[cimmanom]

My company doesn’t sponsor visas, but we get a lot of overseas applicants anyway.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Instead of ticking off “I’ve used this technology” boxes, focus on highlighting your business value.

[mds101]

Thanks for your advice! I'd also like to know if you would consider a non-conventional resume (like a specialized resume website), rather than a conventional word/pdf document, as a positive or a negative?

[cimmanom]

Most places you’ll have to submit a PDF (or sometimes Word doc), so start with that. Having your resume also hosted on LinkedIn or elsewhere won’t hurt you, but it doesn’t add much value.