What IT recruiters at services giants and product companies actually screen for — and how to structure a software engineer resume that clears both.
Two markets, two rubrics
India's software hiring splits into two screening styles. IT services (TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant) screen for stack keywords, certifications and project descriptions. Product companies (Flipkart, Razorpay, Zoho, MNC GCCs) screen for impact: what you built, the scale it ran at, and the numbers you moved. Your resume should match the rubric of the role you're applying to.
The structure that works
- Header: name, phone, email, LinkedIn, GitHub. City optional.
- Summary (2 lines): role + years + core stack + one standout achievement.
- Skills: grouped — Languages / Frameworks / Cloud & DevOps / Databases.
- Experience: quantified bullets, strongest first.
- Projects: crucial for freshers and switchers; include tech stack and outcomes.
- Education and certifications: brief, at the bottom (unless you're a fresher).
Bullets that pass product-company screens
- Weak: "Worked on backend APIs using Node.js."
- Strong: "Built order-service APIs in Node.js handling 40k req/min; cut p95 latency 38% by adding a Redis cache layer."
Every bullet should answer: what did you build, with what, at what scale, and what changed because of it.
Keywords ATS systems look for in 2026
Match the JD exactly — if it says "Kubernetes", don't only write "k8s". Common high-signal terms: microservices, REST/gRPC, CI/CD, AWS/Azure/GCP, Docker, Kubernetes, Kafka, system design, unit testing, agile. Run your resume through JD Screening to see exactly which keywords you're missing for a specific role.
Build it faster
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Put this into practice. Check your resume with the ATS Resume Checker, then follow our Software Engineer resume guide for role-specific bullets — and see Resumere pricing (pay-per-use, no subscription) when you're ready to build.
