Lutz Mueller 

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that only a small percentage of applicants get a chance to speak to someone from the company they apply for. Out of 200 applicants, only a handful of people get through the interview stage. Current circumstances (COVID19) increase the competition as Scrum Masters lost their job and need to apply again.

To grab the recruiter’s attention, follow these four tips to stand out and get noticed:

  1. Meet the basic requirements
  2. Use bolding for key information
  3. Add achievements to your work experience
  4. Use measurable language

Meet the Basic Requirements.

To raise your chances of getting invited to interviews, make sure your resume meets the basic requirements. Recruiters will mostly follow the hiring manager’s requirements. Recruiters are no agile experts, and more often than not, they don’t understand the Scrum Master role. To survive the resume screening process, ensure that recruiters can quickly identify that you meet the job description’s basic requirements.

Use bolding for key information.

During the resume screening process, recruiters spend 10-30 seconds to decide to push your application to the next stage or reject your application. Using boldface type for important information related to the job description will ensure that it is not overlooked. Make sure to bold keywords from the job description. That makes it easy for the recruiter to identify you as a qualified candidate.

Add Achievements to Your Work Experience.

A common mistake many Scrum Master make when applying for a new position is to add standard tasks of a Scrum Master in their work experience section:

“Facilitated Scrum Events: Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective”

Everyone writes this, but companies are looking for Scrum Masters who can impact and create results.

Instead of adding standard tasks to your work experience, think about what changes you influenced when working as a Scrum Master. For example, that could be

  • Reduced time to market
  • Reduced bugs on production
  • Increased predictability of delivery

Use Measurable Language.

Recruiters love measurable language. Use numbers and percentages to highlight your achievements from the previous tip. Instead of writing

“Reduced bugs on production.”

add numbers that express the improvement. For example, 

“Reduced bugs on production by 30%.”

If you want to learn more about integrating your work experience as a Scrum Master to stand out from other applicants, please have a look at this article: How to Integrate Your Work Experience in Your Scrum Master Resume

Improve your Scrum Master Resume

Apply the tips above by using my clean Scrum Master resume template and the Scrum Master Resume checklist to grab the recruiter’s attention.

Download the Scrum Master Resume and Checklist
Download the Scrum Master Resume and Checklist

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