If you’ve got a security clearance and cyber skills, you’re holding a winning lottery ticket. But no matter how in-demand you are in today’s job market, as far as recruiters are concerned, there’s no substitute for effort. Typos, form resumes, and lack of enthusiasm will speak far louder than your credentials. What’s more, you don’t want to work at a company that doesn’t require your best. The recruiting team at GDIT recruits teammates who want to grow and take advantage of all GDIT’s opportunities to learn and advance. With government customers like the State Department and FBI, they want teammates who are hungry and will deliver for the client – not the person with fifty typos in his resume.
Here are four recruiter top tips that can help you show an employer that you’re up to the task.
1. Your resume: you’re doing it wrong.
“I don’t know who started the rumor that resumes only have to be one page and look like a large 8.5×11 business card,” says Kia Washington, Senior Talent Acquisition Analyst at GDIT, “but that’s not super helpful. A resume should reflect the position that you’re applying to.”
In other words, it’s more important that your resume reflects the actual needs of the position than being any particular length. The goal is to tailor key words from the job description and highlight applicable experience and education that suit those needs. That means that your resume should look different for each job you apply to. It’s an extra step, but one that recruiters will notice.
“Most people keep their general copy of their resume. If you are applying for a specific position, it would behoove you to double and triple-check to make sure that your resume highlights that experience in as much detail as possible,” says Washington.
2. Details matter.
Vanessa Allen is a Senior Recruiter supporting the Joint Forces in GDIT’s Defense Group. With an expertise in recruiting Systems Architects, Cyber Trainers, Network Security Engineers, and other cyber talent, the people she hires deliver mission critical work protecting the data and infrastructure of GDIT’s government customers. This is serious work with no room for carelessness. Show recruiters your attention to detail by:
- Only having one online employment profile per employer, avoiding confusion.
- Thoroughly reviewing the job title, description, and requirements before posting your resume.
- Identifying key words in the job posting and tailoring your resume accordingly.
- Filling out the online application as clearly and diligently as you would on paper.
- Performing a spell check and doing a final pass for errors before submitting. If possible, print it out and ask someone else to proofread for you.
It may seem basic, but by being careful with small details, you show you can be trusted with bigger responsibilities.
3. There’s something on your resume even more impressive than your education and job experience.
While impressive education and experience are always a resume booster, there’s something that shows attitude and aptitude even better: professional development. “In addition to any formal education, technical training and certifications are equally valuable. Highlight all of them and how current they are,” says Washington. Especially at a company like GDIT that values upward mobility, this shows commitment and ambition.
Apart from giving you up-to-date, desirable technical skills, this tells employers about your character. It’s eye-catching. “Someone who takes the time for professional development? That’s amazing. That’s a seller.”
4. Stay hungry.
Professional development catches a recruiter’s eye because it shows the one thing you can’t fake: enthusiasm. As Allen explains, “GDIT is a committed organization driven by a sense of mission for both our internal and external customers. This sense of mission criticality starts with employees who are motivated by hard work and place value on providing excellent quality services to our customers.”
Currently Kia Washington is working on hiring talent for the State Department with expertise analyzing threats through social media. These professionals will be on the cutting edge of intelligence technology and techniques, pulling from all different avenues to keep the country safe. For such important work, Washington is looking for people excited by the mission. “There’s a direct impact [on national security] because of what you do. You can directly see the impact it makes to safeguarding the country. Who doesn’t want to get behind that?”
If you’re hungry for exciting opportunities to serve GDIT’s mission, see their current cyber openings here.
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