CV formatting

[minestrone]

To be honest if I was hiring a developer and seen an 8 page CV I would wonder what their code would look like.

I bet if you got someone’s 8 pager, cut I down to 2 pages with summary points, changed the personal details/company names about a bit and handed both CVs in for maybe 100 jobs the 2 pager would get a far higher number of interview invites.

The CV in my book has 2 jobs, impress the agent enough to get it to the client and to impress the client enough to get you in for an interview. Both require different things in the CV and it's getting the blend right that is key. I would say that an 8 pager would put either the client or the agent off at least 70% of the time despite how good you are.

That is just my opinion of course.

[darmstadt]

I'm not a developer per se and I'm afraid in the area that I am in and the projects that I do, the customer wants to know everything that you have done as it is all relative. As everything is in my CV then I tend to get gigs with just a telephone interview. I also try my best not to use agencies as an agent has absolutely no clue about anything that is written down in my CV but tend to work through consultancies/software houses and talk to people who have, or do, the same work as myself. I know for a fact that I have obtained contracts based on my CV as it shows a wealth of experience whereas the other people who have sent in their 2-3 page bullet point CV tend to have long interviews as they have to describe everything they have done, not with me.

I also do not put company names, instead something like Bank or Auto Manufacturer.

[lightng]

I'm not a developer per se and I'm afraid in the area that I am in and the projects that I do, the customer wants to know everything that you have done as it is all relative. As everything is in my CV then I tend to get gigs with just a telephone interview. I also try my best not to use agencies as an agent has absolutely no clue about anything that is written down in my CV but tend to work through consultancies/software houses and talk to people who have, or do, the same work as myself. I know for a fact that I have obtained contracts based on my CV as it shows a wealth of experience whereas the other people who have sent in their 2-3 page bullet point CV tend to have long interviews as they have to describe everything they have done, not with me.

I also do not put company names, instead something like Bank or Auto Manufacturer.

Although I prefer short CVs, if a long CV gets you the results then thats great. You dont need to fix it if it aint broken.

It may be that the audience of your CV is completely different to mine in terms of culture, sector and roles. You're obviously doing the right thing for your audience.

[darmstadt]

Although I prefer short CVs, if a long CV gets you the results then thats great. You dont need to fix it if it aint broken.

It may be that the audience of your CV is completely different to mine in terms of culture, sector and roles. You're obviously doing the right thing for your audience.

Precisely. I knew a bloke who sent off his CV along with copies of papers published, details of his patents and god knows what else. Took me hours to read and that is far too much.

I think for many roles you do only need 2-3 pages. For example a developer only really needs to list the tools that they are familiar with and what they used to develop with them. A lot of development projects are similiar apart from those where the industry is very specific (i.e aerospace, Beate Uhse, etc.) and then I think more detail is needed initially and then at the interview stage you would be expected to expand.