When applying for IT jobs, you're probably wondering what you can do to set yourself apart from the competition. That is, what can you put on your resume that really makes you stand out and look impressive? While the solution is not always so straightforward, recent information has shown that recruiters and hiring managers are definitely looking for specific things in IT employees.

Having a well rounded resume is good for showing that you have a lot of experience and that you know a variety of programming languages. However, it's easy to overwhelm a hiring manager with information. For instance, a recent report released by the job site, Dice, showed that hiring managers were most interested in hiring people with experience in Java/J2EE or .NET or those who are developers in both of these areas. Other high ranking requirements included Sharepoint, project managers, and business analysts.

While any individual company you apply to will vary in terms of what they want or need, this report showed a definite trend in IT wants from companies. Likewise, even though overall job numbers were down, the need for IT professionals in these areas went up. That's an encouraging sign for people currently in school or just about to graduate. There is a position out in the real world for you!

Where you live may also play a role, however. While some IT jobs are telecommute, most require that you be on-site to perform your daily duties. The recent Dice report showed that IT job listings were once again on the rise in major metro areas including New York, Washington DC, Silicon Valley, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Of course, this is only considering jobs listed with Dice and may not provide an overall accurate representation of the current job market. Even with that said, this is still encouraging news to those who are looking to enter the job market, who are out of the job, or looking to change jobs.

So what does all of this mean for you? It means look at each job ad carefully and see what the position requires. If you have the skills, emphasize them on your resume, don't let them get buried in irrelevant information. Finally, it may be worth looking into bolstering your .NET and Java experience since these seem to be what hiring managers are most on the lookout for these days.

There's no real way to predict what will be "in trend" tomorrow in terms of IT, but you can at least prepare yourself for the unexpected by having a robust resume and making your job applications as specific as possible.