I am now temporarily back in Australia on a short contract. One of my duties is to screen and interview applicants for a senior Windows/MS role. As always, most applicants are not suitable, and from their applications I have drawn up a short list of tips for job seekers in the IT field.

• The Bronze Medallion is not a technical certification
• Cub Scout badges are not technical certifications (same guy)
• IIS 6.0 was not released in 1998, so don’t claim you got that MCP back then. Also, there is no IIS6 MCP
• Don’t use fancy fonts in non-black colours (green Harrington!)
• Don’t put the MCP/MCSE/Novell/CCNA/A+ logo in your resume, it makes me doubt your experience
• Don’t slander Bill Gates in an application for a Windows-heavy role
• Have someone who knows English proofread your CV and cover letter.
• Having worked in a donut shop when you were 15 is not relevant experience
• Listing IAS as a core competency makes me doubt your skillset
• Apostrophe’s!
• Don’t put hard line breaks in your resume. When I use Word’s Reading Layout it looks like crap and I become annoyed
• Don’t use the ‘words’ pls and ur in your cover letter
• In order to make some skills easier to see, you can make a few words bold. If you do, try to choose important words. “SQL Server, Exchange Server and Sysprep” is not what I mean.
• Every CV submitted in PDF format has been beautiful and easy to read, and the applicant has gotten +1 just for that. The downside is that many recruiters need Word format for their systems. So this one isn’t really a tip.