If you want to land an interview at Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, or Google, you have to first create a resume customized for FAANG software engineering jobs. FAANG software roles are well-defined and, unlike most other tech companies, have a highly-nuanced and standardized hiring process.
A software engineer resume for FAANG roles cannot be a generalized, run-of-the-mill resume with which you pray the job market. Incidentally, this is the fastest way to get cut at the first stage of the hiring process. An astonishing 75% of software resumes are rejected during the ATS screening process, and 25% of the resumes that make it through eventually get rejected by FAANG recruiters.
How do you write a software engineer resume for FAANG companies to stand out among the hundreds of thousands of resumes that come their way every year? What are the most important aspects you must include in your software engineer resume to ensure it makes it through the screening process to get shortlisted for a FAANG tech interview? Read ahead to find out the answers!
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In this article, we cover:
- Creating an ATS-Friendly Software Engineer Resume for FAANG
- How to Craft a Software Engineer Resume for FAANG Recruiters?
- Using a FAANG Software Engineer Resume Template
- Tips to Review a Software Engineer Resume for FAANG
- FAQs on How to Write a Software Engineer Resume for FAANG
Creating an ATS Friendly Software Engineer Resume for FAANG
Most top tech companies use automated resume-screening software as a first-level filter to weed out unqualified resumes.
- If your resume is not ATS compliant, it will be rejected even if you are a great match for the job. Most resumes for FAANG are rejected at the ATS screening stage.
- An ATS scores and ranks a resume by parsing information based on keywords and phrases. The closer a resume matches the job description, the higher the score.
If you want your resume to stand any chance of getting to a FAANG recruiter, ensure you ‘ATS proof’ your resume for FAANG jobs by keeping the following in mind:
- Use relevant keywords; you can find these in the job description. For example, education, years of experience, technical skills, soft skills, markets/industries, etc.; eliminate extra spaces around keywords.
- Use a professional, minimalistic layout and use appropriate white spaces and margins.
- Structure your resume appropriately; create clear sections for similar information with clear, easy-to-understand headings, e.g. ‘Skills,’ ‘Work Experience,’ ‘Education,’ etc.; expand abbreviations.
- Use standard fonts; avoid icons, images, tables, columns, graphics, or any other fancy formats as most ATS systems can’t read non-standard design elements and only consider textual information.
- Opt for a traditional format in reverse chronological order; write dates in standard formats.
- Use a text editor, such as Wordpad to gauge how an ATS processed resume appears.
- Choose a standard file format viz. Word or PDF.
Check 15 tips to Create an ATS- and Recruiter-friendly Resume to land a $500k tech job.
How to Craft a Software Engineer Resume for FAANG Recruiters?
When it comes to crafting the perfect software engineer resume for FAANG recruiters, remember the infamous 6-second rule. FAANG recruiters go through hundreds of resumes a week and can, realistically, spend only about 6 seconds (or less) scanning resumes.
How can a recruiter identify a worthy applicant in just a few seconds?
FAANG recruiters and sources are highly skilled at scanning resumes. They perform the first-level scan to identify only three to four key vital pieces of information:
- Experience (last position, company, and total years of experience)
- Education (degree/qualification/certification, school)
- Key skills (technical and soft skills and expertise levels)
Once shortlisted, recruiters will consider details under these key sections to see if you’re a close enough match to warrant an interview.
This is why it’s important to present your profile details such that it:
- Grabs a FAANG recruiter’s attention
- Identifies you as a match for the open position
- Showcases you as someone who can add long-term value to the company
- Ensures you stand out among the competition
When crafting a software engineer resume for FAANG recruiters:
- Organize and present information, so critical details stand out at a glance
- Highlight key sections — work experience, skills, education, and other pertinent details
- Provide details as per the job description; customization is critical for a resume for FAANG recruiters to consider your resume. Recruiters will likely immediately reject a generic resume that doesn’t speak to the role applied for. If you’re applying for multiple roles, create individual resumes for each role.
Also read: How to Structure Your Software Engineer Resume.
Listing Experience On a Software Engineer Resume for FAANG
Your work history or work experience is the most important part of your resume for FAANG since this shows proven capabilities. Remember, FAANG has its pick of software talent at a global level. Hiring only the best software engineers is how they stay innovative and maintain their tech leadership position. Your work experience is the most important predictor of your value to the hiring company. If your resume for FAANG stands out as someone who can help the company grow and achieve its goals, you’re likely to get shortlisted for a FAANG interview.
