CV advice

The Freeman

Hi Guys,

I was hoping one of you kind folk could offer some advice if possible.

I am currently in a position to apply for Graduate Roles as a Software Engineer as I am currently in an Internship with over 6 months experience after graduating from a postgrad Software course in May.

The issue I am having is i am not sure what the best format is to take when creating my CV, recruitment agencies tell me one way, the college stated another way, and I passed it on to a friend yesterday and he stated that it is now just plain confusing.(on cv 3.0 currently )

In my current role I have done a tonne of stuff and worked with alot of technologies, I have put alot down, but i think it is prob too technical for what a recruiter is looking at. It would be fine for a Software Engineer but not a recruiter.

If anyone has any advice or a website which is concise on the format to take it would be great. I want to hit the nail on the head and there seems to be a balance to strike here.

thanks

Freeman

colm_c

I think you're over thinking this to be honest.

Once you have the following in your CV, that's all that matters:

About you
Educational experience
Work experience

In work/education, be as technical as you like, ultimately the people reviewing these CV's are looking for certain keywords to match a job spec.

A technical recruiter is going to pass on the CV to potential employers who will be Software Engineers, so I don't think dumbing it down is good at all.

It also needs to be concise, don't create war & peace, 1-3 pages max, and given you've only 6 months experience, I would think a 1 pager will be more than enough.

Seth Brundle

We're in the process of recruiting someone and getting in a number of CVs.
In all cases they are read as I want to see that the applicant has the skills needed to do the job. For this reason, you may need to have different CVs for different role types.

In addition to the above post, I don't really care what layout or sequence the CV has as long as it is clear and easy to read.
I hate typos and am turned off anyone with these as, to me, it looks like they don't check their work.
I also want to see evidence of experience and/or enthusiasm in the field. You may not have had an actual job in this area but have you uploaded anything to Github or the likes to show proactiveness?

The Freeman

Thanks for all the info so far guys. Appreciate it.

Would you list the technologies you have from college and work after the introdocution;
Langauges:
Databases:
Technologies: azure, git etc.

?(is best practice to separate college frim indistry)

Also I have 8 years retail management experience . I was told to not touch on that as it would not be counted in this career. Surprised by that .

Seth Brundle

The Freeman wrote: »

Thanks for all the info so far guys. Appreciate it.

Would you list the technologies you have from college and work after the introdocution;
Langauges:
Databases:
Technologies: azure, git etc.

?(is best practice to separate college frim indistry)

Also I have 8 years retail management experience . I was told to not touch on that as it would not be counted in this career. Surprised by that .

I think our should list off the different technologies and languages but maybe group them so it's not a massively long list.

As for experience, list it and mention how it involved responsibility for other staff, money, etc. It would count as it shows that you can be loyal to an employer and that you are both responsible and trustworthy.

The Freeman

kbannon wrote: »

I think our should list off the different technologies and languages but maybe group them so it's not a massively long list.

As for experience, list it and mention how it involved responsibility for other staff, money, etc. It would count as it shows that you can be loyal to an employer and that you are both responsible and trustworthy.

Ok great thanks very much Kbannon

currently i have, and in order;

- about me
- skills profile(Experience working on large scale cloud based application, etc, is 7 too many skills to list?)
- technical skills(languages, databases, cloud based platforms etc)
- projects(college and work project devs are working in) 5 lines for each, that sufficent?)

page 2

-education( college postgrad Software degree with overall score, then old level 7 from old career)
-experience( tasks completed on project since starting role, then previous employment)
-references available on request


would that be in line with other good CVs? i was thinking of doing up a more visual cv in a month or so when i have time, might help get to the top of the pile perhaps?

p.s. would you attach your linked in at top of cv with number, email , address etc?

themink

My advice is go for a 'less is more' approach with the priority being to keep it clear, clean & easy to follow.. just like any code you write! The goal is not to include every technology & project you know or have ever worked on. Be selective.

I interviewed a guy recently who had a cv that was a big wall of text listing every single project, technology.. & was just full of irrelevant details. Absolutely terrible! I went into the interview a bit peeved with him for expecting people to read it. I probably gave him a harder interview as a result & ultimately was left feeling his coding ability mirrored his cv writing skills: unnecessarily complicated & unable to focus on the important details as a result

The Freeman

Great advice thanks for the info and advice from your self and thanks to everyone else that posted too.

Appreciate it guys and gals

themink wrote: »

My advice is go for a 'less is more' approach with the priority being to keep it clear, clean & easy to follow.. just like any code you write! The goal is not to include every technology & project you know or have ever worked on. Be selective.

I interviewed a guy recently who had a cv that was a big wall of text listing every single project, technology.. & was just full of irrelevant details. Absolutely terrible! I went into the interview a bit peeved with him for expecting people to read it. I probably gave him a harder interview as a result & ultimately was left feeling his coding ability mirrored his cv writing skills: unnecessarily complicated & unable to focus on the important details as a result

L.Jenkins

The Freeman wrote: »

Ok great thanks very much Kbannon

currently i have, and in order;

- about me
- skills profile(Experience working on large scale cloud based application, etc, is 7 too many skills to list?)
- technical skills(languages, databases, cloud based platforms etc)
- projects(college and work project devs are working in) 5 lines for each, that sufficent?)

page 2

-education( college postgrad Software degree with overall score, then old level 7 from old career)
-experience( tasks completed on project since starting role, then previous employment)
-references available on request


would that be in line with other good CVs? i was thinking of doing up a more visual cv in a month or so when i have time, might help get to the top of the pile perhaps?

p.s. would you attach your linked in at top of cv with number, email , address etc?

That is essentially how I have my CV laid out for IT roles at the moment. As for your linkedin profile, yes, put it in with your contact information and ensure your linkedin profile reflects your CV with any additional details relevant to your experience.