Are you a Scrum Master? These tips from experienced professionals on writing your resume will spark up your resume and improve your chances of landing that perfect job.
As a Scrum Master, it is no news that many more persons are migrating into this field and recently there have been a lot of layoffs which makes it a pretty saturated field. However, there are still thousands of jobs available and lots of hiring managers and companies seeking to fill scrum master roles. This of course means that they need you. Unfortunately, there are a lot of hoops you have to jump through to convince these companies that you are the right scrum master for the job and this begins with your resume.
Here are some of the best advice we have put together from seasoned scrum masters who have also been a part of the hiring process.
For instance, Jude Meno who is currently an Agile coach program manager and has been in the agile world for over 12 years has this to say about writing your resume.
“Do not feel intimidated about entering the scrum master world. Do not let anybody scare you. Always look at the bright side. Look at building something that will make somebody curious to talk about you.”
First off in this post where we will be giving you actionable scrum master resume writing tips, let’s talk about putting your resume together.
A Scrum Master Resume
It’s important when writing a resume to come up with a story. There are hundreds of people submitting resumes for any advertised role. For you to be selected, you do not need just skills and knowledge of the scrum master role. While those are important, what you need desperately is to stand out. Regardless of how skilful, hardworking or valuable you are, if you do not get noticed, you do not get the job. People go through the details of your resume so you have to be thoughtful about it. You have to present yourself as the best candidate and it starts with your resume.
Tip 1: Start with a summary. Pick important lines about yourself. Talk about the areas you are good at, highlights of your experience, and current roles. Pick specific experiences. Additionally, mentioning your number of working years is important in your introduction. Put every field or domain you have worked in. This helps your recruiter recognize other roles you could fit in. However, keep it specific to the job. Remember to highlight your skills. Skills such as using tools like zoom, teams, or others. Despite all we have said, you must keep your introduction short and straight to the point.
Tip 2: While there is sort of a debate on this, we think that you place your education immediately after your summary. This gives a foundation and proof of all you mentioned in your introduction about yourself. It is a valid point to note though that you need to keep it short as the focus of the hiring managers is not how many degrees you have acquired but rather your experience and skills.
Tip 3: Proceed to talk about your professional experience. While writing on this, it is important to be conscious of your tenses. It is also important to put in your job title and make it obvious. Also, specify your particular work environment. Your salary may have been coming from a hiring company but you have to indicate the company you actually executed those projects for. This allows the recruiter or hiring manager to know where you were active.
Tip 4: Watch your dates. Your dates need to match up. Where there is a career gap, resist the urge to stretch information or attempt to cover up because, during an interview, this may become evident. If you have a career gap, what you were doing during that period matters. Did you take certification courses, did you learn something new, and did you take time to focus on your mental health? People do take down time and an explainable gap is nothing to be ashamed of.
Tip 5: Include a project overview. This could be a minor or major project but you should be able to identify your role, the company, and the purpose of the project. Putting this information helps the hiring manager see you at work and certainly puts you ahead. Use bullet points. Dive into details of how you made use of your skills, state particular roles, and talk about how you excelled on these projects. Your bullet points should be your strength.
Tip 6: Now include your certification. Outline your skills and certifications. This is the place to put all your relevant and related certifications. It gives you an advantage. How to walk through your Scrum Master resume. You are likely to be asked in an interview to ‘walk through a resume”, or to “tell more about yourself.” Both requests basically mean the same thing. A recruiter may ask you to walk through your resume because they hadn’t had time to go over your resume in detail or simply because they want to hear you say in your own words what your journey has been. Either way, you need to answer right and we hope these tips will help you achieve that.
Tip 7: Interviews should be relaxed and interactive. Approach it like a get-to-know-you discussion session. A recruiter is more likely to remember you if he had an engaging time rather than a session with robot-like yes or answers.
Tip 8: Because you are relaxed, confident, and not afraid of dialogue, you could ask ‘Do you want me to walk you through in chronological order and bring you up to date or should I tell you about my current role and walk you backwards.? Or Would you like me to cherry pick those areas which are more relevant to this position?” Most recruiters would prefer a chronological order but you must have studied your resume well enough to be able to walk through it in detail using any format.
Tip 9: Pick the main aspect of your resume. Ensure you know the content of your resume. You should understand all the terms you have used in the resume and be certain that you are familiar with the skills and tools listed in your resume.
Tip 10: Start from your transition story. How did you choose your current role and what were your growth and progression like?
Tip 11: Where the interview is virtual you can have a copy of your resume with you. You can glance at your resume and you can refer to it, but you should never read from it.
Tip 12: As you speak, include only job experiences relevant to the role you are applying for. Focus in detail on the jobs where you gained transferable skills, and ensure that these skills are relevant to those stated in the job description.
Tip 13: Call out your highlights. State clearly your achievements. For example “Throughout my career, I have attended numerous training seminars and courses, constantly improving my knowledge of the agile methodology. I also helped my team successfully move from waterfall to agile creating a mature team where developers took more ownership to update their board items, also we were able to become very efficient at achieving an average of 50% completion every sprint.” This is the point where you highlight what you did for other teams and what you can do for their team
Tip 14: Have a strong closing statement. Your closing statement should show your confidence and interest in the role.
Resume writing tips to avoid
As a bonus, let’s talk about some resume mistakes to avoid
- Using buzz words without showing impact.
- Failing to include meaningful metrics
- Sending out too many resumes without taking time to focus on the quality of the resumes.
- Overlooking the seemingly small things like formatting and the appearance of your resume.
- Not tailoring your resume and introduction to match the job description.
- Not properly studying and familiarizing yourself with the job description.
- Lengthy resumes.
What hiring managers want you to know
As I conclude this post, I am going to tell you that hiring managers are looking to see innovative candidates. You have to be innovative and progressive to stand out from the swarm of applicants. The tips we have shared in this post are bound to make a difference when you put them into practice in your resume and interview. Interestingly though, we have more to offer.
Have you heard of our Electronic Profile Resume (EPR)? This is a shareable link that uniquely introduces you. This is your number 1 tool to stand out to employers. The reviews of those who have used the EPR have made us proud and positive that it leads you many steps closer to your dream job. Want to learn more about the EPR? Click here