The best way to list work experience on your resume for FAANG software engineer jobs is:
- Focus on relevant information; customize your software engineer resume for FAANG specific roles; research the company, the technologies they use, and projects they’re working on to showcase relevant competencies.
- Showcase past roles in terms of your contributions, quantified where applicable, instead of creating a laundry list of tasks and activities. For example, instead of writing “Was responsible for writing code to collect customer data'', write “Developed and implemented customer data collection algorithms that resulted in a 15% improvement in annual sales”.
- Use the reverse-chronological format to showcase career growth.
- Mention past employers, job roles, positions, and start and end dates of employment tenures with each previous employer.
- Mention key responsibilities of past roles since job titles are not standard across companies and won’t tell recruiters about the roles and technical areas you have experience in. For example, Software Engineer III is not as explanatory as Software Engineer III Web Applications.
- Highlight achievements; quantify where possible. For example, “Resolved 100 technical tickets in a single quarter beating the process average by 10%”.
- Use bulleted role descriptions; use the active voice and power verbs to create a strong impact; ensure role descriptions are concise.
Showcasing Projects on Your Software Engineer Resume for FAANG
Professional and personal projects are a great way to boost your work experience and skills. Create a separate section if you have multiple projects to showcase.
- Include only pertinent projects relevant to the technologies or products of the FAANG company you’re applying to.
- Only add projects that enhance work experience or substantiate skills listed on your resume for FAANG. For example, if the FAANG role requires experience in artificial intelligence but not professional work experience, you can list a personal project you developed using this technology.
Skills to Include on a Software Engineer Resume for FAANG
FAANG+ companies are always on the cutting-edge of technology and hire software engineers with advanced expertise that can contribute to the company’s growth. Most software engineers create a separate section to list their skills. You can place your skills either at the top of the resume, under the header, or after your section on work experience.
Alternatively, you can integrate your skills as part of your work experience. For example, “Developed a website leveraging MEAN technologies” or “Used Java and C++ to develop cloud technologies.”
When listing skills on your software engineer resume for FAANG:
- Focus on role-relevant skills. For example, if you’re applying for the role of frontend software engineer at Google, highlight expertise in scripting and programming language skills like HTML, CSS, Python, Java, JavaScript, as well as Data Structures and Algorithms.
- Highlight in-demand, advanced skills
- Include a balanced mix of both technical and soft skills
- Indicate your level of expertise for each skill or a group of skills
Learn more about How to List Skills on Your Software Engineer Resume.
Adding Education and Certifications on a Software Engineer Resume for FAANG
Ensure your software engineer resume for FAANG jobs includes a section for education details. Most FAANG software engineer job descriptions specify a minimum required educational qualification, which becomes an essential keyword during resume screening by ATS systems and FAANG sourcers.
Include the following key educational information that FAANG recruiters look for as they scan resumes:
- Academic degrees in reverse order — Ph.D., Master’s, Bachelor’s
- Field of specialization — Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Statistics, Data Science, Machine Learning, etc.
- University / School and Year of Graduation; list degrees you are currently pursuing but not completed
Education is an important section for keywords; if you don’t possess specific qualifications as per the job description, populate this section with related degrees. Most FAANG+ companies accept related work experience or degrees instead of standardized academic qualifications.
Further Reading: How to List Education On Your Software Engineer Resume.
Adding Certifications to a Software Engineer Resume for FAANG
Include professional certifications obtained under this section mentioning the following pertinent details:
- Skill or technology you’re certified in; mention level of expertise
- Certifying authority; include only recognized certifications
- Date of certification; don’t include outdated certifications
Certifications are a great way to showcase that you’re job-ready and possess the required knowledge and skills for the role. However, include only relevant certifications relevant to the role and enhance your skills and work experience.
If you don’t have relevant educational qualifications, skills, or experience, obtain the proper certifications before preparing your software engineering resume for FAANG to better your chances of getting shortlisted for an interview.
Creating a Header For a Software Engineer Resume for FAANG
The header on your software engineer resume for FAANG should contain only pertinent identifying information and contact details. List the following relevant information:
- Your Name and Job Title: A recommended practice is to list the title of the job you’re applying for to indicate you’re qualified for the role and grab the FAANG recruiter’s attention.
