Ask HN: What do you look for in a resume, which gets you to talk to the person?

You can imagine three levels of skill (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;codewithoutrules.com&#x2F;2018&#x2F;10&#x2F;10&#x2F;beyond-senior-software-engineer&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;codewithoutrules.com&#x2F;2018&#x2F;10&#x2F;10&#x2F;beyond-senior-softwa...</a>):<p>1. Implement a solution someone already came up with.<p>2. Solve a problem someone gave you.<p>3. Identify problems.<p>The higher the level, the more valuable of an employee you are.<p>If you are level 2, you want to make sure your resume doesn&#x27;t give the impression you&#x27;re level 1. So for example, don&#x27;t just list &quot;I wrote some code&quot;, explain how you came up with this design, and why.<p>If you are level 3, you want to make sure your resume doesn&#x27;t give the impression you&#x27;re level 2. So make sure you explain how you identified the problem, and why it mattered.

My company doesn’t sponsor visas, but we get a lot of overseas applicants anyway.<p>One theme I’ve noticed from these resumes is that for the summary of experience they tend to list out technologies and job responsibilities. And also to have about a dozen bullet points for each job, which is overwhelming.<p>This makes the candidate look incapable of independent thought - reinforcing a negative stereotype of Indian developers. Too many of us have had or heard of bad experiences with outsourcing companies that need to be given instructions almost as detailed as you’d give a computer.<p>American and European companies (at least the good ones) aren’t looking for coders to accept and execute instructions. We’re looking for software developers who can synthesize context and business goals to develop software that will create value for the business.<p>What I’m looking to see on a resume are projects undertaken and even more importantly accomplishments. And only the most relevant 2-5 for each position. How did your work impact the business?<p>Instead of ticking off “I’ve used this technology” boxes, focus on highlighting your business value.

Are you based in India? If so, I imagine the practicalities of getting a visa are more of an issue than the quality of resume.

I’m a little deeper in the funnel, but I prefer narratives over lists of acronyms. Give me something to talk about.<p>Also, are people seeing your resume, or is some middleman changing it? I notice with Indian candidates agencies tweak them in ways or for reasons that often don’t benefit the candidate.

We start off with internal referrals...<p>Your best bet is to try and network into your top companies by reaching out via LinkedIn, asking friends and family for connections, alumni etc