10 Easy Tips to Help You Write the Killer Bioinformatics Resume

1. Eliminate any unnecessary personal information. The only personal information you want on your resume is your name and contact information. Do not place your social security number on a resume; this is the age of identity theft. Do not put your birthdate on your resume; this is also the age of age discrimination for both younger and older workers—and the definition of younger and older varies from industry to industry.
   
   


2. Focus on the primary purpose of your resume, and that is to win an interview. Your resume will not get you a job. It could get you an interview. Put yourself in the interviewer’s shoes. If you were interviewing for this job, what kinds of things would attract your attention?
   
   


3. Remember that employers electronically scan resumes. Create a clean resume that copies and scans well. Use a simple, readable font and laser print the resume on plain white paper. Do not fold it. Use keywords that you pull out of the job description so that your resume makes it past the computer and gets into the hands of a Real Person.
   
   


4. Remember that employers visually scan resumes. Most of the time they only scan the top half of the first page. That’s your best opportunity to sell yourself and tell the prospective employer why you are the best person for this bioinformatics job.
   
   


5. Include your professional technical skills. Even if they are not required by the job description, show the prospective employer that you are a professional. What data imaging and data mining skills do you have and how have you demonstrated them? What programming languages do you know? Have you designed applications for bioinformatics? What lab skills do you have?
   
   


6. Put the most important information first. What’s most important? Your qualifications for the job. If you are just out of school, your most important qualifications might be your education. If you have a lot of experience, that is your most important qualification for the job.
   
   


7. Make your resume specific to the job. One standard resume is no longer enough. You might need a standard resume to give to those people who say, “Give me your resume, and maybe I can pass it on to someone.” When you are applying for a specific job, however, you need a specific resume that is tailored to that job.
   
   


8. Include any work you have done with hot industry topics, such as the Human Genome Project, protein modeling and immunology. Include proficiencies with professional resources, such as Blast.
   
   


9. Include your publications and speaking engagements. They mark you as a bioinformatics specialist. If you haven’t published yet, consider writing for a newsletter or trade journal or teaching a class.
   
   


10. Include professional certifications and memberships. Once again, these mark you as a professional bioinformaticist. The paint a picture of you as someone who is actively involved in the profession and who keeps up with current developments.