- Your location: FAANG recruiters filter resumes for FAANG based on location.
- Email id and Phone number: Your resume may be rejected if there is no way for recruiters to contact you. Ensure you use a professional email id.
- Link to project portfolios: Showcase working knowledge of key competencies by providing a link to your online projects.
Using a FAANG Software Engineer Resume Template
Preparing a software engineer resume for FAANG can be a tedious and often overwhelming stage of your job search process. After all, your resume is what kicks off your journey to landing your dream job at a FAANG+ company.
If you find it hard to structure your resume correctly, you could always use a standardized software engineer resume template that offers anticipatory guidance on structural and layout requirements. When using a software engineer resume template, all you have to do is customize your resume for FAANG roles according to their job descriptions.
However, ensure you use an ATS-friendly template to create your software engineer resume for FAANG jobs. Avoid design templates that do not meet ATS requirements.
Tips to Review a Software Engineer Resume for FAANG
One of the top reasons software engineer resumes for FAANG positions fail ATS and recruiter screening is that applicants don’t review their resumes before submitting them. Our career coaches have these tips to help you make your resume for FAANG more effective.
Customize Your Resume With Company and Role-specific Information
Software engineering is a generalized title, and you may possess a diverse range of skills. However, a software engineer resume for FAANG is only effective at landing you an interview if it can beat the thousands of other resumes it has to compete with to get a sourcer or recruiter’s attention.
This is only possible by ensuring your resume is as closely matched as possible for the FAANG role and the company itself. Research the company and job role before writing your resume for FAANG positions. Include in-demand software engineering skills that FAANG companies are hiring for.
Ensure Your Resume Is Error-free
The smallest errors can lead to resumes being rejected. It’s imperative you go over your resume once written to eliminate grammatical errors, errors in tenses, punctuation, spacing, typos, etc. Not only does this make your resume ATS incompatible, but it also reduces the impact it has on recruiters.
Get Professional Feedback on Your Resume
Our career coaches constantly leverage their experience as FAANG hiring managers to help software engineers create the right resume for FAANG companies. Professional feedback can help you get insider insight on how resumes for FAANG jobs are screened and scanned during the hiring process.
We hope that this article helps you create a FAANg software engineer resume that gets you selected for your tech interview. You can also read our article on Here's What's Missing From Your Software Engineer Resume to ensure that you don’t miss out on anything.
FAQs on Writing a Software Engineer Resume for FAANG Interviews
Q1. How do I get a FAANG software engineer interview?
Writing a top-notch software engineer resume for FAANG is the first and most important step in landing a FAANG software engineer interview.
Q2. How do I write a FAANG software engineer resume?
Grab a FAANG recruiter’s attention by customizing your software engineer resume for FAANG. Research the FAANG company you’re applying for and closely match your skills to the specific project or role requirements mentioned in the job description.
Q3. How do I write an ATS resume for FAANG?
Write an ATS resume for FAANG by including relevant keywords and skills that closely match the job description and role requirements. Use professional, ATS-compatible resume layouts, fonts, margins, with clear sections and headings.
Q4. How do I write a senior software engineer resume for FAANG?
A senior software engineer’s resume for FAANG should include information on proven and quantifiable work experience and skills. It should showcase your ability to provide technical direction and contribute value to your potential role at FAANG.
Q5. How long should a software engineer resume for FAANG be?
One or two pages is the acceptable length for a software engineer resume for FAANG companies. Since FAANG recruiters only spend 6 seconds to a minute to scan resumes, ensure your key skills and experience are mentioned on the first page.
Upskill to Crack Your Next Tech Interview
Crafting a killer software engineer resume for FAANG is the first and most important step in landing a FAANG interview.
At Interview Kickstart, our team of instructors and coaches, comprising 150+ tech leads and hiring managers from FAANG, has helped thousands of experienced software engineers and software developers land top offers from FAANG+ companies through our professional technical interview prep programs.
Our team provides complete guidance on cracking even the most challenging technical interviews. From insider tips on how to review and write excellent software engineer resumes for FAANG to how to apply for FAANG software jobs, we’ve got everything covered. We also provide in-depth classroom training on FAANG software engineering skills like data structures, algorithms, design, and other domain-specific concepts, including mock interviews,
Join our free webinar to learn how to get interview-ready and land a FAANG software engineer job.
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