A Guide to Writing a Quality Assurance Resume

If you’re looking to progress your career into quality assurance (QA), you will need a resume to display your credentials and any relevant experience. Whether you are highly qualified, new to the field, or changing career paths, you can use your resume to highlight all your strong points to a hiring manager.

What is the goal of a quality assurance resume? 

The goal of a quality assurance resume, as with any resume, is to persuade a hiring manager that you’re the perfect candidate for an open position. Your resume should show that you deserve an interview and why you’re an ideal fit for a company. It should clearly outline your responsibilities, experience, accomplishments, and qualifications in quality assurance. 

Research quality assurance roles

To make sure you have a great QA resume, do some research to understand what you’ll be doing in a quality assurance role and what companies are looking for. Even if you know the field well, research will ensure that you're using the correct phrases and industry keywords in your resume to help tailor it to the position.

Understand what quality assurance professionals do.

Quality assurance professionals work to develop a set of manufacturing processes and procedures to test products before production or release. It’s important not to confuse quality assurance with quality control in your resume. Quality control is the inspection of the final product, rather than concern with the processes leading to that point. 

In your resume, it may be most effective if it’s tailored to quality assurance and doesn’t deviate, so it’s vital that you understand the nature of the role. Search definitions, look at listed roles and research company websites to learn as much as you can. 

Read job descriptions.

One of the most reliable ways to ensure that you’ve tailored your QA resume is to read through current and past job descriptions. Check what skills and experience employers are asking for and what the roles involve. Use your findings to determine what you should include in your resume. For example, if they ask for someone who has attention to detail, make sure that is somewhere on your resume. 

Form a list of keywords and competency requirements.

Using keywords is a very important part of writing an effective resume. Not only do you want to include everything that’s relevant, but resumes are usually screened by applicant tracking software (ATS). This is to weed out applicants who don’t meet the essential criteria. You will be assessed on how well your resume matches these standards by the keywords you include.

Go through job descriptions of the roles you’re interested in and make a list of important keywords that appear that you might include in your resume. Use multiple sources so you can identify the keywords that are used the most and disregard the ones that aren’t used as often. 

An example list of the keywords used for a QA role may look like this:

• Quality measurements

• Quality assurance standards

• QA

• Safety standards

• Attention to detail

• Customer focus

• Routine inspection

• Quality tests

• Audit reports

• Regulatory standards 

Read more: Resume Keywords: How to Find the Right Words to Beat the ATS

Search for other quality assurance job titles.

Sometimes job titles have variations so it’s a good idea to research roles that fall under different titles but are essentially the same job. These may include:

• Quality assurance (QA) technician

• QA compliance manager

• QA specialist

• QA internal auditor

• QMS/QA specialist

• Quality systems coordinator

• Quality assurance associate

3 Steps to write your QA resume

Writing your QA resume needs to be focused on enhancing your position as a quality assurance professional.

1. Select a QA resume template.

You resume layout may impact what the reader sees and what stands out the most. Ideally, the format is a single page that uses professional fonts and is scannable, with a clean and simple design that highlights your best points. 

The layout you choose depends on your level of experience and what you have to offer. Chronological resumes are great at showing career progression, but if you have less experience or are changing careers, you may opt for a skills-based resume, which highlights your skills and qualities and even your education. Whichever you choose, make sure each section is defined and clear. Keep in mind that you want to showcase your strongest points. 

Read more: 10 Ways to Enhance Your Resume

2. Highlight relevant qualifications, certifications, competencies. 

This part is essential to your success. Use the appropriate sections to show your most relevant credentials. Ideally, you will have sections for experience, skills, education, and certifications. 

Make sure what you include makes you stand out. Add accomplishments over duties, and if possible, make your accomplishments measurable, such as "Improved QA process, resulting in 20 percent decrease in IT workload." Use keywords to make your resume searchable and ATS compliant. 

Read more: How to List Certifications on Your Resume: Guide + Examples

3. Attach a tailored cover letter for applications. 

Once your resume is ready, the last important step is to include a tailored QA cover letter. Your cover letter lets you address all the essential QA criteria of the role that isn’t on your resume. Make a note of everything the hiring manager is looking for, and include examples of your experience in your letter. 

To make your cover letter personal, learn about the company so you can demonstrate how your experience and values fit with their mission.

Quality assurance resume achievement examples

To strengthen your resume, clearly highlight any relevant achievements. Examples include:

• Successfully developed 100+ test cases, including 50 security test plans for 10 different function product areas. 

• Increased company efficiency by 30 percent by reducing data to key insights through drafting testing reports.

• Used Java and Python to write testing automation code for a key product, resulting in a 10 percent increase in productivity.

• Developed client proposals, outlining the scope of the project and timelines for all new clients.

• Mentored new members of the quality assurance team, supporting them in their new roles and offering monthly settling-in meetings. 

• Received an award for employee of the month for excellent team contribution.

Key takeaways

As you continue your job search for quality assurance roles, continue to look for ways to enhance your resume. Consider earning credentials with a certificate such as this Software Testing and Automation Specialization or by taking a course in interview skills on Coursera. 

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