, we've come up with another topic that we'd like to hear your thoughts on: resume tips. This one is particularly important to us here at JobsBlog since resumes is one of our favorite subjects to blog about.

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Whether you're seeking employment or already have your dream job, it's always beneficial to learn new technical skills. Picking up knowledge that you can talk about in an interview and use on the job, can have a huge impact on an employer. But in a field that's constantly changing, how do you know which skills to hone in on? Here's an awesome list from TechRepublic's Justin James of the 10 skills developers will need in the next five years:
 

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Dear JobsBlog: After working for 9+ years as a technical lead, I am now considering a change in career path and am seriously considering the Program Manager role. I work at a start-up and wear multiple hats like meeting customers, working with development teams, managing schedules, resource planning and risk analysis. I read the Zen of PM article, and I think I do some of it.

 I can see it is quite possible for someone from within Microsoft to change gears from SDE or SDET roles to a PM role. Do you see that happening to someone from outside? Do you have any specific advice for me in this regard -- like to get my resume noticed, given that I am coming from a dev background?

-Pondering PM

Dear Pondering PM:  Program Management isn’t a consistent discipline across the technical industry, and as Steven Sinofsky blogged, “PM is unique to Microsoft and I think it is fair to say this is a role that is often copied but never duplicated.” The good news is, when hiring from outside Microsoft, we rarely interview people who have already been PMs because, well, there just aren’t many!

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